Giardia

[BearAusten]

We are looking at adopting a cat from a rescue. One that we looked at online had been in a rescue for months due to Giardia. Being novices we decided against adopting her.

Is Giardia common, especially in indoor cats? I knew of it, but never came across it before. I gained the impression that it is likely to reoccur during periods of stress.

Giardia is a parasite that can be cured with medication. Faecal to oral transmission. You should've asked advice from a vet and researched more before turning the poor cat down.

I had researched Giardia. Normally with medication it is expected that it can be got of rid of in a week up to a month. This was a lot longer than a month or two. The reoccurring ‘it’ in my first, I meant the diarrhoea.

I turned the cat down because I knew there would be other interest in her. There doesn’t seem to be many indoor rescue cats where I am. They go very quickly.

Thank you for your reply. I was trying to find out what to expect from a cat that had recovered from Giardia and really how common it was.

Sorry if my reply came across a bit harsh, I was on the move :-(
I had an animal with it once, took two lots of antibiotics to get rid of but no problems in the years that followed. Sorry I can't be of more help, hopefully someone with more experience than me can offer some advice. Good luck with your new cat

No worries. We are just making sure we all doing right by all of us, including any new adopted member.

Lots of scary information on the internet about giardia !

we adopted two kitten who were being treated l for it in November and I was freaking out about it. Their stools were a little unsettled for a few weeks, they were on probiotics for their little tummies bit went in their tray fine and now they both seem healthy and well. We antibac’d everywhere and washed our hands for the first month of handling them as we have kids and an elder cat but I think that was me being super over precautious. They are healthy and fine and there’s been no issues around it.

Thank you igotthegoose. Was a bit freaked out by the information sheet sent by the rescue. Some will develop a chronic case of Giardia - recurring episodes of it. People with certain medical conditions should not adopt any animal that has had it.

Giardia can be hard on people, but most animals & people can recover well from it.