Cats are a cute pet, and now pet cats are becoming more and more common. When feeding cats on a regular basis, they may take them to play outdoors, and if the owner is not careful, the cat may find a water source for itself to drink in the wild. Many pet cats will get "Giardiasis" because of this. "Giardiasis" is a disease caused by cats infected with Giardin's flagella, which sounds like a terrible rare parasite. But in reality, on the contrary, it is very common for it to be infected by cats. And it is not difficult to prevent infection of this parasite. Before we introduce the preventive steps, let's first get an idea of Jiading flagellar!
Giardia is a single-celled parasite that can be observed under a microscope, and it generally parasitizes in the small intestines of mammals, including cats and people. It is a very common disease that cats are susceptible to infection by drinking unclean water by mistake. It can parasitize a variety of mammals, and both humans and animals can drink unclean water and be infected with various types of Giardin flagella. People and animals who are accidentally infected with "Giardia" usually have symptoms of loss of appetite, blood in the stool, and diarrhea. Ignoring this disease often has serious consequences, and when the disease is particularly severe, it may even lead to the death of cats.
According to the veterinarian's medical records, we can find that many sick cats are infected with "Giardia". So how should we prevent giardiasis? The most effective way is to ensure that water and food are clean and safe, because there are three ways of transmission of "Giardia": 1. Food and water transmission. 2. Transmission through mammalian feces. 3. Dissemination through the environment. The main reason why people and pets suffer from "Giardiasis" is to eat food with the pathogen of "Giardia" or to drink unclean water with the pathogen of "Giardia". Under the microscope, we observe the "Giardia", and we can observe that its appearance is inverted gourd-shaped, with a size of about 9.5 to 21 μm, a width of 5 to 15 μm, and a thickness of 2 to 4 μm. The body is symmetrically shaped on both sides, with a protruding back and a flat abdomen. The anterior part of the ventral surface is concave inward into a suction cup-like depression, which can then be used to adsorb on the host intestinal mucosa. In biology, it can usually be distinguished according to its morphology, size, antigen, physical and chemical characteristics, reproduction method, etc.
1. Morphological characteristics of "Giardia"
The appearance of the "Giardia" is inverted gourd-shaped, about 9.5 to 21 μm long, 5 to 15 μm wide, and 2 to 4 μm thick. The body is symmetrically shaped on both sides, with a protruding back and a flat abdomen. The anterior part of the ventral surface is concave inward into a suction cup-like depression, which can then be used to adsorb on the host intestinal mucosa. There are 4 pairs of flagella on the surface of its body, and according to the growth position of the flagella, we can divide them into tail flagella, ventral flagella, posterior flagella and anterior flagella. After staining "Giardia" with ferrumin, we can find 1 pair of ovate-shaped vesicular nuclei side by side at the bottom of the suction cup-like depression, which in the past we tended to think of as a large nucleus in each of the 2 nuclei, however, the latest research found that there is no large nucleus in the nucleus. The Giardia has a pair of axles that run horizontally through the middle of the worm body and do not protrude out of the worm body. In the middle part of the column we can see 2 semicircular mediators, at the front end of the column, between the front end of the disc-shaped depression there is a matrix complex, which is the growth site of 4 pairs of flagella.
The "Giardia" in the capsule stage is oval in shape, the wall of the capsule is relatively thick, and the size is 10 to 14× 7.5 to 9. After dyeing with iodine solution, it will appear yellow-green, there is a more obvious gap between the body of the "Giardia" and the wall of the capsule, the immature capsule contains 2 nuclei, and the mature capsule will have 4 nuclei, and it can be found that the 4 nuclei are not evenly distributed, mostly on one side. Looking at the capsule with a microscope, the filaments, flagella, etc. of the organism can be found.
2. The main transmission route of "Giardia"
There are three ways of transmission of "Giardia" is: the first is food and water transmission, which includes infected raw meat, spoiled meat and unsanitary water sources. The second is transmission through feces, mainly accidental contact with the feces of infected organisms, not only cats, but also humans and other mammals. The third is through environmental transmission, the cystic "Giardia" can survive in a suitable environment for several months after being excreted with feces, and is highly infectious. When a cat is accidentally exposed, an infection may occur.
The reaction of cats to giardiasis will be related to the cat's constitution, nutritional status and the reproduction of germs.
Infected and diseased cats usually exhibit the following:
1. At first, it is manifested as loss of appetite, and then it begins to have small intestinal diarrhea or large intestinal diarrhea, and there will be steak diarrhea, abdominal ringing, weight loss (weight loss), the production of intestinal mucosal tissue, etc. Through investigation and research, in 5 to 16 days after infection, infectious cystic "Giardia" will be excreted through feces. At this time, we should pay attention to cleaning to prevent infection to other pets or human bodies.
2. After a period of time, if we neglect the condition and delay treatment, the sick cat will have symptoms such as lethargy, dehydration, bloody stools, and vomiting. When these symptoms occur, the problem is already very serious, can not be delayed, and may produce a variety of complications such as hypoxia, which is extremely harmful, and the serious case may die.
However, after active treatment, most of them will slowly improve within 4 weeks, and a small number of them may still have intermittent small intestinal diarrhea or intermittent large intestinal diarrhea, but generally will slowly improve. At the same time, during the recovery period, the cat may still excrete the encapsulated feces with infectious capacity through the feces, at this time we should pay attention to hygiene and actively clean.
1. After the cat falls ill. First of all, we can determine whether there is a "Giardia" infection by performing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays on the cat's defecation, secretions, blood, urine, etc.
2. Secondly, in the laboratory environment, the feces of the cat can be sampled and inoculated in the culture medium to further cultivate and identify whether there is "Giardia", the main purpose of this method is to further confirm whether it is "Giardia", to avoid misdiagnosis.
3. Using saline smear for testing, there is a 25%-40% probability of using this method to detect the cysts and propagules.
4. In addition to the above methods, there are some less commonly used identification methods, such as duodenal puncture examination, histopathological examination, immunofluorescence for fecal examination.
(1) If the infection is confirmed, active diagnosis and treatment is required
· Dietary therapy: If diarrhea is caused at the same time, fasting for one to two days or feeding fluids as much as possible.
· Medication: These drugs such as "fenbendazole" and "metronidazole" can be taken for treatment. Fenbendazole is preferred, next-select metronidazole, and the dosage is determined according to medical advice.
· Symptomatic treatment: If the cat has symptoms such as dehydration and anemia, it should be supplemented with saline and nutritional supplements.
The above methods are for reference only, and the specific treatment plan should be based on the actual situation of the cat!
(2) How to prevent cats from suffering from "giardiasis" in daily life:
· Ensure that the cat's water and food sources are safe and do not carry the "Giardia" pathogen.
· Pay attention to hygiene: change the cat litter and clean the cat litter container frequently, and disinfect the hands before and after the excrement.
· Try not to take them out into the wild: outdoor infections with giardia account for about a quarter of the total number of infections.
· Regular indoor disinfection: Regularly disinfect the room and cat litter, and choose safe and effective disinfection products.
· Don't have too many cats at home: Avoid cross-infection caused by a large herd of cats.
· At the end of the treatment, use disinfectant cleaning products such as alcohol to clean the cat, paying special attention to cleaning the part of the cat that defecates.
· For used cat litter boxes, mats, and areas of frequent activity, thoroughly disinfect with 5% 84 disinfectant, and after disinfection is completed, be sure to open windows to strengthen air circulation.