Kittens have giardia again. How to treat and prevent recurrence?

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 am sorry to hear about your issue! I would also recommend bathing your cats, as the spores can cling to the fur and cause reinfection, especially with cats grooming themselves. Also washing any of their bedding. You can read more about Giardia and treatment at https://www.vin.com/veterinarypartner/default.aspx?pid=19239&species=All&id=4952529

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!

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 using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! The risk of contracting Giardia from your dog is pretty slim, but elderly, very young, or immunocompromised individuals are at a higher risk. If Kiddo is fully vaccinated, fully treated with an anti-parasitic agent, and house trained, it should not be a concern for Kiddo to reinfect herself. You do not need to steam/bleach/etc your home continuously after treatment. I am happy to answer any other questions you may have and wish you luck with your puppy!

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.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Michael. Yes, I consider giardia a contagious disease between pets. When I diagnose a pet with giardia, then I typically recommend treating all of the other pets in the household. I hope this information helps!