Return or Keep?

[Two Siamese]

Another Giardia question....(sorry)

My 14 week old kittens have diagnosed Giardia that is being treated. The got it at the breeders as her cattery was just diagnosed with it a few days before I found it in mine. I'm pretty upset about it.

I've had my kittens for 3 weeks now and I LOVE them. I'm very concerned, however, that this parasitic infection coupled with giving babies Metronizidal this early in their lives will have residual effects on their long-term health. I'm also worried that quarantining them for a minimum of 3 weeks but perhaps as much as 6-8 weeks will forever effect their socialization.

The breeder offered to take them back and refund my money. Truthfully, it's not really a money issue -- it's about trying to make the decision that will cost the least heartache in the long-term.

What would you do? Would you cut your losses now and return them? I'm afraid of having babies with life-long health issues as a result of having this parasite early in life. I'm afraid that I'll never truly get rid of the giardia in them, only being able to get rid of the symptoms.

I'm trying to use my head, not my heart. My heart wants to keep them. My head thinks I may be biting off more than I can chew. I purposely went to a breeder for a health guarantee to avoid having an issue like this, and yet here I am.

[catloverami]

It would be best for the kitties not to have to be moved back to the breeder again, as it is stressful, and it will stress their immune system. I personally haven't heard of any long term problems with a treatment of Metronidazole Are they being quarantined from your other cats? That makes sense, or do you mean people as well? You shouldn't have to quarantine them from people. But you should use strict hygience practices and wear (plastic) gloves to handle them and clean out their litter. Scoop the litter as often as you can. The kitties do need a lot of handling at their age now so they are well socialized. Occasionally even the best breeder's kitties get a bout of giardia, but because she recognized that it came from her cattery, she should reimburse you your vet expenses.

http://www.vetinfo.com/side-effects-metronidazole.html

[Two Siamese]

Thank you so much for your input. My husband is completely NOT open to the idea of returning them. He says he loves them, case closed (I do love that man). Still, I have to admit it's rolling around in my brain as to what is right to do.

I do use gloves when dealing with their box. I scoop it frequently each day and throw it away (I bought 100 of the cat box liners that are basically super-cheap stand-alone litter boxes when need be).

I have not been using gloves when playing with them. I'm just washing my hands obsessively. Do you think that's ok?

I do not have other cats, and we don't have kids. It's just the 2 of us. They are quarantined because when the one sits down, she leaves behind little spots of feces. She doesn't seem to have full-on diarrhea, but she's not cleaning herself well unfortunately. The stools are softer than they should be.

[SpellQ]

Since there aren't children to worry about I suspect this is going to go just fine. The trick to giardia is similar to coccidia though in that it's something that isn't gone just because the anti-parasite meds are done. Kitties will need fecal tests done toward the end to decide if a new round is done.

I agree with catloverami that the breeder should be covering your vet expenses for this one though since that's the source.

If they do have longish bum fur it might help your sanity to shave it down a bit so there's nothing for the diarrhea and loose stools to catch in. One thing about washing your hands so much is that it can backfire because dried out skin from washing become vulnerable. Best to just be cautious of washing after you've handled.