Giardia in Cats

Giardia is not usually life-threatening for the cat, but it can get on cat owners’ last nerve because it can keep coming back. Read all about Giardia in cats here.

Giardia is a unicellular parasite that lives in the small intestine. Especially young cats and cats with a weakened immune system are affected by the disease.

Symptoms of Giardia in Cats

In young cats or animals with a weakened immune system, Giardia causes diarrhea that can be watery, bloody, mucous, and/or greasy. Diarrhea can stop by itself after 24 hours, but it can also last for months or keep coming back.

In most cases, the sick animals have no other symptoms apart from diarrhea. In the case of severe persistent diarrhea, however, other symptoms can occur:

• dehydration
• deficiency symptoms
• lack of appetite
• weight loss
• fatigue
• vomit

Cats with Giardia Without Symptoms

Adult cats with a healthy immune system usually show no symptoms when infested with Giardia. Asymptomatic cats with Giardia excrete unrecognized infectious Giardia cysts with the feces. These symptom-free excretors contribute to the wide spread of intestinal parasites. An analysis of findings from the Institute for Parasitology at the University of Vienna in 2015 showed that 15.3 percent of 3,174 cat fecal samples were positive for Giardia.

This is How Cats Become Infected with Giardia

Giardia’s infectious cysts can be found almost anywhere in the environment. In cool water, Giardia can survive for three months. Cats can become infected when they drink water from ponds, puddles, or birdbaths, for example. Sniffing feces or licking contaminated surfaces can also lead to infection.

Indoor cats can also easily become infected because, for example, house flies carry the parasites into the apartment from outside on their little feet. Since cats do not develop sufficient immunity to Giardia, they can become infected with the parasite again and again.

Diagnosing Giardia in Cats

If your cat has diarrhea for several days at a time, has recurring diarrhea, or even shows other symptoms of giardia, you need to take her to a veterinarian. There, a quick test can be used to determine whether your cat is suffering from Giardia or not.

The test requires a fecal sample from the cat, usually a collective sample containing feces from the last three days. Your veterinarian will tell you exactly which samples he needs.

Giardia is So Contagious for Cats, Dogs, and Humans

If a cat has giardia, not only she but also all other cats in the household must be treated, otherwise, the animals keep infecting each other. If the sick cat’s special type of Giardia is also infectious for dogs, all dogs in the household must also be treated.

The veterinarian can determine which type of Giardia it is in an individual case with a special examination. After the special examination, it is also clear whether the Giardia type in cats can be transmitted to humans. This is not the type of Giardia common in cats. But in rare cases, a type of Giardia that is infectious for humans can also be found in cats, which poses a health risk, especially for small children and weakened people.

Treatment of Giardia in Cats

How Giardia is Treated in Cats:

• Drugs that kill the protozoa. The success of the therapy is checked by repeated fecal examinations.
• Low-carbohydrate diet support possible

In addition, efforts should be made to reduce the risk of reinfection, otherwise, the cat may show symptoms again a few days later, despite successful therapy, because it has caught Giardia from the environment again.

Avoid Reinfection

To avoid reinfection, you should pay particular attention to hygiene:

• The timely removal and hygienic disposal of feces from the litter box are very important.
• The litter box should be thoroughly cleaned once a day, then rinsed with boiling water, and dried.
• Spilled feces and spilled feces must also be carefully removed and the contaminated surfaces cleaned. The use of steam jets that produce steam at over 60 degrees is ideal here.
• Feeding and drinking vessels are cleaned daily with boiling water or washed in the dishwasher at more than 65 degrees. Toys are treated in the same way – regularly, but not necessarily every day.
• The cat’s favorite blankets and pillows should be washed at over 65 degrees. Scratching posts are to be vacuumed and cleaned thoroughly.

Regular disinfection is also useful. However, household disinfectants are usually not effective against Giardia and also not against other parasites such as worm eggs. It is best to seek advice from the veterinary practice about which agents work and how to use them professionally and safely.

Particularly Stubborn Cases

In stubborn cases, it may be necessary to bathe the cat with a special shampoo to remove adhering feces. For long-haired cats, trimming the hair around the anus can help. Before you jeopardize your good relationship with the cat with these activities, you can also ask the veterinarian or a pet groomer if they will take over the cleaning service for a fee.

In most cases, Giardia diarrhea stops after the cat’s first year of life.