coccidia

Hi,

  We adopted a kitten (9 weeks old) about a week ago from a shelter. The vet diagnosed her with Coccidia on tuesday and gave her a de wormer (2nd round) and the Albon then and sent me home with a 5 day supply. Honestly reading about this has freaked me out. I have 3 kids (8, 6, and 4) that I'm worried about getting this or toxoplasmosis. I have driven myself crazy with cleaning and washing and picking up litter, only to know there is NO CURE for this just management (at least that's what I'm finding in my research and from our vet.) She does not now or since we got her have any symptoms. I scoop her litter often through out the day but the fact that her feet are in the litter then on the floor, my couch, the rugs and what not what am I supposed to do? isn't this how she'll reinfect herself. I want to love this kitten but I'm not sure I can do this for 15-20 years. We are debating taking her back while she is still cute and very adoptable to the right people but I'd hate to give her back if this is curable and not as bad as everything I've been reading. My kids are devastated that we are considering giving her back. I'm quite pissed at the lady at the shelter because I let her know this happened a few years ago with a puppy we adopted that ended up passing away from giardia. I never would have brought this kitty into our home having known that she had coccidia. I will admit I'm a little OCD about germs and cleanliness but I can't even eat without wiping something down for fear that the cat stepped somewhere my food might be. How long do these cysts last on couches and rugs and what not? help!! I don't know what we need to do.

Thanks.

What you really need to do is try to relax.

I have had literally hundreds and hundreds of kittens through my cat room, many with coccidia, as they come from everywhere, born to feral moms, humane society, the shelter in the feral barn awaiting euthanization, just everywhere.

When they come from these places rather than born indoors to the Cleavers ideal household, they are exposed to many many things, viruses, parasitc, uri, you never know.

While shelters do their best to avoid this, it happens, high volume alone makes it pretty much impossible to avoid.

Shoot, a cat can go eat a mouse and get it. It is quite common, but immature kittens under 6 months come up with it much more often for just that reason.

The good news is, you certainly don't need to worry about you, your kids, or anyone else getting it, and you have no other cats. (even so it's not that big of a deal)

Albon is the most widely prescribed med for coccidia,  it works by inhibiting the cysts which will allow the kitty's immune system to get rid of it.

However, Albon needs to be given for awhile. I say at least 14 days unless she was given a vaccine as well. It does work though.

My choice by a landslide is ponazuril. 5 days, once a day and it is gone for good.

Ponazuril actually kills the cysts rather than simply inhibiting.

If you are able to get this from your vet (some vets don't use it/don't know enough about it) so call around and find one who does.

Meanwhile, stop stressing, it is not going to infect your family.

Quote from CAPC-(companion animal parasite council)

Public Health Considerations

• Because humans are not susceptible to Cystoisospora infections from dogs and cats, canine or feline coccidia are not considered zoonotic agents

To avoid reinfection of your kitten, 1 cup of clorox to 1 gallon of water, pour some in a spray bottle and once a day, maybe before bedtime, just damp mop the area right around her litterbox.

There must be poop for the cysts to survive and reinfect her, so no poop, she is safe.

It sounds like you keep the box very clean as it is, so no worries there

Yep Jerz, there's no worries here.  To put your mind even more at rest, my husband has leukemia, so his immune system is not at all good (but better than zero when he was in intensive care!).  Our new kitten also had suspected coccidia, and we are always so so so careful with my husband and any potential pathogens - we were told not to worry, there's no risk of infection to a human.  And he's fine, I'm fine, our big cat is fine and our kitten is now fine.  

And on the 'no cure' front, well, there are a lot of things that have no cure that don't really affect us at all (eg, the coldsore virus), and it's the same with some cat things too - they can live happily without one flare up in their whole life - or maybe a couple of bouts of diahorrea that resolve pretty quickly (in the case of corona virus for example)!  For a human, it would translate as being rather surprised at a blood test result cause you never knew you had 'x'...and chances are you will never see it manifested as a serious matter in your health either.

Toxoplasmosis wise, not much to worry about there either.  The only precaution they suggest is that a pregnant woman not clean the litter - but if she's been living with the cat already, then she's very likely been exposed anyway and fought it off (without even knowing it!), so its all a bit redundant.  I wouldn't worry about anyone's health on this front - oh, and be aware that cat haters actually create a lot of hoo-ha about toxoplasmosis, why? because they want to make the point that cats just aren't good.  It's scaremongering/vilification, not science.  Your kids could catch a whole bunch more dangerous things just from playing in soil!

By all means be clean - but no need to drive yourself bonkers.  The normal level of sanitation we apply to our own lives will work; and as we keep our own toilets clean, of course we keep the cat's toilet clean too.  There are some really little easy things that can add a bit more 'satisfaction' that everything is schmick, without busting your energy or brain - eg, after you scoop a poo, spray and wipe the scooper with a dilute bleach solution before going on with the remainder of the litter scooping so you don't trek anything from the poo through the rest of the litter  (we have a commercial oxygen bleach cleaner that breaks down into harmless substances so we use this, but you could just as easily make up your solution and keep it in a spray bottle that's easy to grab off the bench.)  While I think of it, I also use a metal spatula - like what you use in a frypan - as our scooper.  It's super cheap, scoops so easily, and is better to clean than plastic which can harbour things.  And between full bleach cleaning of the litter box (which I did once a week when we had kitten illness), you can also use this solution on a paper towel to 'spot clean' any smeared bits on the litter tray.

Have fun with your kitten!

Thank you for the advice. I have been driving myself (and my husband) crazy thats for sure! The kids touch the cat and I feel like the handwashing nazi " go wash your had before you touch anything else!" The toxoplasmosis comment came from our vet in the sense of "this is the one we watch out for with toxoplasmosis when your pregnant." No idea why he felt he needed to say that to me. Thanks for the bleach spray idea and I totally didn't think about the scooper until yesterday when I bleached the litter pan (I do use liners too.) The one thing I'm not clear with is the cyst removal in the environment. How do I get them off my carpet, chairs couches and rugs? steam clean with regular solution? i'm not sure it gets hot enough though. Will her bedding be clear of them going through a hot water wash cycle and dryer heat?How often would you do that? I just don't want to reinfect her if I can help it and from what it sounds like she can carry the infective cysts on her fur, paws, our clothes and shoes etc. I also have those puppy pads infront of her litter box to help keep the litter spread to a minimum but maybe i should loose that for now? or change it daily? I will be talking to the vet about the ponziril (sp) on Tuesday. 

Thanks again!

From what Catwoman707 said "There must be poop for the cysts to survive and reinfect her, so no poop, she is safe",  I'd say you would be safe re any surface that is merely touched by the cat and not poo?  

I certainly didn't go berserk with disinfecting the whole house, our vet said our cleaning methods were fine, and we seem to be fine...I did go berserk with cleaning any surface touched by poo, and observing closely every toilet action as my poor little baby had diahorrea plus kitten ineptitude and sometimes got poo on her paws (I washed her paws with a gentle pet shampoo, standing in the shower with a hand-held shower-head on those occasions - the surfaces got oxygen bleach). 

I understand you can put a bit of bleach in with your wash?? but I've never done that and think it would not be a good idea for our machine.  I just used normal detergent.  I am also leary of exposing a cat to toxins like bleach - which breaks down to chlorine - as you can poison the cat.  I rinse my bleach cleaned litter trays  like crazy, use an oxygen bleach (breaks down to safe stuff) in the bathroom & when I want something more powerful, and use 50-50 vinegar/water for our kitchen and all the floors, as vinegar is a natural and feline-safe antiseptic.  I have heard of people doing lots of cleaning in case of cat illness, using bleach, who have poisoned the cat.  Remember they walk everywhere, lie everywhere, and lick themselves to clean themselves.  So I make a rule in our house that if bleach is used, RINSING like mad has to happen.  

But that is me and it is just a home environment - I understand breeders and those with more cats need to be more careful, so might be good to hear what they say?

In relation to the bleach solution: The bottle below says 1:20 which is what I use....but this strength will ruin most sprayers so stick to 1:30 (from http://www.catinfo.org/?link=litterbox#Cleaning_the_Litter_Box

Which is normally just fine and kills household germs, but I notice on coccidia cysts, as well as ringworm spores, they recommend 1 cup to 1 gallon, which is a 1-16 dilution.

This can be used maybe before bedtime, just once a day is sufficient unless she has runny poop and has a chance of stepping on it then tracking it around, but just a spray bottle mixture misted around her litterbox, mop then a once clear water mop.

This is not going to harm your kitty and will be plenty to ensure no reinfection.

Ladies, please understand, the reinfection factor is mainly for multi-cat homes and shelter type places, where it's hard to control who poops when, if someone stepped on it and cleaned their paw before it was scooped out, and so on.

It's quite simple in a single cat home.

Good luck, things will be fine

Sometimes looking things up on the internet is scary, or even some vets will scare you, it's usually a bit more extreme sounding than it really is hands on.

I've had vets say to euthanize an fiv+ cat too, which is rediculous.