Giardia -- How Obsessive Should I Get with Cleaning?

[Two Siamese]

So Giardia is a first for me in 40+ years of owning cats. Unfortunately, the breeders cats had Giardia, and my two new babies (14 weeks) were diagnosed this week with it. They're on Metronizidale 1x a day for 14 days (it's 1x/dy because they're so small). They scored 2+ on a scale of 1 - 4+ with 4+ being the worst for Giardia. To the best of my knowledge, there was no diarrhea throughout the house. I just noticed the one cat's butt was oozy. I wiped it, it came back, I called the breeder (that's when I found out she had Giardia, thank so much for telling me) and the vet. I took both kittens to the vet that same day.

My vet wasn't overly concerned. She said to just use Lysol wipes on surfaces they have recently touched (ok, that would be my entire home). Reading about Giardia is scary. It sounds like it's a beast to get rid of.

I have them confined to the laundry room. I'm using disposable litter boxes, throwing the old away every other day. I cleaned their floor with amonia (I now know I need to use bleach) because that's what the pet store that sold me the disposable litter boxes suggested.

I had all my carpets professionally cleaned (Chem Dry) and treated with Quaternary Amonium (coincidentally what Chem Dry routinely uses). I threw away all their soft toys and they temporarily just have plastic toys to play with. I'm washing their beds every other day on the Sanitize cycle with color safe bleach (which I don't know if it helps as it doesn't have chlorine I believe).

I've wiped down my bathrooms and kitchen with bleach (1 cup per 1 gallon, and I was probably a little heavy on the 1 cup). I've hit all surfaces in those rooms that they could have touched. I wiped, scrubbed, and let it air dry.

I'm getting my sofas and drapes (they love to climb the drapes despite my best efforts) dry cleaned.

I'm concerned about my clothes. I have a bad habit of piling dirty laundry on the floor of the bathroom while it's waiting to be washed. The kittens LOVED this and had huge tumble fights in it. I washed some on Sanitize with amonium until I realized, well, wow, that turns everything crazy colors. I'm washing everything I can (towels, whites) on Sanitize with color-safe bleach, but I'm getting down to things that really can't be washed on Sanitize as they'll shrink and become too small.

I guess in my mind there are parasites crawling through my house. Am I being obsessive? smart? crazy? careful? Is there anything else I should be doing to make sure my babies don't get reinfected? Is there anything else I should be doing to make sure we don't get it (we don't have kids)? I'm washing my hands like crazy.

Then I'm also worried about screwing up the bonding process. We only had the babies for 2 1/2 weeks before this started. Now we're shoving meds down their throats which they hate. They're treating me with some fear now which breaks my heart. Other times they seem desperate for affection. We both go into the laundry room multiple times a day to play with them and pet them, but it's not the same. I've been picking them up and holding them to my chest -- is that a mistake? I don't do it a lot, but the little girl especially is so desperate for more love/attention that she literally flings herself at me like a flying squirrel. The vet says they'll be in this quarantine for a minimum of 3 weeks. If we need 2 rounds of the meds, it could be 6 - 8 weeks. Thier stool is still kind of soft. They've been on the meds since Tuesday.

Sorry to go on and on, but I'm freaked out. Any input is greatly appreciated.

[Penny135]

My personal opinion is that you are going way overboard. My 2 kittens (just brought them home at age 12 weeks) had giardia too (this was a few years back). The vet put them on antibiotics for 10 days. I never did anything accept keeping the litter box clean (used clorox bleach) and giving them their meds. They never had a problem. Got over it in those 10days. Their stool started firming up soon after they were through with their meds.

My new kitty, Mia, came home (7 weeks old) on antibiotics for a URI. I had to give her meds every morning for ten days. She hated getting them and fought me. As soon as I was done though she was crawling all over me and wanting to snuggle.
She had diareah the whole time she was on the antibiotic (common). It cleared all the way up a few days after she was done with the med.

Relax a little and enjoy your kittens. All will be alright soon.