Yesss!! Lily had her stool re-check to see

if she was free of Giardia that she got a week and a half ago. The vet tech looked doubtfully at me today when I said that I was praying that it would be gone. She said " Giardia is hard to get rid of". I said "Well, I am praying for a miracle then". Sure enough, Lily's test results came back ALL CLEAR!! NO more Giardia. I am happy it is out of her system. BTW, now that I have dealt with it firsthand, I am not as paranoid about it as I was in the beginning.

That's great news! Hope she's feeling much better now!

Good news!

but loveable self again. She is going to the vet tommorrow for a vaccination against Giardia. I still can't bear to keep her inside 24/7. She lives in a basement apartment that doesn't get fresh air(it does have small windows and great flourescent lighting though), so I like to let her get some sun and air for a couple of hours each day. Hopefully the vaccine will protect her from future bouts with this parasite.

Can you build a small outdoor cat run? Then they can be outside and have fresh air, but still safe.

That is great news! Just the chance of looking totally stupid here what is Giardia? I am not sure what that is

cat. Blondie. Giardia (It's amazing how quickly one becomes an expert on something when there was ZERO knowledge before!) Giardia is an intestinal parasite that is found in standing water and streams. It enters hosts such as birds and mammals when they drink the water. Cysts shed off in the stool and other animals can get infected by coming in contact with the contaminated stool or water.

Here is what I found on the internet:

Some say it is a big deal, some say it isn't
Some say it is contagious to people, others say cats aren't likely transmitters of the disease.
Some say to bleach down the environment, Some say keeping the litterbox and food bowls disinfected is enough
Some say it is a very stubborn disease and can take a long time to clear up, others say it can clear up in a week.
Some say it is a life long disease and they don't really ever get rid of it, others say a simple course of medicine will rid them of the disease.
Some say a vaccine will prevent future bouts, others say the vaccine isn't that reliable.

Needless to say, there appear to be lots of contradictions among the veterinary community on exactly how bad or not bad this Giardia is. I am just relieved Lily got over it quickly.

I'm glad she got over it too, but it would be good to keep an eye on it, just in case...