What Is Feline Coccidia?

Abdominal pains, vomiting, dehydration and watery stool are all signs that a cat is suffering from feline coccidiosis. All cats are at risk from this unfortunate disease, though kittens and debiliated cats are the most common sufferers.

Actually, coccidia is very common among both felines and canines. It is thought that around a third of cats and dogs are in fact infected with the disease. They don’t, however, all show signs of having contracted it.

Coccidiosis is caused by one-celled organisms called protozoa. Acting in a similar way to other parasites, such as worms, protozoa live in the intestinal tract of cats.

However, coccidia and worms require different treatments. You should therefore take your cat to a veterinarian for a diagnosis before proceeding with any treatment, to ensure that you get the correct medicine.

So, how does your cat get it? Through coming into contact with infected fecal matter. Oocytes, which are immature protozoa, reside in cat stool and mature in the open environment. Once they mature, they may infect the cat once again. Another way of cats developing coccidiosis is from licking or eating protozoan infected mice.

To prevent against coccidia infestations, you should…

1. Pay attention to where your pet spends most of its time. Where they sleep, eat and play should be clean, tidy and well maintained. Dispose of stool as soon as possible so that the risk of the coccidian spreading is lessened.

2. Disinfect. Before doing this, you may want to move your pets to a different location for the time being. You don’t want your pets to inhale the potentially harmful fumes from disinfectants. You may then spray the area with a disinfectant that contains a considerable amount of ammonia or a little bleach mixed with a good amount of water.

3. Not forget to tend to crevices, and hard to reach areas. You should pay close attention to them as many forms of parasites ? oocytes notwithstanding, could make their home there.

4. Repaint. Repainting the area where your pets live could help destroy coccidian oocytes where they mature.

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