parasite.

[Gizmo24]

Hi. Last friday gizmo was diagnosed with coccidia and yeast in his stool. It started with squishy poops t hat I found on thursday. He has been on 0.2 ml of tribissen and benebac every 12 hours for over a week now (today is sunday). His poos havent had too much improvement yet. I checked them today and some are real squishy, while others are spongy feeling, yet still on the squishy side at the same time. Has anyone dealt with this parasite before? How long did it take to fully clear up? Any ideas what may be going on or is this just real hard to treat? Its a bit frustrating!!!!

Here's an update on Gizmo's parasite- The coccidia and the yeast are both gone! YAH! BUT.. now he has a massive overgrowth of bacteria because of the coccidia.UGH! .He is still on the tribrissen and the benebac for two more weeks now and I have to keep disinfecting the cage every 2-3 days with bleach still. I feel so bad for him because I thought we were at the end a few days ago. I hate seeing his cage bare, he seems so bored and confused. The paper towels/hay toys are getting old to him! He adores his wheel and I have it riged on his cage where its near impossible to take it out (its a chin spin) . so here lies the problem- inbetween cleanings, his wheel gets covered in smeared poop. My vet told me to whipe it down when its dirty with clorox wipes. She said its safe and uses it on her birds. I found this a bit odd only because you do not rinse it after you wipe something down, so the fluid and fumes are still strong. He likes to nap on his wheel and will put his face right on it, is it safe to use these wipes with his face so close to the fumes? If this isnt safe, what type of cleaning product is? What does everyone use for antibacterial / disinfecting wipes/ products?

 

[tunes]

Usual course of treatment for a parasitic infection is 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, 2 weeks on. It can take quite a while to get it out of their systems. You should discuss that with your vet and see what they say.

If it was me, I would pull all pellets and give nothing but hay for at least the first portion of the treatment. Lots of fiber, little else. Let his stomach settle down. Make sure you're not giving the Bene-bac at the same time as the antibiotic, or the antibiotic cancels it out. Give the probiotic 2 hours before or after the antibiotic, but no closer.

Make sure everything is spotlessly clean. In that 2 week period between antibiotics, you are going to need to sterilize that cage. Get rid of or boil and bake any wood in it. Wash bedding, hammocks, etc. in hot water, preferably with a bleach type detergent. Throw the cage out in the sun if at all possible, to clean any bacteria clinging to it.

When you medicate him, use a cup of warm water with a few drops of bleach in it and a cup of plain warm water. Rinse the syringe in the bleach water before you dip it in the medication, run it through the rinse water, medicate him, then rinse it again after the same way.

This kind of infection just sucks to treat, but keep at it. You can also try some activated charcoal to firm up the stool a bit, but then you won't know if the treatment is doing it's job. I have not had to deal with this specific type of parasite, but with any other parasite that I or anyone I've known has had, this is the prudent treatment course.

 

[AZChins]

With Coccidia I would probably want to use Albon...it's gentle and doesn't seem to have many side effects. Two weeks is probably a good duration for treatment.

Coccidia seems to be a pretty straightforward thing to treat. It's much less complicated than Giardia, but it still needs attention and some time to get everything back to where it needs to be.

Lots and lots of probiotic is a great idea right now. It will help to crowd out the coccidia. Keep him on this for maybe the next couple months. An entire capsule on his food everyday is a great start.

I'm sorry about this...it stinks that you have to deal with it. Do you have any idea of why the chin has had such an infection? How long have you had him? Maybe this could just be from stress?

 

[tunes]

According to this article
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_coccidia.html,

Sulfa (which is what the OP has been given) is the preferred treatment for coccidia, but another article recommends Albon
http://www.beaglesunlimited.com/beaglehealth_coccidiosis.htm, so probably either is okay.

It also says that it may need to be treated for a month. As it's already been a week with no improvement, I'd guess that a longer course of treatment is what is going to be needed.

Gizmo, read through those articles. It has a lot of good information there. It is for cats and dogs, but there isn't much information out there for chins on this subject.

 

[AZChins]

Two weeks is usually enough, but I can definitely see how it could take a month. Either medication is probably alright. I prefer albon because I have it on hand for diarrhea problems. I like to start rescues with diarrhea on it right away just in case it is coccidia that is causing it. Coccidia is a pretty common cause of diarrhea, or at least with the rescues it tends to be.

 

[tunes]

What do you do to clean the habitat Susan? According to all the articles I've found, the animal needs to be bathed to clear off the spores on their bodies (as it's passed through feces), as well as the entire living area being cleansed thoroughly and deeply.

 

[AZChins]

I clean the cage with bleach and set it in the sun...clean the waterbottle, etc. There's not much that you can do to clean the chin. Most of the time the coccidia is just in the digestive tract and whatever comes in contact with the droppings needs cleaning. They very rarely reinfect themselves if things are kept reasonably clean. It seems to be something that comes about from stress most of the time, or at least that's when symptoms start showing up.

 

[tunes]

Hi everyone, I was hopeing someone could answer a question for me. I'll start from the begining. Those who dont know, gizmo battled a parasite, coccidia and yeast. A week and a half ago he was put on meds, brought a sample back to the vet this monday and the parasite and yeast are both gone. But now he has a massive overgrowth of bacteria in his intestines, so his poos are still squishy and they have a slight odor to it. He is still on the meds and benebac- now for two more weeks. Today is now thursday, and they do not seem any different still. How long do bacterial infections typically take to clear up? Has anyone dealt with this before in their chins?

I'm adding your other post here because there are already two other posts regarding this same illness and it's going to get confusing really fast with so many threads. Please just keep updating this one thread and ask any questions you have here instead of starting new threads. It will help with continuity in following along.