So those of you who are more experienced in cat health issues than myself help me out here...
Back in August (8/19) I discovered that the boys had worms. This would not have been discovered had I not gone to top off the just-cleaned litter box with fresh litter and found a freshly-laid turd crawling with the little guys (anyone know specifically what kind of worm this sounds like it might be? My research points to hookworms). So, off we went to the vet with all 3 of the boys only to be told the fecal float was inconclusive.
They sent us home with pills for all 3 of the boys - 2 doses for that day, and 2 doses for 3 weeks later. With the pills' diameter being at about 5mm, it was like a wrestling match trying to get them down - I think I remember trying to hide pills in soft food, which they boys almost never get, when Sepp was a kitten, and he figured it out real quick so I didn't think that would help. Anyway, we thought all was well...
A couple of weeks ago I started noticing more gunk around the junk than normal on the boys, but didn't think too much of it until this morning, when I discovered a worm sticking its head/tail out of one the boys' butts. So, now all of them undoubtedly have worms again. I guess that means treatment didn't work the first time? At least I have them scheduled for a vet visit next week anyway, so I don't have to drop everything like last time.
My biggest concern is not that the worms - we'll just take em to the vet again until we get this kicked - but where the worms came from. We found them in August, at which point Willie had been an exclusively inside cat for 11 months, so it's not like he picked up something and passed it on (at least I'd think that it would've shown up in the rest of them in fewer than 11 months). Sepp did get out one evening during the summer, but it was for maybe 10 minutes. I have never seen evidence of mice in our apartment, and after the August incident I looked. We've got a lot of spiders around here - could it be that the spiders might have had worm eggs on them?
I just don't know. It's worth mentioning that since living in this apartment complex the boys have all caught fleas - we discovered that in September, and Frontline has since put on end to it. Still, I wouldn't think worms would spread as easily. Any help/advice would be appreciated...
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Hi! I am a fellow cat lover, and your blog caught my attention. I have grown up with a house in the country with many cats and now have two of my own. It sounds like your boys have tape worms. This can only be treated by a vet. No over the counter meds for this. It sometimes can be missed in the fecale sample. They get if from fleas, and then pass it on to the other via the litter box. If not treated properly, it won't go away. If like my vet, they will be given a dose at the office, and another for a few weeks later. The day after the first dose, completely clean and disinfect the litter box and put in fresh litter.
On giving them pills, what my husband did was to completely disolve it in a the juice from a can of tuna (people food that is), and let them lick it up. Try that with a small piece, incase they still taste it. If that doesn't work, sounds like you will have to stick with the shove it in the mouth and hold their mouth closed till they swallow method. A vet once told me to also rub their throat in a downward motion to incourage them to swallow.
Hope this helps. Hope your kitties are well soon.
WOW... another stranger helping you out. I was going to say the exact same thing. There's sometimes no reason that they get crap like this in their crap... lol. But, more than likely it came from the fleas. FYI... if you had fleas in September... you're going to want to set off a flea bomb now to kill any dormant eggs. You don't want those creaps back in spring. Do it now while the weather is still kinda warm so that when you get back from your fumagation you can open the windows. I'd do it while the boys are at the vet. It usually takes a couple of hours. Also, I don't know if you bathed your boys recently (ugh... I hate this job) but you may want to do that too just to make sure any yuckies are gone too.
Man, sometimes kitties are worse than kids. :-D Hope the boys are feeling better soon!
if i wasnt' so freaked out about a worm poking out of your cat i'd say give 'em lots of extra love and treats so they feel better!
martha sent me here to offer any ideas- (i have professional experience in the area, but am no vet) I was reading it thinking "tapeworms"...and I felt more confident (as much as possible over blog) when you mentioned fleas (tapeworms are tranmitted that way, often when a cat eats the flea, and then infests the litter box and can spread further...they often flake off with scratchy butts and the segments looks like orzo, but there are whole worms too)...which means to get rid of the worms, you must get rid of the fleas on all the cats (frontline plus is good, do not use the hartz brand you can get at the store. it is a waste of money and ineffective) and the entire house (those fogger bombs work well if you can get the animals, people, and plants out for a couple hours) since you seem to have a flea problem, this should be done regardless of whether the fleas are the real problem...they also need to be treated specifically for the worms. it's not fun...parasites rarely are...but they can cause a lot of problems if it doesn't get eradicated (including transmission to humans, much less health problems to themselves). its often a pain to give meds to cats, but if you can't trick or entice them, sometimes you just gotta fight it and force it (toss is at the very back of their tongue, hold it shut and rub until you feel them swallow. to pry their mouth open, apply pressure the side of their mouth, or "lips" near the smaller teeth or gap behind the incisors, it helps protect your fingers from bites and should work to get them to open up)...it's definatly in their best interest...luckily it should be pretty easy to take care of (a good vet would be able demonstrate, and offer more assistance and suggestions. emphasis on a GOOD vet)...my suggestion is to actually take one of the kitty turds to the vet that you know for sure is affected...i'ts the best way to get a true diagnosis. Unfortunatly it will take more than just a light freeze to get rid to of fleas for the season...without a good hard, long freeze, many vets recommend year-round flea protection, and also to protect indoor cats if any pets go outside.
I hope it helps and i wish you the best with your cats. if i can help in any other way, let me know. the internet can provide a lot of good, useful, reliable information, but its also full of a lot of crap, so its important to sort through to get the true stuff.
there are several reasons the treatment "may not have worked the first time" (drug resistance, misdiagnoses of the wrong worm/issue, improper dosing of the drug itself or of the cats refusing/spitting it out, re-infestation-direct transmission from another flea or from being in an infested litter box, or sniffing the butt of another infected animal, or even himself, etc) I know it's discouraging and disgusting, but just keep up with it until you've fought it.
p.s. spiders should not have anything to do with this problem.
Wow, apparently I'm not the only longwinded person on blog (does it count that my genetic clone is the other though....?)
I agree with Karen! The mental image of a worm sticking his head out of a cats butt is disgusting (yet mildly intriguing, since it's not MY pet...)
Oooh, maybe we can start my quest for millions! I want capsules of tapeworms to sell as a "diet pills"!
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