Animal Welfare Professionals

I would love any research input from veterinary professionals as well as anecdotal feedback on prophylactic treatment for giardia and coccidia in kittens, specifically young kittens under 8 weeks old. And whether symptomatic and/or not symptomatic at the time.

This kitten season has been rough, and I can count on one hand the number of young kittens that came in and did NOT have at least one of the following: giardia, coccidia, cryptosporidium, campylobacter. The coccidia has been rampant. Many kittens have come in with multiple parasites and bacterial infections making it even more challenging for them to fight it. They get very sick. We have had so many kittens in ICU getting full supportive care this year, and it's exhausting. It takes so many resources, and we don't have a lot of staff. It ends up limiting how many kittens we can even take in.

I have had several people reach out to me and suggest prophylactic treatment for giardia and coccidia. I'm not sure if this means: kittens are having diarrhea and they go ahead and treat (with symptoms). I think in some cases it's full treatment at intake with no symptoms yet? They are saying that it has helped a lot in regards to getting ahead of cases and limiting severity. However, what are the risks for creating drug-resistant forms of giardia or coccidia, which would be awful and a much bigger issue in the long run!

We are currently collecting our own data by doing fecal tests on young kittens when they arrive, just to see how many are coming in with active cases of coccidia and giardia. But giardia isn't shedding while it's incubating. If I understand correctly, treating it during the incubation phase should kill it, but it won't show on a fecal test yet. BUT if a kitten is symptomatic (diarrhea, low appetite) what is the risk involved in treating prophylactically instead of waiting for test results? Sometimes the delay in testing causes the young kitten to get a lot sicker in the meantime. Is there any way to get ahead of it?

I know there is no simple solution for any of this, and prophylactically treating sounds good but may create bigger problems. Does anyone have anything to share from their own research or experience?

Thank you!🙏

#CaseManagement*
#FosterPrograms
#Medicine,SurgeryandSterilization

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Michelle Flowers
Foster Program Manager
Seattle Area Feline Rescue
UW-AAB
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Our diarrhea protocol involves giving Panacur and Ponazuril as well as a good probiotics. We do this for about 3-5 days and it usually gets rid of the diarrhea. We have a lot of kittens in foster and this protocol seems to work for most. 

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Stefanie Schmidt
Animal Welfare Specialist
Hearts Alive Village
NV
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We do 5 days Fenbendazole to cover parasites & Giardia and 3 days ponazuril to cover coccidia. Cleaning is also important during treatment and using disposable cardboard scratchers to reduce re-infection from the environment.  This protocol is for every kitten because some are asymptomatic.  

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Marcy F
na
Spay and Stay
IL
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There are some shelters that do a prophylactic dose of Ponazuril for coccidia at 4 weeks of age/on intake vs doing the full course. If they're already having symptoms the prophylactic dose probably wouldn't be enough, but might be a lower lift option for ones that come in before they're showing symptoms for coccidia at least. 

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Megan Whitworth
Director
Puppy Haven Rescue
OK
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Hi Megan,

Thank you, yes, our protocol starts the dewormers at 2 weeks old for kittens - single dose of Pyrantel and single dose of Ponazuril and we repeat it every two weeks. Well, for one we do one more dose 2 weeks later. The other we continue giving every two weeks until they are a certain age. 

This doesn't seem to have much effect for kittens who have giardia and coccidia. I am curious about the programs that are doing a full treatment of Panacur (Fenbendazole) and Ponazuril - either on intake or at the first sign of symptoms. And how high is the risk of creating drug-resistant giardia and coccidia by doing regular prophylactic (full) treatments.

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Michelle Flowers
Foster Program Manager
Seattle Area Feline Rescue
UW-AAB
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-02-2026 10:24 AM
From: Megan Whitworth
Subject: Prophylactic Treatment for Giardia and Coccidia in Young Kittens?

There are some shelters that do a prophylactic dose of Ponazuril for coccidia at 4 weeks of age/on intake vs doing the full course. If they're already having symptoms the prophylactic dose probably wouldn't be enough, but might be a lower lift option for ones that come in before they're showing symptoms for coccidia at least. 

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Megan Whitworth
Director
Puppy Haven Rescue
OK
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