Question on adding a cat with Giardia to existing cats

Recently I rescued a cat that has lived outdoors for the past 3 years. I have known, fed her etc since she was a kitten. I took her to the vet and at first she did not test positive for Giardia but a week later she did test positive for Giardia. I am reading about this on the site and have some questions as it seems like it is difficult to get rid of and has a "footprint" that can cause problems.

I live in a small house and have her in a bedroom away from the existing indoor cats. I am treating her with Panacur and am 3 days into her 5 day treatment. I am guessing she had Giardia when she entered the home and not knowing this I did not change her litter and litter box daily etc. So I greatly fear that there are Giardia cysts in the room. I threw out the bedding etc but who knows if I brought cysts into the other areas of the house not knowing that she had Giardia.

Now that I am treating her I am removing all litter and changing boxes to totally clean boxes. I am also bleaching the room as much as I can but it is difficult as I don't know if I am killing all the cysts etc. I fear these cysts and the fact she may reinfect herself. And I worry the cycle will never end. When she uses the litter box I try to immediately remove the litter, feces and the box. But she may have already gotten these Giardia cysts into her paws, her fur etc. Now she is having solid stools and not diarrhea so is that a good sign? Or can these cysts still get one her paws and fur etc (then of course around the room) even with solid stools? 

I would like to integrate her with the other cats and let her have free roam of the house (she is really ready). But how can I ever feel secure that I have not missed any cysts that may lurch in the room? How can I be sure I have not carried any cysts from the room into the other parts of the house? 

I just do not want to have the existing indoor cats subjected and infected by Giardia. I don't know if I would ever be able to rid all the cysts of this Giardia if that would happen. I read the site about this Giardia and I am very worried that the risks of integrating this new cat is too great to the existing cats health.

I don't want her to be in a room forever and I really don't want to release her back "onto the street". I want her to live and enjoy with the other cats. But I fear this Giardia greatly.

Am I overreacting? How can anyone really be sure that this Giardia is eradicated?

Any information, advice is greatly appreciated. I realize I have a lot of questions in this post but hopefully they can be answered or addressed. Thank you so much. I feel pretty frustrated and stressed about this situation and I love this new cat but I love my existing ones as well. And I really don't want Giardia to infect the other cats or even myself.

Thanks for any responses.

CRS

I just thought I should add a few things.

When she came in the house she liked to lay in the litter for some reason. I treated her with Revolution before she came in the house but I never changed the litter or the box until I found out she had Giardia. I worry that her fur has millions of cysts in it. Is that a rational fear?

So given this, the logical response would be to bath her. Well, she is pretty good and allows me to pet her but I don't think there is any chance she would allow me to bath her. None of my cats allow me to bath them. Is there anything I can use to "sponge bath" her? That would kill the Giardia that may reside in her fur but not do any harm to her?

I just was in her room petting her and I was thinking about all those Giardia cysts in her fur and going all over. I immediately went and washed my hands but I need to leave the room and cross a hallway to get to the bathroom to wash my hands. But I worry my clothes may be dripping Giardia all over the floors. I am ignorant about this issue so my fears are probably irrational but until I am educated I still fear.

I should also add that she is a healthy cat according to my vet but it is odd that she has Giardia if she is healthy. She had bad diarrhea for a week after she came into the house which prompted another parasite test and teh diarrhea test (which turned out to be good except for the Giardia). All the other indoor cats are healthy as well. But I believe healthy cats can catch Giardia.

Thank you for your help and advice.

CRS

I ama sure that you can erradicate this parasite eventually.  Do you have your other pets on Panacur as well, just to be on the safe side?   I would think that's one of the first things you should do, because, as you said, there may be some of these mean little Giardia beasties around your house and your other pets could get infected. 

Did you talk to your Vet about what you could do to get rid of it on your house? In the meantime, I found this thread and they have a couple suggestions:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/296271/up-to-my-eyeballs-in-giardia

Here's another one:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/248314/cant-get-rid-of-parasites-giardia

mrsgreenjeens,

Thank you for your response.

The other cats are not yet on panacur. The vet thought it would be best to wait for a positive reading before giving it as they are not easy to handle, aren't really great at eating on schedule (they only eat wet food once in a while) and if anything is different they tend to pass on the food. It is going to be a real challenge to get them all to take their meds at the same time every day. I really am fearing if this spreads as I am not sure how to eradicate it if it gets to the others. I did have one of the other cats tested and she did not have Giardia but given the false clear reading on the new cat I am not so sure I trust that test. Going to do more testing very soon.

The biggest problem I have is for the first week I didn't know the new cat had Giardia. She was treated with Revolution and her stool sample 3 days after and she was given the all clear. No one mentioned the potential of Giardia. But she had diarrhea and soft stools so something seemed to be wrong and I took a sample in again and then the Giardia was diagnosed. But during that early period I did not change the litter and litter box, I did not clean the area, I had her in my lap a few times and did not change my clothes and then the other cats where exposed to my lap, and on and on. I thought she was clear of any parasites/worms so I got lax. I regret this mistake deeply.

I did speak to my vet and she didn't seem to think it was that big a deal. She said make sure you clean up the litter, change the box midway through treatment, clean the area with bleach and it shouldn't be a big deal, if she gets reinfected (which she said is common) we'll give her treatment again in 10 days and that should take care of it. She was not all that worried about it. But I read these threads (thank you for the links you included, they are very helpful) and the threads seem to suggest much more concern about this condition that what my vet showed. So I feel a bit more unsettled given this. maybe I am overreacting but I need to prevent contagion.

Thanks for your help.

CRS

I've never had to deal with this issue myself (thankfully), so let's just hope your Vet is correct

I am so glad you have not had to deal with Giardia. Hopefully you or anyone else will not have to go through it. Stressful.

I fear my vet is not correct given what I have been reading but let's hope. I am trying to do all I can but that week she had it and I didn't know about it is what really worries me. But it is done and now we have to deal with the rePURRRRRcussions (pun intended).

This new girl was part of a feral colony I take care of. She was trapped and taken to animal control and would have been destroyed if I didn't take her in. So ultimately it will be worth it but this transition period is really stressful. My advice to anyone taking in a new cat to an existing family of cats is to assume they have everything and test test test until it is clear they are free of anything then introduce.

Thanks again for all your help.

CRS

Giardia like cold, moist environments, but can only survive for about a week at room temperature. The giardia parasite is spread through feces, so unless your cat was smeared with them and transferred feces to your clothes, there's little chance of your other cats getting giardia from sitting on your lap or of you "dripping giardia". You can wear disposable gloves when cleaning her litter box or even disposable "booties" while you're in the room where she's confined and otherwise just follow your vet's sound advice re bleaching and changing the box. Some people find disposable cardboard litter boxes helpful during treatment, but proper cleaning of regular plastic ones suffices.

Is your cat longhaired or shorthaired? If the latter, you could wipe around her backside with disposable pet wipes if you can't bathe her.

Often more than one course of treatment with Panacur/fenbendazole/metronidazole (Flagyl) is necessary, so you don't want to put her in with your other cats until she's tested negative a few times. False negatives are quite common, so at least two negative tests after treatment would be advisable.

The CDC has some useful information that might put your mind at rest: Giardia & Pets

we rescued 4 kittens from outside and never kept them separate from the other animals after they were check.    I did have them vaccinated and dewormed and of the 4, 2 had coccidia and giardia but all 4 were being treated.  They used a separate box but that box wasn't kept away from the others.   and they were pooping on the floor at first.. everywhere.  I bleached those areas but as for the boxes, the poop was just scooped immediately... (someone is always home and were able to scoop)...   1 kitty had to do two rounds but they weren't found in any other kitty's poop.  None of my older cats got it.

jcat,

Thank you for your post. Your advice is very similar to how my vet thought of the situation. So that is reassuring. I think I got more paranoia from reading things on the internet. Since we can't see these cysts and cells it is the "invisible enemy" that is easy to fear.

I had about a week of not taking proper precautions before I found out she had Giardia so that week really worries me. She did have soft stools and some diarrhea and I just scooped it out of the litter box (pretty quickly after she went) and I did not dispose of the remaining litter and clean or change the box until treatment started. And the worst part of this is she then liked to lay in the litter box after I cleaned it. Now I tried to be very meticulous cleaning the litter but soft pieces of feces could have lodged in her paws and given she would lay in it, her fur. She she is a feral she is not all that easy to bathe so I have not yet tried.

She is a short hair cat which does help and I didn't notice any feces (of any size) on her fur. But very small pieces could have been in her paws as her paws seem to pick up a fair amount of litter (she loves to walk through it). When she was outside she loved to lay in soft dirt etc. Also, I am a bit uncertain about how the cysts and cells can detach from the feces and be on the floor etc. Everything is kept dry so that is a help.

Thank you for the advice on testing etc. I am going to keep her quarantined for the 10 days after treatment (panacur) as you and my vet suggest, get her tested again (I was wondering the number of negatives I will need to get comfortable so your advice is appreciated) and then treat again or integrate. My vet did say that it is most likely that she will need another round. 

My biggest fear is not so much the new cat, I'll be able to get her through this but my biggest fear is while I am treating her I transmit the Giardia to the existing cats. I don't have enough areas in the home to quarantine each of them (and they wouldn't like that). And since they are ferals as well they can be a bit much to handle at times. Not so much when they are getting what they want (love) but when it comes to something they don't want (medicine etc) then it is like handling a piece of paper in a tornado. I am about ready to start testing each of them for any Giardia. If one has it they all will have it.

Thank you for the CDC site. It is helpful. I have some additional questions and I may email them to see if they have some answers (I think some of my questions are really unanswerable sadly though).

Thanks for all your advice, it is greatly appreciated.

sweetdz99,

Thanks for your post. It soudns like your situation wasn't too bad. That is great to hear.

Interesting the older cats did not catch the Giardia. I believe I read somewhere that healthy adult cats do not always get it if exposed. Not sure if that is true but hopefully it is. Maybe the transmission is not as easy as I perceive as well.

Good for you for rescuing the 4 kittens.

Thanks for your post.