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Giardien! Cat fights against unicellular
I was sent the following question:
What is „Giardia“ in cats?
Giardia? Cat is sick with unicellular intestinal parasites! These are very contagious among cats and can be transmitted from cat to human. These protozoa belong to the flagellates. Giardia stick with their suction disc to the wall of the small intestine. These unicellular organisms, also called Giardia, cause very severe diarrhoea. The body reacts with a natural protective reaction to get rid of the Giardia: Diarrhoea. This severe diarrhoea does not only occur in your cat, no, you as a pet owner can also be affected. These unicellular intestinal parasites originate from the Mediterranean region.
In almost every country animal owners and animal protectors have to fight with Giardien infections. Even in Germany the infection with these intestinal parasites is very common in cats. There was one study in which the Giardia Lamblia contamination of running waters in four catchment areas was investigated. The study shows that the Giardia Lamblia are spread even beyond the four catchments. Giardia were also found in the surrounding streams and dams of the four investigated catchments. The amount found was small, but also this small amount is very significant.
prevention of Giardia in cats
Medicines effectively fight the flagellants, but the real reason for the outbreak remains:
If the gastrointestinal tract is healthy and the immune system is strong enough, the cat’s body can handle such a parasite attack much better. Kittens and senior cats suffer particularly from Giardia because the immune system is not so resistant.
A healthy, completely carbohydrate-free cat diet is necessary to strengthen both the gastrointestinal tract and the immune system.
Giardia feed on carbohydrates (sugar molecules)! They can only survive by supplying sugar molecules in the cat intestine.
A cat is a pure carnivore and does not need carbohydrates in its diet.
Unfortunately, most cat food manufacturers do not pay attention to this fact and add corn, rice, cereals and other carbohydrate sources to dry and wet food. Dry food in particular has a very high carbohydrate content.
The good thing about it is that you can starve the giardias by stopping feeding dry food and carbohydrate-containing wet food immediately.
In case of Giardia infestation, the cat needs an easily digestible food. The gastrointestinal tract of the cat is very busy with this cat disease. Dry food with a high carbohydrate-rich grain content is difficult for the cat to digest and only additionally burdens the stomach. In addition, the cat organism does not need the nutrients contained in the dry food at all!
A moist meat food with at least 90% meat content and without antibiotic-mixed meat additives is very gentle for the stomach and particularly well digestible for the cat. Here it gives the completely kohlenhydratefreie cat food for starving Giardien: https://katze-nothilfe.de/aushungern
The right diet to prevent Giardia
The cat food should be as nature has intended it to be for cats:
- It should be made almost exclusively from high quality meat in food quality and
- without meat sources that have only received antibiotics „for prevention“ (unfortunately quite normal in Germany),
exist.
But be honest, how much meat is really in the food and what is the quality of the meat?
Unfortunately, the legal declaration obligation of the ingredient lists for animal feed manufacturers offers some „gaps“ to show the meat content much higher than it really is. The cheap cat food consists unfortunately mostly of carbohydrate-containing additives, such as cereals and the waste of the meat industry. In general, I recommend buying only cat food produced in Sweden, because they do not administer antibiotics on suspicion to the slaughtered animals there.
That is why my tip is: Better buy high-quality wet food and support the cat’s health in the best possible way.
During the Giardia infestation the immune system of the cat has to fight extremely. A high-quality diet helps the body cells to stay healthy. The entire cell structure of the cat is based on high-quality protein sources (proteins), which are contained in meat food.
A very good wet food with 90 to 99% meat content, produced in Sweden from meat in food quality and without carbohydrates, chemical additives or colourings is hier*.
Darma structure after Panacur
administration
Most veterinarians prescribe antibiotics, such as Panacur or similar, for Giardia. These strong medications unfortunately attack the gastrointestinal tract and destroy the intestinal flora.
The externally noticed side effects of Panacur are further diarrhoea and possibly reduced appetite. Internally the immune system of the Mietz has to fight even more, because without strong intestinal flora the defense of germs is not possible. The intestine hardly manages to recover by itself or, if one does not help here, the recovery of the intestinal flora lasts up to 6 months.
Here you can support your furry darling in the best possible way by rehabilitating the cat’s intestine with the plant food supplement „Power Darm „*.
How to recognize Giardia?
Strengthening the intestinal flora with natural remedy for Giardieninfekt
The Giardia Symptoms: Cats with intestinal parasites often suffer from watery diarrhoea with the fecal color ochre. This diarrhea is also very often accompanied by bloody mucosa from the small intestine. A symptom of Giardia is the typical smell of cat excrement: The Giardia excrement always smells a little sweet. A cat suffering from Giardia often cannot get to its litter box in time. The affected cats also have a very big appetite. The utilization of the ingested food fails because of the intestinal parasites, therefore it is recommended to strengthen the intestinal flora and to add a natural remedy as food supplement*.
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Giardia especially affects kittens, as well as old but also weak or weak animals, because the immune system is not so stable.
Giardias what to do?
Very important for an owner of a cat suffering from Giardia is to make sure that the house tiger does not dry out. A dehydration is very fast life-threatening with a cat. Therefore, always provide enough fresh water so that your pet can drink at any time. If there are signs of dehydration (listlessness, tiredness, panting, sunken eyes) you should let your cat drink lukewarm water and go to the vet immediately!
True incident: Veterinarian does not recognize Giardia!
Only a Giardia test can really diagnose Giardia. I have heard of cases where the vet’s test has failed, as well as of self-made tests that have failed. The problem is simply that the Giardia are not found daily in the faeces. That’s why a test can give a false negative. Therefore I always recommend to do the test twice: Once even at home, as well as with the veterinary surgeon.
You can buy a Giardien test for self-testing at Amazon*. In the test set also the containers are thereby, in which the excrement is collected. By clicking on the following picture, you will come directly to Amazon, where you can find more information about the test:
Quick test, whether Giardini are present
Even if the test at home is negative but you still notice a change in faeces, you should go to the vet with your pet to find the real reason for the change in faeces.
Preparation for veterinary test
In order to prove the disease Giardia in a cat by a test at the veterinarian, excrements are collected over three days. The veterinarian will issue special doses for collection.
The refrigerator serves as intermediate storage for the faeces samples, which must be very finely packed. Until it finally says: Off with the excrement samples and the cat to the vet you trust.
In case of a positive result of a cat the vet prescribes Panacur. There are now unfortunately Giardia species that have developed resistance to the Panacur remedy. Panacur was originally developed for dogs and not for cats. Other side effects of Panacur are diarrhoea and loss of appetite. Unfortunately Panacur destroys the flora of the cat’s intestine – if you administer Panacur, you always have to do a complete cat’s intestine cleanup with the food supplement „Power Darm „*. Until the bowel has recovered again, months can pass in which the cat continues to suffer from diarrhea or even runs the risk of dehydration. There are ways to get rid of the Giardia without these many side effects. Namely with my secret tip „Spartrix*“ – read more below. Now back to the topic Panacur, for all those who prefer to use Panacur:
Panacur is a worming agent which is administered over several days. There are different phases in which the drug is administered.
- phase one is that the administration of Panacur or a similar product prescribed by the veterinarian is carried out for five days.
- phase two consists of suspending the administration of the drug for three days. Then the same scheme as for the first phase begins again.
Administer Panacur / Metrodinazol or other bitter cat medicine correctly
Many Giardia medications are very bitter. Depending on the cat, the administration of the medication works differently well. Be sure to take the medication in tablet form, because in liquid form it will be difficult for you to administer.
Here are some ideas on how to make the administration successful:
- Many cats simply take the 500 g panacurt tablets with Leckerlis* ein
- For other cats it is more complicated, but what e.g. worked well: First crush the panacurt tablet in a mortar and then mix it with a tablespoon of bowls Puterichs Delight*. Optionally you can use Calf liver sausage* instead of Puterichs Delight.
- Other idea: Soak Panacur in lukewarm water and put it in your mouth with a blunt tip
Sometimes the treatment with Panacur is not sufficient, therefore often other drugs or active substances such as metronidazole or tinidazole have to be used. Unfortunately, tinidazole is only available in other European countries. The remedies against intestinal parasites are very bitter and therefore it is very difficult to administer this remedy to cats. To make it easier for you to administer this medicine to a cat, you can transfer the tablets into gelatine capsules. These gelatine capsules are available in every pharmacy. But you should definitely think of one thing: not only the animal affected with Giardia, but all animals living in the household absolutely must be treated.
There are also alternative ways against Giardien
Pleasants against giardia do not yet have the perfect solution in drug selection. Very often veterinarians combine Panacur and Metronidazole. The dosage but also the length of the individual phases is adapted to each cat separately.
Another possibility is to administer a single high dose of tinidazole. After that you should wait four to six weeks before having the faeces samples tested again by your vet. If the results are still positive, a second dose of Tinidazole is sufficient. The second test after four to six weeks is usually always negative. Please do not go it alone with this method of treatment, but always consult a veterinarian of your confidence, since the side effects are unfortunately very high.
my first choice for Giardia: Spartrix*
This drug is approved for pigeons, but not officially for cats. However, it is very often successfully administered by cat lovers because there are many positive testimonials. The success of the treatment with Spartrix is based on the „kinship“ of the drug with other drugs against Giardia. Therefore it is actually an effective remedy against catgiardien. There are different ideas and empiric reports how one doses the Spartrix best. Who treats with Spartrix must make itself clear that he experiments. The dosage on the package insert for Spartrix* is for pigeons. Who decides for the treatment, that must test finally even, how it doses the means with its cat. It is best to calculate a „dosage average“ for yourself with the help of all experience reports that you can find.
The good thing about Spartrix is that so far nobody of the self-users has reported incompatibilities – not even with small kittens. The Giardien disappears rapidly and the animals do not have to further torment themselves with it. The duration of therapy is short compared to other drugs. With small kittens, there is always a high risk when they are treated with Panacur. The diarrhoea and the damaged intestinal walls are quickly life-threatening for kittens. The small kittens can be happy if they can process a few nutrients from the cat food at all. If the kittens have damaged intestinal walls, it happens that they simply excrete the food without having digested it.
Some time it was difficult to get Spartrix, meanwhile the remedy is available again quite normally in trade*.
Hygiene is very important
Giardias die particularly quickly in the air, but unfortunately it is the cysts of the Giardias which are very long-lived. Unfortunately, a normal disinfectant does not remove the cysts. If your house tiger should take up these cysts again, the cycle lasts up to the development of new Giardien only 10-15 days. You can recognize this particularly well by the changing intensity of the diarrhoea with your cat. Therefore you have to clean daily. Hygiene plays a very important role in the treatment of Giardia. Daily rinsing and disinfection of the litter box is a must. The entire cat litter must be changed every day.
Which disinfectant against Giardia infection?
The water and food bowls should also be cleaned daily. It is best to pour boiling water over these bowls. You should clean the blankets and lying surfaces of your fur nose at at least 60 degrees Celsius. Don’t forget your favourite scratching tree either. If you should use a steam cleaner when cleaning the scratching tree, you should definitely remember to steam the individual areas for a very long time. But you should also know that the stronger the diarrhoea in your cat, the easier it is to spread the long-lasting cysts of the Giardia. A new infection can already be triggered by an intake of only a few cysts.
Renovation of the intestinal flora and strengthening of the immune system
The intestinal flora of your cat is rehabilitated at the same time as the medication is administered. This is absolutely necessary to stop the annoying diarrhoea in your cat. It is of course equally important that the intestinal wall recovers. Therefore the food supplement Powerdarm* is very well suited. Simply sprinkle 1-3 g per day over the food of your cat. As soon as the diarrhoea is gone, you should additionally mix beer yeast and Chlorella* with the food – it compensates the resulting nutrient deficiency.
Why does it make sense?
B vitamins, trace elements and amino acids are contained in brewer’s yeast. These are precisely the components of food that can be inadequately processed by the intestines due to giardias. In diarrhoea, which is caused by the giardias, the very important vitamin B is excreted. You can administer Vitamin B in powder form* or the vet will give your cat a shot. Very helpful is also the addition of Chlorella Alge, because it supports the intestinal activity of the cat additionally.
A very large part of the dogs and cats which live with us in Germany can live without symptoms with these intestinal parasites. Animals with a very good immune system can eliminate the Giardia better. But this is unfortunately not the case with young, weakened and of course stressed animals. These animals should always be given something to strengthen the immune system.
letting intestinal parasites starve!
Giardias feed on carbohydrates. However, these should not appear in your cat’s diet. Dry food and also wet food from the supermarket, which contains a very high grain content, is unfortunately not suitable for a species-appropriate cat husbandry. Therefore, you can quite simply withdraw the food source from the Giardien. With your cat, a light diet is the order of the day due to diarrhoea. Gentle food means that you can only give your cat very digestible canned food* without cereals, vegetable by-products, sugar or caramel.
Always read the information on the ingredients on the food package carefully or follow my carbohydrate-free diet recommendation for starving the giardia: https://katze-nothilfe.de/kohlenhydratfreies-futter
