Giardia

[melbur10]

many people use a bleach solution for cleaning pans and cage bars etc when dealing with giardia.
and many use it normaly when they clean just be sure to rinse thoughly and there sould not be a problem

do not use on chew toys wood etc!

many people remove all wood products etc from cages and wash any fleece daily as well as bleach solution cage pans to help prevent reinfection. i would only give them sticks that can be thrown out daily.

 

[starrynight0621]

What about the wood shelves?

 

[starrynight0621]

Also, should I quarantine them to one section of their 3 level FN cage?

 

[AZChins]

It probably would be a good idea to put them into a smaller cage just so you don't have to sterilize as much every day. I'd take out the wood shelves just because they are a little more difficult to clean.

Giardia can be so tricky because chins can reinfect themselves easily. It won't be so bad, but you will have to clean things more than you normally would.

 

[tunes]

By bottled water do you mean spring water? Spring water, literally, can mean someone went out behind their house and dipped a bottle in a "spring", then sold it. If you want to be sure it doesn't happen in your water supply, use reverse osmosis.

As Susan said, they can reinfect easily. They may also never have it again. You'll just have to be careful to keep a close eye on their droppings.

 

[starrynight0621]

I confined them to the bottom of their cage and removed hanging wood toys. I will remove their wood shelves tomorrow- that'll take some time because we used a wrench to install them. Right now they have access to their water bottle, a food bowl, some wooden toss-toys, hay, and a chin spin.

I used distilled water the first several months I had them. A few weeks ago I switched to spring water, because I heard distilled is bad... I guess I made a big mistake there I will buy them proper water tomorrow as well.

How can I clean the hanging wood toys?

 

[AZChins]

You can wash the hanging toys with soapy warm water, rinse well and bake them in the oven at 300 to 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes. (watch closely so you don't burn them) Sometimes I sit them outside in the sun to disinfect, but with the giardia you probably would want to go ahead and bake them so that everything deep into the wood is killed off.

From now on get the reverse osmosis water and you'll be alright. The chins could have had the giardia before you even got them.

 

[starrynight0621]

I am a little confused about the cleaning. When I bleach something, I rinse it afterwards. Should I always rinse with reverse osmosis water?

Also, do things I boil also need to be cleaned in reverse osmosis water?

 

[melbur10]

Boiling kills bacteria etc etc so your fine when boiling tap water.

Personally with the bleach I would still just use tap to rinse. As far as I know your only worry is every thin chin poop has touched as thats what contains the full grown cysts. I don't THINK by pooring water on some thing and drying it off would cause reinfection... I think a few more of us would have giardia if it did.

 

[AZChins]

Yeah, you can rinse with tap water, let it dry well.

 

[starrynight0621]

Thank you so much for all of your help! I think I have a pretty thorough understanding of what I need to be doing now. I will keep you updated on Wally and Orville's progress!

 

[starrynight0621]

Wally and Orville had their 5th day of medication this evening. In two or three weeks (not sure which, need to ask vet), I need to give them five more days of medication.

Some new symptoms have popped up that I am concerned about. The first few days, Orville loved Critical Care and ate it willingly. Now he doesn't want it at all. Wally hasn't been eating much either and his poop has shrunk to half its size. Occasionally I catch them drinking water or eating a pellet or two.

Also, I have noticed Wally grinding his teeth.

What should I be doing at this point? Force feeding both of them Critical Care? I ran out, so I purchased a pill crusher to make my own.

 

[melbur10]

I would be getting them to eat enough to at the very least maintain their weight and healthy sized and amounts of poop. Don't want any added GI issues from their guts slowing down

 

[starrynight0621]

Hi everyone!

My chins are doing so much better... eating and pooping a lot!

They are finishing up their second round of medications. I am wondering, once that is over, what steps do I need to take? Should I contact the vet and get their poop re-tested for giardia? Do I need to keep disinfecting their entire cage every day?

 

[tunes]

You'll definitely want to have them retested to be sure they are clear. Once they are clear, you won't need to disinfect the cage anymore.

Remember though, Giardia can be the gift that keeps on giving. It's possible for them to have a flare if they are ill with something else or if they are overly stressed, so be sure to keep an eye for it.

 

[starrynight0621]

Ok, thank you so much everyone! I am getting their poop tested today, and then one more time on Saturday.