I hate to say that I am relieved...but I am! I have been taking in fecals every so often in an effort to try to find SOMETHING we could treat. We finally got that break today! I took in a sample yesterday and the vet sent it off to a lab. I had already been giving the cats Albon for about 2 days just on a whim and they found a ton of dead coccidia in the sample!!! This means we have something to cure! I am so estatic. Sounds dumb, but knowing a "cause" based on a sample is helping me tremendously in keeping up my spirits on treating this.
Bear was treated with Albon when he came here. It didn't work because he also had Giardia...and no coccidia was ever seen in his stool. So, the rundown as I see it right now is that Bear came in with Coccidia and Giardia. He was given albon as a "precaution" and that rid him of the coccidia, but he still had the giardia. We found the giardia and treated him and the other cats for that alone. He had so much inflammation (and a horrible case...and maybe an underlying condition?) so he did not get better.
In the meantime, Blue and Rex caught either both coccidia and giardia or just coccidia. They were treated for Giardia (even though it was never found in a fecal) because Bear had it confirmed in HIS feacl, but I never thought to do coccidia treatment with them (until 2 days ago) because the coccidia was never confirmed in a fecal on Bear OR Blue/Rex until today.
So...we are on a 21 day dose of Albon and Chloe is taking a two week dose to make sure that she doesn't get it. We are eating an allergy food (Natural Balance Chicken and Green Pea) and using a probiotic on top to help ease the transition. I figure, right now, they already have diarrhea, so lets just get this all over with at once. With as much back and forth as we have been through over the diarrhea and the cats having one food and Blue another and each sampling the others' foods, I figure this is the best way.
So...we have a plan. And...when our diagel comes I am going to give the boys each a dose of that just to slow down motility and give their intestines a bit of a break so they can heal.
Many prayers are needed that this works!
Bear was treated with Albon when he came here. It didn't work because he also had Giardia...and no coccidia was ever seen in his stool. So, the rundown as I see it right now is that Bear came in with Coccidia and Giardia. He was given albon as a "precaution" and that rid him of the coccidia, but he still had the giardia. We found the giardia and treated him and the other cats for that alone. He had so much inflammation (and a horrible case...and maybe an underlying condition?) so he did not get better.
In the meantime, Blue and Rex caught either both coccidia and giardia or just coccidia. They were treated for Giardia (even though it was never found in a fecal) because Bear had it confirmed in HIS feacl, but I never thought to do coccidia treatment with them (until 2 days ago) because the coccidia was never confirmed in a fecal on Bear OR Blue/Rex until today.
So...we are on a 21 day dose of Albon and Chloe is taking a two week dose to make sure that she doesn't get it. We are eating an allergy food (Natural Balance Chicken and Green Pea) and using a probiotic on top to help ease the transition. I figure, right now, they already have diarrhea, so lets just get this all over with at once. With as much back and forth as we have been through over the diarrhea and the cats having one food and Blue another and each sampling the others' foods, I figure this is the best way.
So...we have a plan. And...when our diagel comes I am going to give the boys each a dose of that just to slow down motility and give their intestines a bit of a break so they can heal.
Many prayers are needed that this works!
