Help - kittens have Giardia and Coccidia!

[Poppytime]

After a month of diarrhoea finally found out my two kittens have both these parasites. Great. Got Panacur and Baycox. Just done the 2 days of Baycox and was a nightmare as they hate it, tastes awful, foaming at mouth and spitting it out. Had to burrito them in a blanket to get it in and v stressful. Panacur ongoing but they are suspicious of me mixing it with a lickable treat now and I don’t know if they are even getting the full dose. 2 more days to go. Cleaning litter trays EVERY time they go, hot soapy water - on vets advice. It’s exhausting. The end was in sight BUT I have an older cat. They had no symptoms so vet won’t treat her (told her they share litter trays etc).

And lo and behold she has loose poo this evening. I’m at my wits end tbh. I can’t speak to the vet until Monday which is when the kittens finish their Panacur so she will no doubt reinfect them despite my cleaning regime and the nightmare will start again. Anyone any experience of this? I’m a bit exhausted cleaning up poo, trying to wipe bums and paws and getting scratched, going through £££ of litter, vacuuming, wiping … I love them all dearly but I’m currently in a spiral of envisaging a constant cycle of stressful medicating and poo clean up and feeling quite depressed :(

Aargh liquid poo again in one of the kittens :( even while on day 6 of the panacur. V depressed!!!

re liners - I’ve tried but they tear them up unfort and it all just spills underneath anyway!

😭

I highly recommend Purrform raw cat food the rabbit one. Helps sort out a multitude of tummy issues.

The best liners I have found are these off Amazon:
Pettiny 20 XL Cat Litter Tray Liners with Drawstrings Scratch Resistant Bags for Extra Large Litter Box
Also try switching the kittens wet food to adult food, something like Felix or whiskers in jelly. My DD’s kittens (from a rescue) couldn’t tolerate wet kitten food as it too rich for them. Carried on giving the dry kitten food though.
Good luck!

and also try giving probiotic paste

Very cute, even if they smell terrible.

However, you may need to check with your GP about whether you need to take some medication, as Giardiasis can be very easily transmitted to humans - a short course of metronidazole might be prescribed; as long as you avoid all alcohol for the course and a few days afterwards, it's worth it to make sure you don't end up with similar symptoms (and at least you won't be needing to be purritoed).

Oh really? Even with no symptoms? Another thing to worry about :(

Hello,

How're the poops today? I've treated many a kitten (I foster) for giardia and coccidia and it's a pain, I completely understand the stress you're under but you're doing well and you will beat it but it's known to take multiple courses of treatment for it to be clear.

Keep in touch with the vet, they can prescribe Metronidazole alongside Panacur. Are they on a probiotic as well? I've found with longer courses their digestive tracts get very irritated which in turn upsets their tums but it should settle.

Also while Giardia is easily spread and is transmittable to humans I believe the strains that infect cats are unlikely to transmit to you (though not impossible so keep up good hygiene throughout).

Hi @IVFCatmomma thanks for checking in! We still have some poo issues… but I’m keeping going with a few more days of Panacur. If that doesn’t clear it I’ll ask the vet (again - they must be sick of hearing from me!!). Re probiotic yes I have been giving them Fortiflora on their food to try and help things. How long have you had to give Panacur etc before it clears? (Can you sense my desperation haha) I’m hoping I don’t have to give a different medication as it’s been hard enough doing this one and I read Metronidazole has a very bitter taste - giving the Baycox was horrendous so I’ll dread that!

Well I did 14 days straight of the panacur, washes everything washable and it never returned 🥳

Hi* *@Poppytime - this last lot had a 5 day and then we did a 10 day and I'll be honest it took a good week or so before we started getting proper poops because their poor tums were so upset from it all. They prefer to avoid metro as its a harsher on their little systems than Panacur.

I like Fortiflora, its easier than the paste and most of them love it.

Keep doing what you're doing you will get there.

Ah thank you - I really hope so. Vet had also confirmed to keep going with the Panacur. They are taking most of it in their food so that’s preferable to the burrito method :)

I think will be similar here at this rate !