My multi-cat home has Giardia. How can I prevent reinfection?

Hello, it can be challenging to rid giardiasis from a household especially when multiple dogs are affected. The best recommendation would be to treat all 3 dogs, at the same time, until you have 2 negative fecal samples. You should retest the fecals 10 days after initiating treatment for giardiasis and 10 days in-between testings. However, the most important part of this is to reduce environmental contamination, because as though you may successfully rid your dogs of giardia, they can become re-infected at any point. Treating the environment means you have to pick up their stools immediately after they defecate and you must wash the areas where they defecate with water and bleach. Most infections occur via a fecal to oral transmission. So at some point your puppy may have been exposed to giardia, then came to your house and started shedding the giardia onto your environment exposing your other dogs as well. Please wear gloves and wash your hands after cleaning as giardia can also infect humans. Best of luck and hope this helps.

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Sunday. Your vet is right, good hygiene is key. When you clean the litter box, wear gloves, then throw the gloves away and wash your hands. I would scoop the box at least once a day, and clean it once a week. You can touch and love them. Again, wash your hands afterwards. I hope this helps!

I highly recommend treating both kittens at the same time. Once you start treatment, clean and change the litter box. Then 2 weeks after the medication is done have your veterinarian send the stool sample to the lab. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Cats with giardia can be asymptomatic before showing signs, so it may be Enzo had it from when you got him and is just now showing signs. Sounds like you are doing a great job so far! Keep him isolated from any other cats in the house until he gets a clear giardia test. Make sure he drinks enough water, and you can get a cat water fountain to encourage drinking. It encourages my cats to drink! Remove poop from his litter box as soon as he goes, and clean his food and water dishes as well. Wear gloves when cleaning his litter box and scooping it so you don't get it yourself. Finally, if he's allowed outside, keep him indoors at all time while being treated. I hope this helps!

Hi, I'm Dr. Johnson. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I'm sorry to hear that Loki has giardia. Sometimes it can be frustrating to treat. I am assuming you know Loki has giardia because your Veterinarian checked a stool sample. If that is the case then your Veterinarian will prescribe the appropriate drugs to help clear the giardia infection. There are no over the counter drugs that are recommended. Definitely consult your Veterinarian if you haven't already. There are some cases where giardia can persist despite the appropriate treatment and longer courses of drugs or different medications are prescribed. Some times we need to wait for the puppies immune system to mature. At home you should be preventing Loki from re-infecting himself: immediately clean up all stool, use disinfectant cleaners, do not allow him to eat his stool, if he walks through his stool wash his feet well, do not allow his stool to contaminate his drinking water and take him outside to a designated area of the yard on a leash to do his business. Giardia is also what we call a zoonotic disease, meaning humans can contract it as well. Humans, cats and other dogs get it from ingesting fecal material or drinking fecally contaminated water. When you clean up his stool either wear gloves and/or wash your hands immediately. Do not allow children or immunosuppressed family members to handle the stool. Your cat would have to ingest Loki's stool or drink water that had been contaminated with Loki's stool. You could always have your cats stool checked to be sure. I wish you luck! I hope Loki clears the infection soon! They usually do!

Hi. Guardia can be very difficult to treat. Pets can reinfect themselves as well. I would take to your veterinarian about trying the next course of medications and include a probiotics. In addition, pick up feces right away, clean the feet with a pet wipe and clip the hair around the anal area to help decrease reinfection. In the meantime, feed boiled chicken and rice for 3-5 days to help rest the GI tract. I also would have another fecal test done. Maybe it's something else? Good luck.

Hello. Unless you somehow got Noni's face underwater, there is no way bathing her caused the pneumonia. My thoughts are that her immune system has been compromised, possibly from some underlying condition. How else could she become symptomatic for Giardia while being housed strictly indoors. My thoughts are that she has always harbored this parasite ( which is not unusual ), & something triggered the Giardia to become significant. I am glad that the Panacur worked for her, but her pneumonia may be a result of something that has compromised her immune system. I would recommend chest x-rays, blood work to include testing for Feline Leukemia & Feline Immunodeficiency Disease as well as looking at her thyroid levels. I hope she is doing well soon & thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.