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I have two cats. A one year old and a 6 month old. When I got the 6 month old, she had Giardia. Gave it to my other one. I treated it for both. After two stool tests weeks a part, they are both negative both times for Giardia. I was so relieved.
It was getting expensive for the medication and the stool tests are $40 a cat each time. So I spent $160.
But what is happening now is they are both having really bad mushy poop. I can't even scoop it out of the litter. Its not excessive like they go and go all day, they go regularly. But its really mushy. I haven't really changed their diet much. They get wet food once morning and night and they graze on kibble all day with fresh water. I did get new wet food recently, but I change their wet food often and did in the past without issue. The kibble is the same.
They are acting fine, eating, drinking, playing, and the mushy non formed poop.
My vet claims if it doesn't clear up, they may want to examine them and run tests. I'm just seeing $$$$.
I want the best for them, but with them acting fine do you think it is okay to hold off testing?
Anyone know what this is? Again, they've tested negative for parasites twice.
I have two cats. A one year old and a 6 month old. When I got the 6 month old, she had Giardia. Gave it to my other one. I treated it for both. After two stool tests weeks a part, they are both negative both times for Giardia. I was so relieved.
It was getting expensive for the medication and the stool tests are $40 a cat each time. So I spent $160.
But what is happening now is they are both having really bad mushy poop. I can't even scoop it out of the litter. Its not excessive like they go and go all day, they go regularly. But its really mushy. I haven't really changed their diet much. They get wet food once morning and night and they graze on kibble all day with fresh water. I did get new wet food recently, but I change their wet food often and did in the past without issue. The kibble is the same.
They are acting fine, eating, drinking, playing, and the mushy non formed poop.
My vet claims if it doesn't clear up, they may want to examine them and run tests. I'm just seeing $$$$.
I want the best for them, but with them acting fine do you think it is okay to hold off testing?
Anyone know what this is? Again, they've tested negative for parasites twice.
But you did change food. Change the wet food back to what it was when they didn't have the problem and see what happens. If it persists, that wasn't the reason.
I once put my totally healthy dog on a different, highly regarded, dry food. She'd never been a fussy eater, never had a touchy GI tract. She felt fine, active and happy, but poops were a liquid mess. Something about that food simply didn't suit her. Switched her back to the previous food and everything was fine. It happens.
Be aware...Giardia can be picked up again fairly easily. Then there are other intestinal parasites that can cause liquid stool.
As for $$$, pets need vet care which means tests. Multiple pets need multiple tests. Just the way it is.
It could be that the antibiotic they were given has also killed off the good bacteria in their gut. Usually canned pumpkin, not pie filling helps them firm up as well as probiotics. Change their food back to what they had before, giradia can be hard on the tummy.
I have used slippery elm bark in the past with great success for a previous kitty. He had 5 times a day diarrhea for weeks on end before I tried it. Within a few days things improved, and, after a week they were back to normal. My current kitty had his thyroid numbers get very high. This caused diarrhea/mushy poop for him. Only once a day, but, smelly and gross. Slippery Elm did not help him. S. Boulardii probiotic worked for him within a week.
My dog had giardia when he was a pup. He tested positive for it, was put on meds, and his next text he tested negative. But, he still had soft - bordering on diarrhea - poop. The possibilities that I looked at were that either (a) it was a false negative, which is possible (in order to get a positive result in a test where a pet has giardia, the timing has to be right (the parasites have to be shedding or they may not be detected), or (b) something else was causing my dog's digestive woes. In my dog's case, it turned out to be (b).
I believe that there is a test for giardia called a Fecal ELISA that may help if you or your vet still suspect giardia to be present (this is supposed to have less false negative results...however, run it by your vet to see what they think). In the meantime, you can explore looking at your cats' diets. As Parnassia pointed out, you did make a change in their food. Even a small change can sometimes trigger reactions. You could try singling out foods and sticking to one for a couple of weeks, then (if everything seems okay) slowly introduce another. Another thing might be to try probiotics designed for pets to be added to their food and see if it helps. Either way, doing another test at the vet's may be beneficial.
In the case of my dog, thankfully one dose of meds did the trick with his giardia, but it was his food that kept him symptomatic. He has an extremely sensitive stomach, and I wound up going through several types of food before finding two that don't bother him at all (actually three, if I count in Tripett as a supplement...it firms up his poop and keeps him quite regular).
Best of luck with your kitties...giardia isn't fun.
I have two cats. A one year old and a 6 month old. When I got the 6 month old, she had Giardia. Gave it to my other one. I treated it for both. After two stool tests weeks a part, they are both negative both times for Giardia. I was so relieved.
It was getting expensive for the medication and the stool tests are $40 a cat each time. So I spent $160.
But what is happening now is they are both having really bad mushy poop. I can't even scoop it out of the litter. Its not excessive like they go and go all day, they go regularly. But its really mushy. I haven't really changed their diet much. They get wet food once morning and night and they graze on kibble all day with fresh water. I did get new wet food recently, but I change their wet food often and did in the past without issue. The kibble is the same.
They are acting fine, eating, drinking, playing, and the mushy non formed poop.
My vet claims if it doesn't clear up, they may want to examine them and run tests. I'm just seeing $$$$.
I want the best for them, but with them acting fine do you think it is okay to hold off testing?
Anyone know what this is? Again, they've tested negative for parasites twice.
you can also ask at thecatsite.com, this is the main cat site ...
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