tested Positive for Giardia

brandy-neka · Oct 21, 2011

So from my previous post about Neka where she was having respiratory type issues, before she was put on a certain medication her vet wanted to rule out worms in her intestines that could cause a coughing type symptom. Brought them the stool today, the person that checked her stool noticed things that looked like Giardia so called me and asked if she could do that test as well. I said yes, they did the test, it came back positive.

Now there is medication for this and so I'm not overly worried there but what I want to know is how the hell did she get it?

I've had her since August 30th. I called her breeder (she's a sbt savannah) and they are a reputable breeder and apparently none of they're cats have it. I believe them. Giardia can be gotten from contaminated feces, water, food, or soil from what I've seen. She hasn't been around other animals nor has she been outside unsupervised. So either she's getting it from her food (her food is big name companies) so I doubt it's from there. Or water... I don't filter my water it's from the same water that I drink. I don't think I have giardia but humans can get it to... She lives in sanitary conditions trust me, and I'm sure her breeders place was sanitary as well. So could she have gotten this from her plane ride? At the vets? At a pet place like petco or pet smart? I just want to know where/how she got it and no one can tell me.

Ms. Freya · Oct 21, 2011

She could have come into contact with it outside, even if she was supervised. All she would have to do is find a puddle or some pooled water that was contaminated - it wouldn't necessarily be obvious. Also, it could have come in on someone's shoes. If someone tracked contaminated soil into the home, she could have gotten it that way.

catnamedpanda · Oct 21, 2011

Its hard to tell where she got it. I wondered the same thing about my boys when they came down with it and now they have coccidia... of course I do rescue but the odd thing is if my rescues test positive for something they are not allowed out of quarantine until they are tested again and are clean.

My vet jokes that my boys have the worst digestive systems ever because in the 6 months of their lives we have been to the vet at least 10+ times for diarrhea. We both tell them they have been trouble from the start because they are c-section kittens that I had to bottle feed because moms milk never dropped.

brandy-neka · Oct 22, 2011

She got the pills this morning at the vet... and they showed me how to give her the pills. They went down easily enough she was very compliant....

They also came back up easily enough in the car ride home...

She had diarrhea and vomited on the way home - i feel so bad...

Thankfully she likes water so when I put her in the tub to clean her up she waded in the water and I just used my hands to put more water over her. Don't have kitty shampoo so that will have to do for now... From smelling her coat a bit ago at least she doesn't stink and she's not trailing stuff everywhere.

I tried cleaning her carrier myself but i was about retching every time I tried to clean more of it up. So I brought it and Neka to petco hoping she'd get a shampood wash but there cat groomer wasn't there... so they cleaned the carrier for free

- pet smart wouldn't wash her on the weekend either.. at first her coat was a bit smelly but it's gotten better.

I still feel bad... she can't be feeling good at all right now

cat person · Oct 22, 2011

Originally Posted by Brandy-Neka

She got the pills this morning at the vet... and they showed me how to give her the pills. They went down easily enough she was very compliant....

They also came back up easily enough in the car ride home...

She had diarrhea and vomited on the way home - i feel so bad...

Thankfully she likes water so when I put her in the tub to clean her up she waded in the water and I just used my hands to put more water over her. Don't have kitty shampoo so that will have to do for now... From smelling her coat a bit ago at least she doesn't stink and she's not trailing stuff everywhere.

I tried cleaning her carrier myself but i was about retching every time I tried to clean more of it up. So I brought it and Neka to petco hoping she'd get a shampood wash but there cat groomer wasn't there... so they cleaned the carrier for free

- pet smart wouldn't wash her on the weekend either.. at first her coat was a bit smelly but it's gotten better.

I still feel bad... she can't be feeling good at all right now

What medication did the veterinarian give you? How long and how often are you supposed to give the medication? Did you contact the breeder?

You are VERY LUCKY she will allow you to medicate her. My F3 Savannah is food motivated, so he is easy to medicate. Since I hide the pill in food, yes like a dog

.

Do you want me to give you the contact information for a person who breeds and rescues exotic and hybrid cats? They would be willing to help you.

presto · Oct 22, 2011

One of my cats had/has Giardia. It is not that serious. If they gave you Flagyl (Metro-something) be very careful. The medication is often worse than the disease. I would give her two or three doses MAX, and re-evaluate her.

And please, in the future, consider adoption!

brandy-neka · Oct 23, 2011

Originally Posted by Cat Person

What medication did the veterinarian give you? How long and how often are you supposed to give the medication? Did you contact the breeder?

You are VERY LUCKY she will allow you to medicate her. My F3 Savannah is food motivated, so he is easy to medicate. Since I hide the pill in food, yes like a dog

.

Do you want me to give you the contact information for a person who breeds and rescues exotic and hybrid cats? They would be willing to help you.

Medication: metronidazole - about a weeks worth - twice a day.
Contacted the breeder... good on that side...

Ironically when I got home from work tonight, I was hesitant to force feed the pill to her I mean she was easy with it before but I just didn't like the idea of it... so I hide it in her wet food and she gobbled it up lol. Then she went on eating the other food I brought her.

I don't need contact information for someone who breeds or rescues exotics or hybrids... A) I'm never getting rid of my cat and B) My breeder answers my calls or emails depending on what I send.

Originally Posted by Presto

One of my cats had/has Giardia. It is not that serious. If they gave you Flagyl (Metro-something) be very careful. The medication is often worse than the disease. I would give her two or three doses MAX, and re-evaluate her.

And please, in the future, consider adoption!

I looked up the side effects of flagyl.. yea they are nasty but it's not a long dose and I hope she won't have any serious issues with it...

As for the adoption thing... I feel like I'm being judged for having a savannah. Before I had Neka I had a Siamese that my grandma got from a shelter... had him for almost 18 years - loved him to death and still miss him to this day.. I got a savannah for the personality that is almost dog like... I like that she's easily trained to a leash/harness, that she likes water, that she wants to be around me all the time... the fact that she's beautiful is a nice advantage as well...

cat person · Oct 23, 2011

Originally Posted by Brandy-Neka

Medication: metronidazole - about a weeks worth - twice a day.
Contacted the breeder... good on that side...

That medication should work. Glad you contacted the breeder

.

Originally Posted by Brandy-Neka

1Ironically when I got home from work tonight, I was hesitant to force feed the pill to her I mean she was easy with it before but I just didn't like the idea of it... so I hide it in her wet food and she gobbled it up lol. Then she went on eating the other food I brought her.

That is probably a good idea. Mainly because, the cat will not associate you with "doing bad things" to her.

Originally Posted by Brandy-Neka

I don't need contact information for someone who breeds or rescues exotics or hybrids... A) I'm never getting rid of my cat and B) My breeder answers my calls or emails depending on what I send.

I did not mean you wanted to get rid of your cat, sorry for the miscommunication

. I just meant the person I know, has a vast knowledge of care of these type of cats.

I would have hoped the breeder would always answer your questions.

Originally Posted by Brandy-Neka

I looked up the side effects of flagyl.. yea they are nasty but it's not a long dose and I hope she won't have any serious issues with it...

My Savannah had no issues with Flagyl, it was given to him twice a day for fourteen days. My domestic long hair also never had an issue witl Flagyl. Here are your Savannah is the same.

Originally Posted by Brandy-Neka

As for the adoption thing... I feel like I'm being judged for having a savannah. Before I had Neka I had a Siamese that my grandma got from a shelter... had him for almost 18 years - loved him to death and still miss him to this day.. I got a savannah for the personality that is almost dog like... I like that she's easily trained to a leash/harness, that she likes water, that she wants to be around me all the time... the fact that she's beautiful is a nice advantage as well...

Just enjoy your cat

. Part of owning this breed involves being judged, in real life and the internet.

cathydoggins · Oct 23, 2011

Originally Posted by Brandy-Neka

So from my previous post about Neka where she was having respiratory type issues, before she was put on a certain medication her vet wanted to rule out worms in her intestines that could cause a coughing type symptom. Brought them the stool today, the person that checked her stool noticed things that looked like Giardia so called me and asked if she could do that test as well. I said yes, they did the test, it came back positive.

Now there is medication for this and so I'm not overly worried there but what I want to know is how the hell did she get it?

I've had her since August 30th. I called her breeder (she's a sbt savannah) and they are a reputable breeder and apparently none of they're cats have it. I believe them. Giardia can be gotten from contaminated feces, water, food, or soil from what I've seen. She hasn't been around other animals nor has she been outside unsupervised. So either she's getting it from her food (her food is big name companies) so I doubt it's from there. Or water... I don't filter my water it's from the same water that I drink. I don't think I have giardia but humans can get it to... She lives in sanitary conditions trust me, and I'm sure her breeders place was sanitary as well. So could she have gotten this from her plane ride? At the vets? At a pet place like petco or pet smart? I just want to know where/how she got it and no one can tell me.

It is possible that your cat was infected by other cats that are shedding giardia, just not showing any clinical symptoms. Most cases of giardia in cats are asymptomatic. These cats still shed the giardia cysts which encase the protozoa, allowing it to last in the environment for months without a host. When your cat came in contact with something that was contaminated, which could be food or any surface, she caught the infection.

brandy-neka · Oct 25, 2011

my once compliant kitty is now being very difficult to either pill or give food in her medication... she's very smart and just eats around the pill and if I try to pill her as they taught me forget about it. I brought her back to the vet yesterday for them to pill them (because it's free to do that) and it was difficult for them as well... so coming up with a new plan. I have 7 doses of the stuff left to give her.

My vet opens at 7:30am and closes at 6pm. I am skipping her dose that I do tonight that I usually do at about 2 am (because I get off work at 1am), and taking her to the vet right after they open and right before they close and they can pill her. It'll be a pain in the butt on gas but otherwise when i tried getting a friend of mine to hold her while I tried to pill her she was hissing and jumping around and running around and running under the bed and behind the couch... Essentially getting all stressed out

I don't like a stressed out kitty

So to the vet we go

cat person · Oct 25, 2011

Originally Posted by Brandy-Neka

my once compliant kitty is now being very difficult to either pill or give food in her medication... she's very smart and just eats around the pill and if I try to pill her as they taught me forget about it. I brought her back to the vet yesterday for them to pill them (because it's free to do that) and it was difficult for them as well... so coming up with a new plan. I have 7 doses of the stuff left to give her.

My vet opens at 7:30am and closes at 6pm. I am skipping her dose that I do tonight that I usually do at about 2 am (because I get off work at 1am), and taking her to the vet right after they open and right before they close and they can pill her. It'll be a pain in the butt on gas but otherwise when i tried getting a friend of mine to hold her while I tried to pill her she was hissing and jumping around and running around and running under the bed and behind the couch... Essentially getting all stressed out

I don't like a stressed out kitty

So to the vet we go

My two cents are as follows: If the veterinarian will administer the medication and you can afford the gas it is MUCH BETTER then you becoming the "bad one" in the eyes of your Savannah. While I have plenty of domestic cats get "angry, upset, and hold a grudge", nothing beats the experience of an angry Savannah.

How is she doing with the medication? Is it helping, with the symptoms from the previous post?

brandy-neka · Oct 26, 2011

It's doing what it's intended to do, and she just doesn't like the taste at this point... the vet techs also make it alot less stressful. I was a bit annoyed when this morning they did it so fast and I was like thinking to myself: "sure you let them do it so fast but for your mom you make it take close to an hour pfft" lol

tested Positive for Giardia

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