Giardia and multi-cat apartment

[Babypinkweeb]

So as I suspected, Nugget does have Giardia (and quite a bit according to the vet). We are picking up his meds later today.

I read the article about Giardia on this site already, but would love to know any personal cleaning experiences! I have another cat who does not exhibit any signs of it right now and want to keep it that way.

I scoop the litter box at least once a day, but can increase it. I hand wash their food after every meal with hot water, and water bowls daily. I read some that suggest washing every soft surface the cats may go on which is kind of unrealistic for me... Almost our entire apartment is soft surfaces! We live in an apartment too, so I'm not sure if I can spare hours everyday going to a laundrmat. I don't have chemical cleaners in my home right now so not sure what I can buy and use to clean stuff either (we buy very green and animal friendly cleaners for everything).

Thank you for all your help, as always!

EDIT: For now we decided to isolate the poor guy in our spare bathroom to make things easier to keep clean. He's been having poop issues since early May and so far my other cat hasn't shown any signs but they do share water sources. They don't groom eachother, and Nugget does not leave poop outside the litter box (I scoop immediately due to the smell as well) so I'm hoping by some miracle it hasn't passed to my other cat. I didn't realize how scary this is until I read the other posts here. We just spend so much money last money on vet bills and with us just going back to work, our finances and spare time are both strained. I'm not sure how we can keep up with some of the cleaning regimes recommended by others here (steam clean whole place and wash everything daily).

For now we will clean the litter boxes in hot water in the bath tub and run the dishwasher with the food/water bowls. Does this mean we need to throw out all existing litter in the litter box? We just added new litter to it a few days ago so we have 2 full boxes

 

[fionasmom]

Giardia Questions

In the article you read, there was a response with a link at the bottom. This takes you to a very long TCS discussion about giardia with a couple of varied opinions of what needs to be done. You might look this over. Take a look at some of stepheq's comments as a shelter worker.

I have had numerous cats, being that I only work with ferals and strays, who were dxed with giardia who were successfully treated without resulting in a huge outbreak. However, it is very contagious and I did have a massive outbreak of a URI years ago even after keeping the new rescue isolated outside and having had the cat in question treated and cleared by the vet. So you do want to be careful.

In my opinion, isolating the cat who is infected and having no sharing of any bowls, water, or contact is the easiest thing to do. I would clean the areas where the infected cat might have been and I would change the litter but once you have kept the sick cat isolated you should not have to change the box of the healthy cat again.

Realistically, you probably can't drag all your linens to the laundromat, including chair and sofa cushions. I have some leather furniture and could not wipe it down with disinfectants.

 

[Babypinkweeb]

Giardia Questions

In the article you read, there was a response with a link at the bottom. This takes you to a very long TCS discussion about giardia with a couple of varied opinions of what needs to be done. You might look this over. Take a look at some of stepheq's comments as a shelter worker.

I have had numerous cats, being that I only work with ferals and strays, who were dxed with giardia who were successfully treated without resulting in a huge outbreak. However, it is very contagious and I did have a massive outbreak of a URI years ago even after keeping the new rescue isolated outside and having had the cat in question treated and cleared by the vet. So you do want to be careful.

In my opinion, isolating the cat who is infected and having no sharing of any bowls, water, or contact is the easiest thing to do. I would clean the areas where the infected cat might have been and I would change the litter but once you have kept the sick cat isolated you should not have to change the box of the healthy cat again.

Realistically, you probably can't drag all your linens to the laundromat, including chair and sofa cushions. I have some leather furniture and could not wipe it down with disinfectants.

Thank you for your help, I'll read them right away!

After writing down actual plans for what I need to do it feels less scary than I thought mostly thanks to the quarantine. I ordered Rescue as recommended by another member here as the disinfectant, but for now I have ran the food and water bowls thru hot dishwasher, and will do the same by hand with the litter boxes, scoops and cat beds. Fingers crossed my other cat managed to escape catching it as it's been a month since Nugget first had the bad poops, and no signs yet in my other cat.

 

[Babypinkweeb]

So far 2 doses in... Nugget is kind to me and eats the Panacur in his food no problem

He has had 1 bowl movement since the start of the panacur, still in loose "pile" form but less smelly than before! I'm thankful that he doesn't have actual watery stools which will be a lot harder to keep clean. My hands feel dry and painful from all the washing I've done in the past 2 days, but since we isolated him to the bathroom, it's made it much easier on me. Just daily washing of the litter box, scoop, and throwing the towel/bowls in rests on in their washers.

Considering so far none of us (1 other cat + 2 humans) have shown any signs of being infected, I'm quite optimistic... Afterall we lived with him having smelly loose poop for a month before we found out it was Giardia. Before then we didn't do any special cleaning than usual! The only thing that's making me worried is poor Nugget's happiness. He is so unsure and sad to be locked up alone in the bathroom again. I try to go in there several times a day to hang with him, but his appetite definitely has gone down. Today when I had to clean his litter boxes and such, we put him in the carrier and set him in another room so he didn't have to deal with the noises and smells, but I think he really hates it. He's never vocal and he was cry-meowing, and even started thrashing against the crate until one of us went to sit and play with him while the other cleaned at lighting pace. I think the rest of the time I will just wash his boxes in the other bathroom, and let him stay in his room instead of the carrier. Thankfully the Rescue cleaner is coming in tomorrow so it will make my cleaning easier.

I hope after all this he won't have some personality change or trauma.... and that's with the optimistic outlook that he is cured after 1 round of meds. From many threads it seems it's often a multi-round battle that lasts months...

 

[fionasmom]

One way to look at this is that you probably have a clean house in the first place, the animals are kept clean, you practice good hygiene as evidenced from your chapped hands and all of these things mean that you were not living in danger of some huge spread of the giardia. Not putting Nugget in the carrier is probably a good idea especially since you will need him to be agreeable to using a carrier to go to the vet for the rest of his life.

How long do you think that he needs to be isolated, according to the vet?

 

[Babypinkweeb]

One way to look at this is that you probably have a clean house in the first place, the animals are kept clean, you practice good hygiene as evidenced from your chapped hands and all of these things mean that you were not living in danger of some huge spread of the giardia. Not putting Nugget in the carrier is probably a good idea especially since you will need him to be agreeable to using a carrier to go to the vet for the rest of his life.

How long do you think that he needs to be isolated, according to the vet?

He hates carriers but tends to give up once we go to my car, so I've never seen his resist so strongly. And yes I will definitely just leave him in the bathroom during cleaning to reduce that.

The vet gave me 5 days of doses, and suggested I bring in a stool sample maybe 2 days after that. Most likely until the giardia is confirmed gone, I will keep him in there which is basically a week. Today is dose 3 so if all is clear, probably by Monday or Tuesday. We visit him multiple times a day to pet and play with him, and stay with him during meal times to encourage eating. He's a bit more timid compared to our other cat so we try to be comforting and careful with him. Just feels bad to see him so unsure.

 

[Babypinkweeb]

Just cleaned up poo after 5 doses... So far it was soft stools for first 2 days, then 2 days of very firm poop, then a soft stool this morning after the last dose :/ will see how his poo is the next few days but now I'm worried he will need more doses.... His poo was so good for 2 days and just had to be soft again at the last day

 

[fionasmom]

There can be other reasons for soft stool, so don't give up. This does clear up eventually but I know it is stressful.