How common is Giardia in Purebreed kittens?

We brought our kitten, Jaxx, home a little more than a month ago. He went for his 1st vet visit and tested positive for Giardia. I was very surprised because his stools seemed normal. We treated him with Augmentin, which he finished a month ago. He went to the vet again and I dropped off another sample and now his stool really stinks. They said he is probably positive again. (I will find out on Monday) What bothers me is that the vet told me that they are seeing Giardia very frequently lately, even with pedigree dogs/cats from reputable breeders. They told me it's very, very hard to get rid of and often takes multiple courses of antibiotics.

I emailed my breeder to inform her when he first came up positive. She seemed shocked and questioned me profusely about what lab methods were used. She thanked me and I never heard from her again. I can only assume her cats came up positive too because he certainly didn't get it from me.
I'm annoyed at her for not offering to reimburse me but I don't want to hound her for an extra 59.00. Truthfully, her house seemed immaculate and her cats are gorgeous. If he comes up positive again I will contact her.

Jaxx eats a lot and weighs 6.8lbs at 16 weeks. He doesn't look malnourished, but I'm concerned. Does anyone have any experience or advice?

PS... Even though he may be a little giardia butt he is adorable so I'm including a picture.

i dont know the answer to your question , but he is a lovely baby boy

Giardia is a protozoal parasite that is most common in multi cat communities of all breeds.

Its often found among feral cats, in cat adoption centres, multi cat households etc. It can be highly infectious between cats and sadly some cats can show no symptoms and yet still "shed" the parasite into the environment for other cats to come into contact with and thus be infected by.

it is seen in all breeds of cat (moggies included) and im not sure that there are any studies that have looked into the incidence in pedigree V's non pedigree cats but i would hazzard a guess that well raised pedigree cats would be no more likely to carry giardia than any other cat.

the problem here is that "some" breeders of pedigree cats are purely out to try to make money. they have far too many cats for the space they have, their health plans for their cats are minimal or non existant and their standards of hygine fall well below ideal, and thus you create an environment in which giardia infection may well become more common.

so if you are buying a kitten from someone who falls into this catergory, or from a overcrowded rescue centre or taking one in from a feral colony. be on the lookout for giardia. equally, if you have a multicat household and cats that have free accsess to outdoors you may well have a giardia shedding cat within your own colony.

if you are treating one cat, all cats in thehousehold must be treated and the hygine measures must be super strict.

sounds like your vet is on the right track with it but keep going with it, it can be a long haul and a tricky parasite to get rid of. Hope thats of some help.

hope your baby boy is soon recovered. he is really stunning :smile:

re-reading your post i cant explain why Jaxx has had this Giardia in the first place :sad1: maybe your breeder had a shedding queen in for a stud service? it really is a tricky bug :sad1:

if you only had him a month ago tho, im surprised she is not wanting to work with you closely on getting the problem sorted. maybe she is doing her own research, testing her own cats and speaking to her own vet to find a best plan of action before she speaks to you? keep in contact with her, im sure she will want the best possible outcome for you and Jaxx.

And ask your vet about giving him a course of panacur? that is usually one of the first treatment options, and its far less costly than multiple courses of augmentin. have a look at the feline advisory beureau (Sp*) website too, there is some helpful info on there.

My boys went for their boosters yesterday and we discussed their recent runny bums which is now better. He specifically mentioned Giardia and how it is harder to irradicate but normally a course of Panacur fixes it and how most kittens get a course as part of their normal upbringing.

Thank you so much for your response. I will definitely ask about pacacur if he is positive again. My breeder really does seem very well respected int the cat world. She gave me a contract guaranteeing against Parasites. I'm sure if I push the matter she will reimburse me for costs.
I can only assume all of the other kittens were positive too so she may be overwhelmed. I will contact her after Monday and see. Jaxx is a beautiful little soul. I couldn't love him more if I gave birth to him myself. We just want him to be healthy. Thanks again.

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Originally Posted by Peter Galbavy

My boys went for their boosters yesterday and we discussed their recent runny bums which is now better. He specifically mentioned Giardia and how it is harder to irradicate but normally a course of Panacur fixes it and how most kittens get a course as part of their normal upbringing.

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Peter are you from the UK? I'm in US. I guess it's pretty common everywhere. Definitely going to ask about the Panacur, thanks.