Giardia...Will it ever go away????

My poor little 7 month old bengal has been treated for giardia 3 times already. it seems like he cant get rid of it, his stool is always loose. the vet has told me about a giardia vaccine they give to dogs and she said it might work for cats as well. Do you think i should give my kitty the vaccine? Cause metronidazole isnt working. i dont know what to do any more its just sad to see my kitty with loose stool.


His current diet is Nutro kitten dry and Nutro kitten wet.

Jerry Hsien

Jerry, since this is the forum for senior cats, I am moving you to health and nutrition.

I believe wholeheartedly in the amazing properties of Grapefruit Seed Extract. I have seen it cure my horses, my dog, and my cats and I add it to their food and water daily. It has the ability to kill any bacterial (bad) or fungal infection. I would start adding about 3 drops per day to your kitten's wet food and drop some in the water as well. I cannot say enough good about this product and you can find it at any decent health foods store.

Oh my gosh he is the sweetest thing I've ever seen

The Giardia vaccine is made for cats, too. It's worth a try!

amy

Mary Anne

On your recommendation awhile back I got some GSE. I had quit putting it in their water when I decided Simba didn't have a URI. Is this something I should continue forever - it sounds as if you do it as general practice?

I do, but only because new cats are introduced here all the time, and I just don't want to take chances. I also take it every day with breakfast in juice as does hubby and we have not had colds, flus or nasty resp. illnesses since we started. I used to get pleurisy, pneumonia and yucky stuff several times a year. I know that some people have laughed at me and called me the Internet GSE Preacher, but I really swear by this product.

Hey, I was reading about it here

http://www.pureliquidgold.com/benefits.htm

and it said,

9. Weight loss & more energy!

According to many of our customers grapefruit seed extract has made a major difference in their weight loss. Other customers remark about how much better they feel and the increased energy they have when taking grapefruit seed extract.


Looks like I'll be trying it too!

Hey, if it helps weight loss too I'm getting me a bottle of that stuff!

WOW Hissy , thank you for the tip . Tomorrow I will go and buy me some for all my animals and will use it in the water . You said just a few trops right ?

i would try the vaccine, its worth a try

Have they tried fenbendazole? (AKA Panacur) I just went through this with my chinchillas. Nasty stuff I tell you! Especially when you have 12 chinchillas in close proximity to one another. 6 chins got infected from one female who had it first. I lost one male who was 15 - 20 years old (Chin lifespan is the same as a cat), and a female who was 8. The female who first became infected was 2, living with a male. He didn't show symptoms, but got treated anyway. The three chins living in the cage below them were also infected. 2 got through it fine, and the other was that 8 year old female who died. The old male was not very close to the other guys, but he was more succeptable to it since he was old and skinny in the first place. The 2 in the cage of three only needed to be treated once. That one 2 year old female though would just not get rid of it. The vet's instructions were to treat with the fenbendazole once a day, for 5 days. It went away, came back, went away again, came back again, then went away for a few weeks. Came back of course. Then someone on a chinchilla board I frequent told me that it can definitely come back if you don't treat again three weeks later, symptoms or not. Seems the meds only kill the parasites, not the eggs. Then the eggs hatch and can re-infect. Seeing as this females immune system was so low due to being so sick, she couldn't fight it. She got down to half her original weight, she was so skinny. Gaining the weight back has been a slow and steady process. At first, I made her gain quickly by supplementing her, until she was not at such a dangerous weight, then I let her gain the rest naturally. It's been quite a journey and today I about jumped for joy when I weighed her and she was back to her original weight! She's got more to gain, as her "original weight" was when she was nursing a kit. About 40 more grams to go and I'll be thrilled.

I get the fenbendazole from the feed store, and my vet gave me the dosage.

I haven't heard about the vaccine. Will it work if the cat already has the giardia? Or do you need to get rid of the giardia first?

Dawn

Where would I go to get GSE? A health food store? and how much should I expect to pay? I think this may be great for our cat family since we have so many! Probably also great for my mom and I!

ops, didn't look at the date

I feel for your little angel...I had Giardia once, nasty stuff. Took three rounds of Metronidozole to get it out of my system, and then even when there was no trace of the bug, it took a long time for my digestive track to be "right" again. It throws off the whole balance. I've heard great things about GSE and there are great probiotics out there to put the good bacteria back. But I'd check with a homeopathic vet first about probiotics, they would have a recommendation.

And now with all this great support for GSE, maybe I'll start taking it!