Should I find a new vet?

[Linda209]

When I bought my Maine Coon kitten from a Tica & CFA registered cattery, I was told she had had and had been treated for Giardia. Since I have another cat, I quarantined her till she could be tested again. On re-test, I was told she still had giardia and now coccidia. I was given liquid meds to give her (not an easy task) and retested in a month. On second re-test, told she was still positive for giardia and coccidia and now has a tapeworm. Since there has been no evidence of fleas since I got her, we assumed she was infected before I got her and the tapeworm was too early to show in first test. I was given more meds, pills this time (not easy, but better than liquid) and am due for retest next week.
She has never shown symptoms of any of these conditions as described online.
She has been confined to my bedroom for 3 months now. It's driving both of us crazy and I'm sure has been detrimental to her development. I wanted a Kitten
to make it easier to introduce her to our older cat.
Anyway, my question is: If the vet tells me she is still positive for any of these conditions, what should I say to her? I'm very angry and frustrated.
Advice would be welcomed.

 

[Cat McCannon]

Get a second opinion right away

 

[lisahe]

Get a second opinion right away

Yes, I also think that's warranted. Giardia can be pretty stubborn and some of the drugs are nasty (something I can say from personal experience) but it sounds like the vet isn't thinking very creatively here. You might try asking the vet (whichever one!) if Panacur would treat everything your cat purportedly has. The granules (not the paste!) are easy to mix into food. Even our, ah, discerning cats will eat the granules easily, though our vet says some cats hate them.

Good luck.

 

[fionasmom]

If this makes the idea of changing vets any easier, I have done it any time I was not satisfied. You have been told that there are certain conditions which the kitten has and they should have been resolved by now if that is really the case. I have only ever worked with ferals and have faced giardia, coccidia, and tapeworms on a regular basis and no one was ever in need of being confined to a room for three months because the treatment was not working.

 

[Meowmee]

When I bought my Maine Coon kitten from a Tica & CFA registered cattery, I was told she had had and had been treated for Giardia. Since I have another cat, I quarantined her till she could be tested again. On re-test, I was told she still had giardia and now coccidia. I was given liquid meds to give her (not an easy task) and retested in a month. On second re-test, told she was still positive for giardia and coccidia and now has a tapeworm. Since there has been no evidence of fleas since I got her, we assumed she was infected before I got her and the tapeworm was too early to show in first test. I was given more meds, pills this time (not easy, but better than liquid) and am due for retest next week.
She has never shown symptoms of any of these conditions as described online.
She has been confined to my bedroom for 3 months now. It's driving both of us crazy and I'm sure has been detrimental to her development. I wanted a Kitten
to make it easier to introduce her to our older cat.
Anyway, my question is: If the vet tells me she is still positive for any of these conditions, what should I say to her? I'm very angry and frustrated.
Advice would be welcomed.

I’m so sorry you are going through this with your MC kitten. It must be so stressful.

My first question is have you contacted her breeder about all of this?…. presuming she did not get these parasites, etc. at your house or from your other cat it has to have happened at the breeder unless you’ve been taking her outside, etc. there’s still a possibility to get parasite, etc. inside a home too from other things like you’ve brought it in on your shoes. It’s in the water, garbages etc. and so on. Catching mice….

Second Giardia and coccidia can take a long time to treat. I have taken in many outdoor cats and two of them had chronic diarrhea. Those are just the two that I’m remembering right now. One was Merlin- he had C difficile and it went on for months. He was treated for other parasites too. In the end, I cured his diarrhea with a home-cooked diet, using chicken, chicken, liver, and Alnutrin supplements. Xena had giardia when I took him in- he was treated for that but his diarrhea also did not resolve. So he had some other treatments, and in the end he was also by cured with the home-cooked diet.

The treatment for these conditions can also cause diarrhea, and being on treatment for a long time can exacerbate it. It’s also a possibility the diarrhea is from something else altogether.

If you’re not happy with the Dvm, and you can afford it, certainly get another opinion with a different Dvm. These tests are not fool proof- you can have false negatives and false positives. The PCR tests are more prone to having false positives. The stool samples are more prone to missing a parasite altogether because it’s not at the right phase or the test wasn’t done properly.

*Also with this many issues if they happened at the breeder’s home she/ he should be paying for some of this imo. Check the contract.

 

[tarasgirl06]

Meowmee not to mention treating the other CATS there for all of the above!!!
Vets are in short supply worldwide, so I hope you, L Linda209 are able to find a good one whose office is convenient and fees are acceptable. If you have a good flea comb, you should be able to ascertain whether either of your cats has these awful pests. Tapeworm is easy to find, and should also be easily treatable. I'm very suspicious of first one, then two, and now three things cropping up where your cat was supposedly guaranteed to be free of anything. Something's fishy here.
Be sure to keep us in the loop, okay? And of course, all the very best to/for your cats and you. Really hoping you get to the facts and soon have two healthy cats.

 

[Linda209]

When I bought my Maine Coon kitten from a Tica & CFA registered cattery, I was told she had had and had been treated for Giardia. Since I have another cat, I quarantined her till she could be tested again. On re-test, I was told she still had giardia and now coccidia. I was given liquid meds to give her (not an easy task) and retested in a month. On second re-test, told she was still positive for giardia and coccidia and now has a tapeworm. Since there has been no evidence of fleas since I got her, we assumed she was infected before I got her and the tapeworm was too early to show in first test. I was given more meds, pills this time (not easy, but better than liquid) and am due for retest next week.
She has never shown symptoms of any of these conditions as described online.
She has been confined to my bedroom for 3 months now. It's driving both of us crazy and I'm sure has been detrimental to her development. I wanted a Kitten
to make it easier to introduce her to our older cat.
Anyway, my question is: If the vet tells me she is still positive for any of these conditions, what should I say to her? I'm very angry and frustrated.
Advice would be welcomed.

Thanks for all the advice. Fortunately, her tests all came back negative. Finally!
Now all I have to do is get our 9 yr old cat to accept her. No fights so far, but the old one hisses and bats at the young one to stay away and the young one won't back off. Do I have to let her get scratched or bitten for her to learn? She's finally free but I still have to separate them

 

[Linda209]

I’m so sorry you are going through this with your MC kitten. It must be so stressful.

My first question is have you contacted her breeder about all of this?…. presuming she did not get these parasites, etc. at your house or from your other cat it has to have happened at the breeder unless you’ve been taking her outside, etc. there’s still a possibility to get parasite, etc. inside a home too from other things like you’ve brought it in on your shoes. It’s in the water, garbages etc. and so on. Catching mice….

Second Giardia and coccidia can take a long time to treat. I have taken in many outdoor cats and two of them had chronic diarrhea. Those are just the two that I’m remembering right now. One was Merlin- he had C difficile and it went on for months. He was treated for other parasites too. In the end, I cured his diarrhea with a home-cooked diet, using chicken, chicken, liver, and Alnutrin supplements. Xena had giardia when I took him in- he was treated for that but his diarrhea also did not resolve. So he had some other treatments, and in the end he was also by cured with the home-cooked diet.

The treatment for these conditions can also cause diarrhea, and being on treatment for a long time can exacerbate it. It’s also a possibility the diarrhea is from something else altogether.

If you’re not happy with the Dvm, and you can afford it, certainly get another opinion with a different Dvm. These tests are not fool proof- you can have false negatives and false positives. The PCR tests are more prone to having false positives. The stool samples are more prone to missing a parasite altogether because it’s not at the right phase or the test wasn’t done properly.

*Also with this many issues if they happened at the breeder’s home she/ he should be paying for some of this imo. Check the contract.

I did contact her after the coccidia diagnosis but not the tapeworm - I didn't trust myself to be civil. She acted as though it were the most normal thing in the world. Luckily she's clean now and will stay that way. Thanks!

 

[tarasgirl06]

Thanks for all the advice. Fortunately, her tests all came back negative. Finally!
Now all I have to do is get our 9 yr old cat to accept her. No fights so far, but the old one hisses and bats at the young one to stay away and the young one won't back off. Do I have to let her get scratched or bitten for her to learn? She's finally free but I still have to separate them

I would supervise whenever possible and of course, if you hear any hissing/growling/yowling/pained vocalizations, check on them and give them separate time if necessary. Establishing hierarchy is fairly normal among cats, though, and there will be a certain amount of back-and-forth before they are both feeling satisfied. It took a year for two of my cats to do this. There were some fights. I had to break them up a couple of times. But eventually, they did adapt, and then I often found them, with others, on the bed or in other places, quite calm.

 

[Meowmee]

I did contact her after the coccidia diagnosis but not the tapeworm - I didn't trust myself to be civil. She acted as though it were the most normal thing in the world. Luckily she's clean now and will stay that way. Thanks!

In my opinion, you should make a complaint about this breeder to the cat associations that she is a member of.

 

[Meowmee]

Thanks for all the advice. Fortunately, her tests all came back negative. Finally!
Now all I have to do is get our 9 yr old cat to accept her. No fights so far, but the old one hisses and bats at the young one to stay away and the young one won't back off. Do I have to let her get scratched or bitten for her to learn? She's finally free but I still have to separate them

You can go back to square one and do a slow re-intro using scent swapping first. For that if you’re not familiar with it, you take towels and rub it on each cat and then rub it on the other one.

To me the behavior sounds totally normal. Yes, she is going to swat her and even beat her over the head if the kitten misbehaves… that’s her disciplining the kitten- as long as she’s not biting her and injuring her with a puncture wound etc. I wouldn’t be very worried about it.

Try playing with them together, giving them treats and eating together while you supervise it.

 

[lisahe]

You can go back to square one and do a slow re-intro using scent swapping first. For that if you’re not familiar with it, you take towels and rub it on each cat and then rub it on the other one.

To me the behavior sounds totally normal. Yes, she is going to swat her and even beat her over the head if the kitten misbehaves… that’s her disciplining the kitten- as long as she’s not biting her and injuring her with a puncture wound etc. I wouldn’t be very worried about it.

Try playing with them together, giving them treats and eating together while you supervise it.

Agreeing with all of this!

Scent swapping can take time but it's worked well for us, particularly when we've switched out bedding towels or blankets several times a day.

And when our two cats (who are sisters!) had their two-week siege we were able to let them be together unchaperoned even if they were still hissing a bit or batting at each other. The best indication that they're okay with each other is that one cat can aggressively sniff the other cat's butt without them having a fight.

The playing/treats/eating advice has also worked for us. I liked keeping a laser pointer toy handy for distraction if needed.

Good luck!