How long is kitten coccidia quarantine?

June 26, 2011 2:29 PM

How long until I can let the recently-coccidia-treated kittens mix with the lonely adult foster cat? They all have been on Albon for 9 days and have seemed healthy since Tuesday; only one really showed symptoms.

No one I've asked knows how long I should quarantine these guys; I might ask the vet tomorrow, but the other foster cat is being very pitiful, brushing at the door with her paw and continually asking me to play whenever she sees me. The sooner I can open the door to let everyone mix, the happier we'll all be.

My attempts to find an answer through Google have not succeeded.

I should add that these kittens were already quarantined for two weeks before I got them (two weeks ago, so four weeks total) -- they're otherwise healthy, vaccinated, etc. I have little Dusty (10 wks), who was sickest, and two 15-week-old spayed females, plus the separated 2+-year-old Collie (the lonely one).

posted by amtho to pets & animals (5 answers total)

Coccidia is a bitch more than vets let on. Rather than guess, I'm going to say what you already know -- ask your vet. You don't metion litter changes every day, bleach or boiling water...

And you might want to even second-guess the vet. Coccidia is a bitch.
posted by vers at 4:48 PM on June 26, 2011

vers, it sounds like you have some experience. Can you tell me more?

I am changing the litter every day, disinfecting surfaces in the bathroom where they sleep, and I plan to have the carpet in this office professionally (i.e. hot/steam) cleaned. Washing towels with lots of bleach and letting them soak in it for over an hour.

I've also heard that it's worse for little kittens, not so bad for older kitties. Does this agree with your knowledge? I'm not sure how careful I need to be for subsequent foster kittens, it's true.

It was pretty bad for little Dusty; he lost a lot of weight and became rather listless.
posted by amtho at 5:22 PM on June 26, 2011

Hey, amtho. Yes, I went through dealing with coccidia when a housemate's cat brought it in. The good news is, you're handling young, mostly healthy kittens. I had two senior cats with cancer (small cell lymphosarcoma) -- the coccidia took them out of remission and pretty much did them in. Coccidia really likes compromised immune systems.

I am truly sorry that you and Dusty are facing this. He's probably going to be all right. You are going to want to be (forgive me) ultra-anal and bleach and clean everyything over and over. Freezing won't kill coccidia, but boiling and bleach will.
posted by vers at 6:17 PM on June 26, 2011

Hah! I see what you did there :)

I'm so sorry your cats didn't make it -- I will be extra careful. Fortunately, Dusty is healthy now, and has even gained weight, which is wonderful; all the foster cats are (forgive me) solid at the moment. We actually lost a kitten last summer, so I was really worried, and of course I want to avoid future unpleasantness.

Thank you!
posted by amtho at 6:55 PM on June 26, 2011

Two of my three ex-feral kitties tested positive for coccidia as babies (I adopted them all in late 2009). They were put on a 2 week course of antibiotics (I forget which exact medicine) and I was informed by the vet that the antibiotics didn't kill the coccidia parasites but rather stopped them from reproducing until the kittens' immune systems matured enough to fight the bugs themselves. So basically the deal with coccidia is that it's generally not a problem at all for cats unless said cats have immature or compromised immune systems.

Therefore, while I am not a vet, given what my vet told me, it sounds like your adult kitty is in no danger from the kittens (especially given they've already been on medication for their infestation) UNLESS she is FIV+ or otherwise immune-compromised.

(Also, as a point of anecdote, I should note that even though my three were from the same litter, only two of them tested positive for coccidia -- the third one I wasn't able to trap until 3 weeks after his siblings. And he tested negative even though he'd not received any treatment at all.)
posted by aecorwin at 5:46 PM on June 27, 2011