Does my cat have worms ?, was dewormed 3 weeks ago but noticed something on her bum

J0hnick

Hi,

Someone left a cat on the front door of my wifes work place, the person who left her said she kept trying to get into his house and was pooing everywhere. The wife is a cat person so we said we would take her in untill we found her a home, but we have since decided to keep her.

She had the runs, not to sound disgusting but her poor looked like runny/watery stuff you get at the top of a bottle of ketchup you hadnt used in a while (except brown), she seems house trained because she used the litter we got her, but after she would step out of it drops of poo would literally leak out of her bum. Her bum was also bright red, and she was constantly licking it.

We brought her to the vet immediately, he gave her an injection, a tablet to deworm her, injected some stuff into her mouth and rubbed some cream on her bum. He gave use a course of antibiotic tablets to give her and some more of the stuff to inject in her mouth, plus cream for her bum. Whilst the vet had no trouble getting her to swallow all this stuff, we had no such luck, although he did hold her by the scruff, we tried this but had could only inject the stuff into her mouth, and she spat half of it out after, we also had to crush the tablet up and sprinkle it on her food to trick her into eating it, I did manage to get the cream on her bum though which stopped her licking it while it was on.

We noticed a huge improvement within about 4 days, her poo was solid and she rarely licked her bum, but the wife said cats will do that once in a while anyway. Nearly 3 weeks later we thought she was back on the mend, but last night we noticed what looked like a small noodle, about the length of a penny, coming out of her bum, I wiped it off and it started to slowly resolve in the tissue. We had a look online and it looked like either round worm or a bit of a tape worm. The wife is freaking out now because we know someone who's child went blind in 1 eye from contracting worm's from their cat.

We havent noticed anything that looks like worms in her poor, I regularly clean the poo out of her litter every night. We have wiped down all the counters and furniture she was near, and Im currently washing the bed cloths and everything else she's been near linen wise. She's confined to the hall right now, the vet gave us some special cat food for her and told her to give her water, not milk, so she's been eating and drinking the same stuff for the last 3 weeks untill today, we ran out of the special cat food last night and the vet isnt opened today, so I just got some cheap stuff in Dunne's, she eat it, but got sick 10 minutes after on the door mat, Ive since thrown it out.

Ive looked online and some people have said its normal for a cat who had worms to pass dead parts of the worm afterwards, but the vet is closed today and the wife is freaking out till she can bring her down tomorrow, the cat is almost fully grown but not an adult yet, probably about 8 or 9 months.

Can anyone give us some advice to set our minds at ease ?, thanks in advance.

Edit: Forgot to mention she hasnt been outdoors since we got her, we intend to keep her as an indoor cat.

mymo

She may just need a second worm dose, if she was heavily infected.
I usually use parazole liquid, you give it over 3 days, then repeat 2 weeks later, I wonder if that's the liquid you had to squirt in her mouth? Can you check the label?

If it's not parazole, you can just get a couple more worm tablets from the vet, and dose 2 weeks apart, that should clear even the worst infection.

As for the cheap food, mine have vomited dunnes and supervalu own brands too, don't worry, give her a little chicken or fish, even tinned sardines in oil.
Don't panic about the worms, wAsh your hands before eating and observe general good hygiene around the cat and you'll be fine.

boomerang

Sounds like a tapeworm segment to me and a live one. Parazole won't treat the most common type of tapeworm. Can you ask the vet what wormer he used last time? I'd recommend Milbemax on this occasion.

J0hnick

Thanks for the advice. She just did a really runny poo on the side of her litter, looked like she didnt make it in time, this was just after I gave her something proper to eat. I looked at her poor and there wasnt anything in it, then proceeded to mop the floor

mymo

Sorry wrote my reply in a hurry before, I meant to say I use parazole for kittens and as a first dose for an adult cat I've taken in, as its easy on their stomach, especially if the history is unknown, then dose with a tablet wormer about 3 weeks later, or in kittens case at 12 weeks.

I was guessing the liquid you had was parazole, as you squirt it in the mouth (yep, it's not too easy to get into them, had many a faceful of it), as boomerang said above, ask the vet what they used.

Good of you to take in this cat, don't let this put you off, it's easy sorted.
Just keep litter tray clean and wash hands thoroughly afterwards, and after petting cat.

J0hnick

4 months later now, and just after posting this we thought they were gone, no sign of them in her poo anymore. We were due to give her another dose last week when I noticed thick blood in her litter (it literally looked like ketchup) with worms 2 very long round worms in it .


We started straight away on the next dose, since then she has had worms in all her poo, and even noticed one on the ground in the hall, it looked like a dried up noodle but there was no poo, and another magically appeared out of nowhere right where she was sitting after she had been licking her bum.

She's never been outdoors since we got her, or since I last posted here 4 months ago. The vet said last time she had both tape worm and round worm, this time it just looks like round worm. Does anyone know how long this takes to clear up for good ?.

Knine

They actually should have cleared up by now. It certainly sounds like roundworms. Any chance she caught a mouse in the meantime in your house? She must have been really badly infested although the life cycle is less then 4 mths. What wormer have you been using?

Punkyblip

I would try a different Vet to get a second opinion.

Hope cat gets better soon.

Cherry Blossom

A second opinion seems rather drastic for a simple case of worms.

Punkyblip

adrenalinjunkie wrote: »

A second opinion seems rather drastic for a simple case of worms.

Not if its going on for four months.

J0hnick

Knine wrote: »

They actually should have cleared up by now. It certainly sounds like roundworms. Any chance she caught a mouse in the meantime in your house? She must have been really badly infested although the life cycle is less then 4 mths. What wormer have you been using?

I havent seen any signs of mice in the house, she will kill anything that moves though like spiders and stuff, if we did have a mouse and thats how she got it it would be the lesser of 2 evils.

Yea, she has a chunk taken out of her ear and had a scar on her nose when we got her, so she must have gotten into a scarp with another cat or something. The vet reckons she might have F I V as well, were giving her 2mls of pinamox a day for that.

I dunno the name of the wormer but its purple in colour, I have to get the scruff on her while the wife shoots it into her mouth, she spits half of it out most of the time.

mymo

I'd get a tablet worm dose, drontal or milbemax, and dose her 3 times, once every 3 weeks, that should get worms at all stages.
Just check her weight, if she's over 4kg you need drontal xl.

J0hnick

mymo wrote: »

if she's over 4kg you need drontal xl.

Thanks, last time we got her weighed she was less then 2 KG, I think about 1.6. She's only 1 year old and not a fat cat, she's pretty thin, although when she's sitting upright her arse looks massive, like she's pair shaped :P

J0hnick

OK, so she got her 3rd and final dose yesterday, checked the litter this morning, mountains of poo :eek: but no sign of worms in them so fingers crossed she's ok now.

Knine

No final dose. The wormers do not kill all stages so I would be giving her another dose in 1 mths time!

J0hnick

Knine wrote: »

No final dose. The wormers do not kill all stages so I would be giving her another dose in 1 mths time!

By final I meant final for the next 3 weeks, she's due another dose then.

J0hnick

Just to give you an idea of how far she's come

boomerang

Wow, what a beauty! And she hit the jackpot with you guys adopting her!