Coccidia...help!

Ok, we got our new cat (Jazz) from SPCA here. He is a year old cat and so much fun. Well from the moment I brought him home (over a month ago now) he has had watery diarrhea. I called the SPCA about it and they had no clue what the problem was but they had to have known he had this problem since it is so bad. Well I have taken him to our vet and finally found out he has coccidia! I am freaked about our other cats in the house now. My vet did not seem all that concerned but all I have read about it freaks me out. We have a FIV+ cat and a cat that is older and has diabetes. I have disinfected everything and Jazz is on medication for it. Jazz and the others do not share food, water or litter boxes yet. And even with all that, one of my other cats is now starting to have diarrhea. I do not know which one is having it though so I guess we will have to medicate all of them.
Sorry about the babbling, I am just frustrated.
My question is: 1) Does it hurt to medicate all of them even if the others are ok? and 2) Will there be any end to the cycle? It seems that Jazz cleared up when almost done with medication but has now re-infected himself! I am just imagining between 4 cats it constantly be passed and no end in site. Any advice and such would be appreciated.

Coccidia is cyclical in nature and you usually need to do repeated treatments. When I've had cats with it, I've completely changed their litter boxes out at least twice a day and used bleach to clean them in between.

Coccidia medicine is pretty strong and I'm not sure you should treat all of your cats. Can you isolate each one in turn until you find out who has the problem?

Originally Posted by Momofmany

Coccidia is cyclical in nature and you usually need to do repeated treatments. When I've had cats with it, I've completely changed their litter boxes out at least twice a day and used bleach to clean them in between.

Coccidia medicine is pretty strong and I'm not sure you should treat all of your cats. Can you isolate each one in turn until you find out who has the problem?

Click to expand...

I could try to isolate them. I am not sure I could change out all three litter boxes every day and bleach them (physically hard on me). Another hard thing added in here is that we are leaving in a week and will be gone for 12 days!!! We have someone who comes and feeds the cats and can also give medications but not sure they could do the whole thing of completely changing the litter as well. Ugh, bad timing Thanks for your quick response.

Bad timing with the coccidia and you leaving. If you find the ones that have it, you only need to change out their boxes.

And honestly, DH and I travel regularly and if we can't get a vet tech to our house to care for the cats, we will board any sick ones with the vet.

How much do you trust your pet sitter?

Originally Posted by Momofmany

Bad timing with the coccidia and you leaving. If you find the ones that have it, you only need to change out their boxes.

And honestly, DH and I travel regularly and if we can't get a vet tech to our house to care for the cats, we will board any sick ones with the vet.

How much do you trust your pet sitter?

Click to expand...

Well the friend we have feed the cats and such we know and trust really well. With this going on we are getting a vet tech from our veterinarian to come to the house and give medications. Since she also does pet sitting, I might ask how much extra it would cost for her to change the litter out and clean them when she is here. We thought about boarding Jazz and who ever is sick also but I would be concerned with them getting something else from the kennel. Maybe I am being too concerned. We do have a large enough house so we can have Jazz in a nice size room by himself and then who ever else is sick in another large room by themselves. Would that be horrible to have them locked up for that long??? Boy if I could cancel this trip I would but it is impossible.

Coccidia stinks. At the shelter, we always treat for 10 days with Albon, then re-test a fecal.

I honestly would treat everyone. Coccidia spreads fast & easy, esp. on cats like yours.

Originally Posted by white cat lover

Coccidia stinks. At the shelter, we always treat for 10 days with Albon, then re-test a fecal.

I honestly would treat everyone. Coccidia spreads fast & easy, esp. on cats like yours.

Click to expand...

Yes, Jazz just finished 14 days on the medication. I need to get him re-tested now. Is cleaning floors with antibacterial good enough? How can I disinfect carpets? We have concrete floors downstairs and wood upstairs but we have area rugs in several rooms.

I don't know that there is a way to disinfect the carpets. When I had coccidia in my house, I changed/cleaned boxes, but had no poop dribbles anywhere outside the box so never cleaned the house.

Originally Posted by white cat lover

I don't know that there is a way to disinfect the carpets. When I had coccidia in my house, I changed/cleaned boxes, but had no poop dribbles anywhere outside the box so never cleaned the house.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I have not had dribbles out side the litter boxes but was just wondering if the germs would be carried on Jazz's paws. I have kept a close eye on his litter box and been scooping out his poop as soon as possible. I guess if I need to change their litter twice a day I should move to clay litter or something cheap. I use Swheat Scoop right now and that would be way too expensive to throw away twice a day. Hopefully that won't upset the cats being switched to something like that and then switched back after we are all over this.

I just went though this with Winston. We got him at 3 months old and he came to us with it. In the last couple weeks we have just now started getting normal poos. He is 5 months old.

Just check with your vet about the doseage, because the first time they gave us the meds they had him on 1ml once a day, but because he grew so quick (1.5 lbs in a month!!!) the dose quickly became useless and as soon as the meds were over, it came back with a vengeance and we went back and the vet upped it to 2ml once a day.

I also changed his food to something a bit kinder on his tummy and it was gone with in 1 week of it!!

I hope your kitty feels better soon. No fun for them OR us having to scoop it up!