Well, phooey! Last week we finally found out that our two new kittens have giardiasis, which is an intestinal infection caused by a parasite–giardia (see photo below…it looks like a harmless balloon with a scary face, but it’s actually a microscope image of this nasty little intestinal parasite)–which can be transmitted to humans, too, especially, eek, those with an immunodeficiency.
Eh. I have to be super careful. And I have been…
How we found out about the giardiasis is a long messy (and smelly!!!) story that I’ll spare you. Luckily, the kittens have responded well to the anti-giardia drug and are in excellent shape now, gaining weight and so on. They are even more adorable and vivacious and funny, now that they are (obviously) feeling better.
Many thanks to the lovely vet who, after others failed (no comment!), finally figured out what was wrong…and carried out the correct test, the giardia test…GRAZIE!!!
So all is well and relatively calm in our feline household. I say “calm,” because Pandora and Pixie have not yet been released from their quarantine area (i.e., the guest bedroom, which, stuffed with all the presents that friends and neighbors have brought over, now looks even more like a kittens’ Disneyworld…Indeed, I’ll have to donate some toys to the cat shelter at some point…).
Unfortunately, we will probably have to keep the two kitties under lock and key for another couple of weeks or so, until we’re sure that the giardia beasties are all gone for good…Bummer, eh! But, better be safe than sorry! 
As you can imagine, taking care of the kittens in this period…doing laundry, disinfecting their room, disinfecting ourselves, making sure they are happy and playing a lot, doing more laundry (!), and so on and so forth, has REALLY cut into my free time, so I haven’t finished my almost-ancient-by-now post about the EBV-MM link. That annoys me because it’s a very interesting post, to boot, so I will try to finish it in the next couple of days.
That is…if nothing else comes up! Aaaaghhhh! 🙂
Take care, everyone! Ciao!
We used to be able to drink right from the streams and lakes in the Sierra Nevadas here in CA. Not anymore, unless you want giardia in your system. Now if you are bacpacking its boil or filter all water….sigh. Hard to get rid of too.
I feel for the kitties!! Be careful with the water!
The kittens already had giardia when we brought them home with us more than three weeks ago (but it wasn’t diagnosed until last week, unfortunately!). They must have gotten it from their mother, who is an inside-outside cat. That is the “positive” aspect, I guess…I mean, at least there’s nothing wrong with our drinking water! 🙂
Hi Margaret,Have been sending emails to you,but don’t know if you are receiving them,as I haven’t had a reply.