Cat Question

sillysmiles

We acquired a cat with the house we bought recently.
Since we've had her (about 4 weeks) we've had her treated twice with a spot-on treatment for fleas etc. The first one included a worm treatment. Three weeks later she is still passing worms (I suspect tapeworm eggs). This morning she got a worm tablet in her food ( which she isn't happy about).
She has lots of scratches and lumps on herself - I think from scratching herself.
Any advice? Surely 2 treatments on two weeks should have killed all the little buggers? What can we do to make her stop ripping herself!

Secondly, she had probably never been vaccinated. Is there any point in starting vaccinations now? Surely anything she was going to catch she would have gotten by now?

Vital info:
She's an outside cat, comes in to eat and play but sleeps outside.
Her bed has been changed since the first treatment for fleas and replaced with a vet bed that's treated against fleas etc. She's probably about 2-3 years old. We suspect the previous owner never treated her for fleas worms vaccination etc but we have no idea.

Pumpkinseeds

You'll need a seperate wormer for her. We used to use Advocate that covers worms, fleas and mites but it doesn't cover all worms. Our vet recently stopped stocking Advocate and is using Broadline instead as it covers all worms. She put Profender worm spot on on a cat we brought in for someone else recently and I've often seen other forum users say they use Parazole wormer.

I would start the vaccinations. Ours are vaccinated and only need an annual booster. Basically so long as they're neutered/vaccinated and given their spot on treatments every 6 weeks it should be fine. We have our lot insured, it doesn't cost much and for one cat would probably cost you a tenner a month. It's saved us a lot of money over the years with various illnesses that ours have had.

Nody

No; there's definitive reasons to get her vaccinations up to date because some of the stuff she can catch would kill her or seriously cripple her... Also check if she's neutered (you never mentioned if you checked for it) and get her neutered if she's not. As for scratching herself; once the fleas etc. are off it should stop by itself over time so I'd wait and see on it for now. If it continues it could be because she got a skin disease that needs treating.

Rips

You'll need to have a look at her skin and coat to see if there is any evidence of fleas. What sort of spot on treatment did you use? Some of the OTC flea products are unreliable and can also cause skin irritation.

I personally would vaccinate. Its never too late to start. Older cats can be as susceptible to these diseases as kittens. I don't vaccinate annually, my cat is vaccinated every three years in accordance with the recommended DOI of the brand he gets.

margio

We have our lot insured, it doesn't cost much and for one cat would probably cost you a tenner a month. It's saved us a lot of money over the years with various illnesses that ours have had.[/QUOTE]

what insurance is this?

Pumpkinseeds

margio wrote: »

We have our lot insured, it doesn't cost much and for one cat would probably cost you a tenner a month. It's saved us a lot of money over the years with various illnesses that ours have had.

what insurance is this?[/QUOTE]
We have ours with Allianz insurance. They do a discount for multiple pets and microchipped pets too. We've been with them for years and have found them very good. We pay the excess of the first 100 euro on a claim and they pay the rest. Plus our vet claims directly from them so we don't have to find the money up front before the claim is settled.

boomerang

I think a vet visit is in order, OP, to straighten things out. Give your vet the names of the spot-on products and tablet you've given. Could be any number of things causing her to scratch. Definitely don't give anymore spot-ons until you've been at the vet's. By topping up with another-spot on in such a short period of time, you might be tipping over into toxicity. You can also take the vet's advice on how often to worm (and what product to use) until she has cleared the worm burden.

The vet can also advise you on vaccinations and might be able to detect a scar to confirm the cat is already neutered.

sillysmiles

Hi all, thanks for all the replies.

Neutering: previous owner said she's neutered and vet says they can't confirm as they can't see a scar.
Treatments: the vet did the first one and have us the second one and the worm tablet. Not sure of the names the treatments. But they should have it on file.
Tried to give her the prescribed worm tablet on Sunday but no joy. Tips for giving worm tablets to cats? Tried crushing it into her wet food but want having any of it. She isn't a "treat" cat as in we have yet to find a food that she goes mad for that can be used for these things. She'll have to be monitored now for the week and back to the vet next Saturday if things don't clear.

Ranchu

Putting tablets in a bit of butter has always worked well for ours.

boomerang

Try her with some picnic ham in little bite-sized slivers, most cats go mad for it! Then after a few slivers, give her the tablet wrapped in a sliver. Works for me!

wexie

sillysmiles wrote: »

Tips for giving worm tablets to cats?

Nothing for it but to give it manually.

Get the cat on your lap and kinda hold it down with your body (gently), with your left hand gently squeeze the corners of its jaws and the mouth should open, push the tablet all the way into the back of the throat (this sounds very traumatic but it isn't (least mine recover pretty quickly) and close the mouth.

If you don't get it back far enough they'll just spit it out. This definitely takes some practice (I've had lots sadly ) but cats are lots harder to fool with food than dogs (one of my dogs catches pretty much anything you toss at him )

With regards to the skin problems, I have my dogs sheep dipped every couple of months during the summer season and it's working a treat and doesn't harm them. It's kind of a catch all /kill all so great for country dogs with no sense of what they should and should be eating, rolling in, sniffing at, walking through etc. Not sure how it would affect cats though so do check with a vet. (also sheep dipping a cat might be somewhat painful, you may have to buy welders gauntlets )

margio

get parazole it's a liquid form wormer, buy a little measuring syringe. gather the recommended dose in the syringe, then inject it back thee cat's throat. or else a spot on,, but i think some spot ons don't kill all types of worms

Nody

sillysmiles wrote: »

yet to find a food that she goes mad for that can be used for these things

A few things to try (give it without pill a few times to ensure they are really hooked on it):
1) Malt paste (sold in animal stores as various general cat health improvement pastes, make sure it does not contain sugar)
2) Soft cheese (i.e. the likes of Philadelphia natural)
3) Ham (both normal and canned)
4) Butter
5) Canned tuna / sardines
6) Meat pate
7) Raw chicken heart (they got a hole you can hide it in and they would normally take it and chew it whole)
8) Raw mince

And if all else fail:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnJ_2TV4x7U

morgana

Also with scratches / lumps to be considered is a fleabite allergy. One of our has that and goes on Prednisolone for 2 or 3 months in the summer to reduce the irritation. It doesn't stop her scratching completely but keeps it manageable (she's on a 2 day on, 1 day off maintenance schedule).

Giving tablets: We've tried it all, she's a clever cat and will find the tab hidden in butter, pate, whatever and spit it out. However, I've started to squeeze the tab into a piece of an ALdi treat stick (they all go mad for those) - and ever since the tab disappears without complaint. :P (Humans 1 - Cat 0) !

Alun

morgana wrote: »

Giving tablets: We've tried it all, she's a clever cat and will find the tab hidden in butter, pate, whatever and spit it out. However, I've started to squeeze the tab into a piece of an ALdi treat stick (they all go mad for those) - and ever since the tab disappears without complaint. :P (Humans 1 - Cat 0) !

Have you tried cream cheese like Philadelphia? It's the only thing that works with ours.

morgana

Yea I did. No go. She's not a cheese cat, not at all. So far the sticks are working just fine and less messy than pate of Philly. (Which reminds me, she hasn't had her tab yet :P)

chamaid

spot on called profender used on ours. kills all worms, easier than tabs.