Coccidia Treatment Cats Ponazuril
Ponazuril is a drug which is used to treat protozoal and coccidial infections in dogs and cats.
Coccidia treatment cats ponazuril. Coccidia infections are relatively common in puppies and kittens and affected pets usually present with diarrhea. Whilst there is no licensed treatment for coccidiosis in cats effective medications are available. This medication is an antibiotic that works on infectious microorganisms. We started using it about 3 or 4 years ago and that translates to about 3500 cats hard to guess the percentage of those.
The medication is available in tablet and injection form. We do recommend ponazuril as the preferred treatment of coccidia in kittens in a shelter. Anecdotally this drug has been used off label successfully for treatment of coccidia at a dose of 15 30 mg kg. The general dosage is 7 to 15 mg of the medication per pound of body weight.
In my experience it wipes coccidia. Toxoplasma infections are considered particularly serious because of the potential for transmission from the pet to humans. I have never had a problem with it myself nor has anyone else in our group had a problem with it either that anyone in the group knows of. The paste can be diluted and used orally in dogs and cats for control of coccidia.
Coccidia belong to a group of single celled parasites called protozoan. It is thought that 5 of all cats acquire coccidiosis at some point in their lives. Cannon told the audience results support use of oral ponazuril at 50mg kg once every 24 hours for three consecutive days for treatment of coccidiosis with follow up fecal flotation. Unfortunately researchers did not identify an effective single dose treatment.
There are also ways to eliminate risk factors from your cat s environment. In dogs and cats sulfa based antibiotics are the most commonly used coccidiostats. Ponazuril and toltrazuril both actually being farm animal products that can be compounded into concentrations more appropriate for dogs and cats. There are newer medications that actually kill the coccidia outright.
While albon sulfadimethoxine is the only fda approved drug the recommended dosing schedule is to administer it for 5 21 days which can be costly both monetarily and in staff time. Ponazuril has been used as a coccidia treatment in horses for a long time and its use also off label in cats and dogs has been documented since at least 2006. Our rescue group uses ponazuril to treat coccidia and i do myself in fact i just treated a crew of 15 today adults and kittens. It not only treats coccidiosis in cats but it also cures toxoplasmosis in pets.
If still infected treatment should be repeated.