Scared to ask- Experiences with roundworms in kitty?

[kateh]

I gave a lecture to my college biology students about parasites today. This evening I went to my boyfriend’s and he grabs something the kitten was playing with. Yup! Roundworm! :dead:

He has a one year old cat and ~4 month old kitten, both of whom were feral when he got them, both now indoor cats. A few months ago older cat snuck out and came back with fleas which BF has been battling with. Now kitten at least has roundworms, and I’m betting if one has it, the other does too!

I know that roundworm treatment for the cats is a pretty straightforward dewormer, but what about keeping people from getting it? BF’s house is not the cleanest. Now I’m paranoid about eating or, frankly, even going over there. The fleas were bad enough to find ON me I don’t need roundworms!

[sketcher]

Cats get worms. So do dogs and horses (and all other animals). I would not worry about it. Think of all the people you have known with cats. A number of them have had worms at one time or another. Now think of how many people you know who caught worms from their cat. Can you think of any?

Just treat the kitteh and get him healthy and change the litter box often for the next few weeks.

[Casey09]

Honestly, I probably worry more about catching the stomach flu from another person than I ever would about something like this.
I would practice good hygiene, especially washing my hands before eating and after touching the cats. If I were changing the litter box, I’d make sure to use especially good hygiene. I’d also consult my vet to see if both of them need to be treated or should be tested, to make sure they aren’t passing the worms between each other.
I am by no means an expert, but I think that catching roundworms from cats is probably more likely to happen to young children who might be putting their hands in their mouth a lot than to adults. JMHO.

[Ghazzu]

Wash your hands after handling litterboxes and/or soil where cats have defecated, and you’ll likely be fine.

Deowm the cats, as well.

[Horsegal984]

Roundworms are fecal oral. As in, you have to eat poop for this to be an issue. Wash your hands before handling food or eating and you’ll be fine.

Hey at least cats put all their contaminated poop in one place. Way better than the puppy I’m fostering who goes everywhere… He was so loaded he was sick from the deworming and had literal spaghetti out both ends.

[VaqueroToro]

“Spaghetti out the end”… apt and gross description.

One of mine was a feral that had a bad case of round worms when I got him. Litter box duty was…interesting…for a bit after he was pasted. At least those were dead. The nigh puke worthy episode was finding a couple tape worm segments in my lap after he got up. I think he managed to ingest an infected flea while at the vets getting fixed – it’s the only way he could have gotten it.

I concur with those above. Get the critters dewormed and just practice personal hygiene (lots of hand washing after touching the kittens) and you’ll be fine.

[BuddyRoo]

It would be wise to take a stool sample in to the vet to be checked for other parasites as well. There are many parasites that pets can have that are zoonotic. As others mentioned, it’s fecal oral transmission so if the kitties are using the litter box appropriately, your risk is pretty small as long as you wash hands.

That said, some parasites like tape worms, are not likely to be noted during a fecal check because they typically shed segments, not eggs, which is what we look for on a fecal float. So if there have been fleas, I would likely treat for tapes regardless. Tapes are transmitted by fleas.

I personally would also discuss giardia with your vet. It’s a major issue where I live now. You don’t want that either and again, it’s not one we see on the float.

Good luck!