Still there are parasites!

jennyr

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Just to recap, about six weeks ago I found two white kittens on my doorstep, I suspect dumped there. They had almost every internal and external parasite going, and were skeletal. On top of the normal parasites my vet, Haris, did a fecal and diagnosed giardia. They have just finished a 20 day course of Medazole and are much much better in that they no longer have bloody (literal, not swearing!) smelly diarrhoea, but their stools are still not quite normal and one of them still lets out gas. But they have filled out and eat, play and fight like normal kittens now.
Yesterday I spoke to Haris about what to do, and whether we should change the med to Flagyl. He thought that was too like the Medazole and recommended Bactrim. He did not think another fecal was necessary. But here is my question - in my experience Bactrim is an antibiotic, used for UTIs, which these two do not have - I have never heard it used for parasites. Does anyone have any ideas? I got the Bactrim but have not yet started giving it to them ( Here you can walk into a pharmacy and buy anything OTC without prescription -not that I would do that without vet advice).
 

nebula11

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Yeah I get Bactrim for UTI's as well....

But you have to think that parasites can do a job on the kits insides....possibly causing infection.....

And though bactrim is usually used for UTI's doesntmean thats all its good for....but ifyou are suspicious you should call the vet and ask them what this drug will do....

good luck, and Iam so happy the kits are feeling better
 

laureen227

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also, my experience with Java bacterial infection [not giardia, but similar in symptoms] was that even after the infection was gone, she still had soft stools & gas - & i suspect cramping, as she spent most of her time lying on me whenever possible. i got her some bene-bac at the local petco, & that worked wonders! no more gas, no more soft stools. of course, she also no longer lies on me [which is what makes me think she was using me as a heating pad
]. the link shows what i got - see if you can find it around there.
 

jeanw

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Giardia is EXTREMELY hard to get totally rid of. We continued treatments for a long long time before it was gone and all was normal again.
 
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jennyr

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Thanks for all that - I will start the Bactrim today and see how it goes. I have more Medazole as well so if they get suddenly worse I can switch again. There is nowhere here that would sell Bene-bac but I am going to the UK next week so I will look there. Interesting about the cramping, because little Napoleon has been spending quite a bit of time either lying on me or on the radiator, now that I have switched the heating on, and he obviously needs the comfort of warmth.
 

kai bengals

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Once again, I would highly suggest your Vet look very hard for Trichomonas.
This parasite looks very much like the Giardia parasite, but does not respond to the same drugs. The drugs suppress the parasite a little for a short time, but then it comes raging back shortly after the meds are stopped.
This is a known issue in European countries and is now becoming a problem in the States due to importation of animals. If your Vet hasn't heard of it, ask him to research it!
 
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jennyr

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I just looked it up and it seems that Metronidazole is the drug of choice, also used for giardia and other protozoic infections. That is what they have been on, so we will see what happens when I change them to Bactrim. If they suddenly get worse we will switch back, and I will insist that Haris does another fecal exam..
 
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