Cat worms...

[M.K.Smith]

I have inside/outside cats who enjoy almost daily rodent snacks. I also have a 4 year old son. I just discovered a worm… I believe a tapeworm from one of the cats. My cats get de-wormed 2 or 3 times a year, and the vet says as long as they eat rodents they’ll have worms.

They don’t make a daily strongid version for cats, do they? Is there a de-worming schedule I should keep them on? I get mixed information about humans getting worms from cats… and of course my son still puts everything in his mouth Is the over the counter wormer any good… so far I’ve just got stuff from my vet. Something I found online said that you need to get the stuff from the vet to get rid of tapeworms.

They are inside outside cats… or as I like to call them… insideout cats… and not particularly tolerant of being kept inside exclusively unless it is super hot, super cold, or precipitating.

Suggestions welcomed! Will be calling the vet as my son says, “when it’s sunny out.”

[Chall]

Ugh. My cat snacked on birds and I guess mice, she came up to me and spit out a long worm that was ALIVE. Grossssssss. I bagged it and took her to the vet and he gave her, I think iveterim (<- spelling). Anyway she made a face and then kinda looked strange as she smacked her lips. It was banana flavored, very funny because she wanted to protest but I think she actually kinda liked the taste, which flummoxed her. Because I can’t remember exactly what it was, don’t take my word for it and try it at home. But yes, I’ve seen worms in my cats. Ughh.

[Canaqua]

The tapeworms would come from fleas…so keeping the cats on a topical flea medication would help keep those at bay. I worm for tapes with Tradewinds, as my usual Panacur doesn’t work on the most common tapeworm species. I don’t use Ivermectin to worm the dogs, are they are both what my vet calls “white footed herding dogs” who might carry that gene that makes them sensitive to Ivermectin.

The worms that make me the most irritable are the hookworms, our puppy had them some months ago. Not only are they very hard on the dogs intestines, but people can pick them up through their skin. Since I couldn’t really sterilize the yard after the hookworm incident, I make all kids, visitors included, wear shoes in my yard now.

[Horsegal984]

Thankfully tapeworms are not contagious. Each animal, or human, has to eat an infected flea to get them.

Round worms and hookworms are contagious, the best way to protect yourselves is with Advantage Multi or Revolution. In addition to flea prevention they have products to help prevent parasites. Although your vet is right, as long as the hunt they will keep getting tapeworms

[philosoraptor]

Your cat getting parasites is going to happen if they’re left outside and are eating wildlife. No, they don’t make daily wormer for cats that I know of.

You’ll need to know what parasites he has before deworming. Take a stool sample over to a vet, and she can suggest the appropriate product. For easy problems such as this, an affordable vet you might want to try is All Paws, which is only 10 minutes drive away from you.

[Marshfield]

Strongid won’t do anything for tapeworms. You need either droncit or topical profender. Monthly flea control also helps.

[clint]

The last time I checked with my vet about an effective topical wormer, he said “no”, and that included profender. Since your cat is domesticated, I would use Drontal, which will get tapes and roundworms, among others. You can do it as often as necessary. Here is a link to FAQs, the UK version. http://www.drontal.com/faqs.html It is by prescription, but I get mine from my equine vet.

[M.K.Smith]

Picked up de-wormer for both cats… Droncit Directions to give one now and 1 in 21 days. The receptionist said flea control might help, but so far (knock on wood) my cats don’t have fleas. From what I read the cat ingests infected fleas and gets the tapeworm… mmm… have some yummy fleas with your rodent… just like sprinkling it with pepper… ick!!!

I asked what a good deworming schedule would be since they’re obviously not planning on giving up rodent snacks anytime soon… the receptionist just sort of gave a vague answer… every month… every two months… Does anybody have a better answer? I didn’t see the vet or I would have asked him.

When I asked the receptionist if my son could get tapeworm, she said he might if he ate infected feces/fecal material. But, I was thinking from what I had read that you must ingest the intermediate host (infected) flea. Which is true? Kiddo still has his 4 year old appt, I was thinking it probably wouldn’t hurt to have the discussion with her, too. Kiddo isn’t a play with kitty poop kind of kid, but he does like to play in the stone dust that the cats and dog occasionally use for a toilet. And kiddo seems to think his life is not complete unless he’s sticking at least one finger in it.

[Horsegal984]

Tapeworms have to go through a flea to become infectious. So I guess if there was a flea on the poop… HOWEVER, most other intestinal parasites can spread not only from contact with the feces but with the ground they contacted as well. So while a flea prevention may not hep with your tapeworm issues it will help prevent other intestinal parasites that are more of a direct risk to your son. Or a cheaper option is to do heartgard for cats once a month which also has a dewormer in it.