Worms.
September 16, 2013 9:52 PM   Subscribe

Is there any way to deworm cats without visiting the vet?

I know this is a longshot, but I am at the brink of a stress-related breakdown. (My best friend is dying of cancer, my son's ten-year-old classmate just died in a hideous accident, and my mother-in-law's eroding health is is a nightmare.) And now I see, in the litterbox, that there's a cat poop with a white worm in it. I have four cats. I have no idea whose poo it is, so clearly everybody needs to be dewormed. But getting those guys to the vet is suddenly one step beyond what I can handle. I will, of course, because capable people like me deal with all the shit, literally and figuratively. But just on the off chance -- is there any way to remedy this at home? Will any reputable vet give me meds without actually seeing the cats?
posted by BlahLaLa to Pets & Animals (32 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Ring worms and tape worms have different types of medicine. I don't remember off the top of my head which is which. I can tell you that one of them comes mostly from eating fleas.

Get some of the poop with the worm on it and bring it to the vet. If I'm remembering right the cutoff for the little vs big kitty medicine is either 5 or 8 pounds. I had no problem buying it for both of my cats when they'd just seen 1 of them the day before and hadn't seen the other in too long to matter.
posted by theichibun at 10:00 PM on September 16, 2013


Response by poster: I'm sure it's the type of worm you get from fleas -- it's been really hot here and suddenly this is the time that Frontline decided to stop working.
posted by BlahLaLa at 10:11 PM on September 16, 2013


Best answer: Revolution instead of Frontline. It is less toxic and fleas are not immune to it. It also gets rid of ear mites.

I wonder if Revolution might also cure the worms? Maybe google for this?

You can order it cheap online.

This is where my advice ends. I know there are natural herbal remedies for humans for parasites and such, but I doubt those are safe for cats or have been tested on cats, or might even be effective here.
posted by jbenben at 10:15 PM on September 16, 2013


Best answer: If the worms look like spaghetti, a drugstore dewormer will do the trick. May take several doses. It came as a meaty liquid for my dog, no vet required!
posted by catatethebird at 10:16 PM on September 16, 2013


Best answer: You should be able to get tradewinds tapeworm tablets from PetCo or PetSmart, along with a pill popper. I'd also pick up some Advantange. All of these are available over the counter--Revolution or Advantage Multi will require a vet visit unless you buy from a foreign online pharmacy (which is often sketchy, and can take awhile), because they contain heartworm medication.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:22 PM on September 16, 2013


Best answer: Oh, and tapeworms: look like rice. The other kind looks like strands of spaghetti. Ringworm is a skin fungus.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:24 PM on September 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


Yes, Revolution works on the worms as well as the fleas.
posted by a humble nudibranch at 10:42 PM on September 16, 2013


Best answer: I've never taken pets to the vet for deworming, we just bought the stuff and administered it ourselves. Warning: many cats do not fall for the old "pill in food" trick. Manual administration can be a bit... stabby. The trick is to move fast. Also, if you blow in their faces, they will swallow.
posted by smoke at 10:46 PM on September 16, 2013 [1 favorite]


Only chiming in to emphasise what smoke wrote. You may end up with no pill in cat and a drastically reduced food selection, if you try to "hide" the pills. We once tried to blend in ground pill with our cat's favorite food, and that was the end of said favorite food for the cat, ever. Trickier than one thinks, pill-in-cat.
posted by Namlit at 11:47 PM on September 16, 2013


I learnt a long time ago to quickly shove a pill down a cat's throat. It's not that hard, just be quick and firm but not violent about it. I've never been to a vet to worm a cat, you can buy the relevant medicine form the supermarket in australia, I do it every quarter.
posted by wilful at 11:55 PM on September 16, 2013


If you don't fancy your chances at getting a pill into a cat, some dewormers come in paste form (these are also available in the supermarket here in Australia). You can put it on the tops of their feet and they'll lick it off. We shut our cat in the bathroom for a while after doing this, so she doesn't smear it all over the furniture instead.
posted by lollusc at 12:26 AM on September 17, 2013


Yes, what lollusc said! The few times I used the paste I wiped it on my cat's 'forearms' and they licked it off (and hated me for a day).
posted by Trivia Newton John at 1:58 AM on September 17, 2013


Have used whatever it is they sell at Petsmart twice on cats with tapeworms and it worked fine both times.
posted by Sequence at 3:14 AM on September 17, 2013


Best answer: Have also successfully used the Tradewinds OTC tapeworm stuff from PetCo. You may need to cut a pill in half, depending on the size of the cat. According to weight, our petite cat gets one of the pills, the beast gets one-and-a-half. A single treatment has worked in both cases, basically overnight. No muss or fuss except for perturbing the cats while dosing them.

At our PetCo, they keep the pills in a locked office (along with the FrontLine and other expensive flea stuff), so the manager had to fetch them. They also carry them at Tractor Supply, if you don't have a PetCo around. If you have neither, check to see if there's a farm/feed store nearby. Many of them stock all manner of pet supplies, treatments and whatnot.
posted by jquinby at 4:21 AM on September 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


If you get the meaty liquid kind (they have cat and dog versions) it's very easy to administer with an eye dropper. And they might even like the taste. It works very well.
posted by catatethebird at 5:13 AM on September 17, 2013


I went to the vet sans cat and they gave me Advocate and Droncit. You put this on their necks. Between these two treatments all parasites are doomed.

Advocate is prescription but they let me have it because the cat was already registered there.

If you can't get Advocate you will be able to get Advantage over the counter. Advantage and Droncit will take care of everything except heartworm.
posted by tel3path at 6:05 AM on September 17, 2013


Most reputable vets won't just give you deworming medication because it's a prescription medication. Without a veterinarian-client-patient relationship, medication should not be prescribed. Veterinarians want to see your pet before they prescribe it any medications. Those are the ethical guidelines you want your pet's doctor to have.

That said, over the counter medications containing Praziquantel are available to treat tapeworms. As a vet professional, I don't recommend them because they seldom work. They seldom work because the proper dosage is not administered, and because fleas are not sufficiently controlled.

Where your vet comes in is by examining your pet and determining what parasite(s) are present and then employing their knowledge of the parasite's life cycle and the drugs available so that your treatment actually works.

Do your cats have tapeworms? None of us know for sure because we haven't seen your cats, and most of us are not trained in veterinary medicine.
posted by Seppaku at 6:12 AM on September 17, 2013 [3 favorites]


So we recently added a foundling to our cat family and although they did the routine deworming (twice!), she still had worms 6 weeks later (roundworm in fact, yayyyy). We brought a poop sample to the vet so they could tell what kind, and then prescribed a powder called Panacur, which gets mixed in with a small amount of wet food 1x day for 6 days, then a 3 week break, then another round. So if you DO have a vet that you see regularly and who's seen all the kitties, it doesn't seem beyond the pale that you could bring in a sample of poop and they'd take a look and prescribe whatever medicine is needed without your having to haul each of the four cats in for a check-up (which sounds like a nightmare in the best of times, at least if your cats are anything like mine).
posted by oh really at 6:27 AM on September 17, 2013


Just to add to the pill-in-cat tack going on here, I had a vet recommend embedding it in a little ball of cheese, and that worked a treat with my cats. Depends on the size of the pill and whether your cat likes to scarf cheese though.
posted by Hal Mumkin at 6:27 AM on September 17, 2013


My friends' cats got flea-related worms and she just called our vet, described said worms, and the vet got her medicine ready for her. As I live actually closer to the vet, I picked it up, and I think it was like $7 for two cats' worth of worm medicine. If your vet knows you well it probably will be fine to call up and they can just prepare something for you.
posted by Medieval Maven at 6:28 AM on September 17, 2013


Response by poster: Thanks - all of this is very helpful so far.

A question about Advantage & our situation: I had originally dosed the cats with Frontline (as I usually do). When that didn't work, I stupidly had a moment of confusion, thinking, guess I forgot to dose the cats, and re-dosed them. (In my defense, we have been using Frontline for so long, and it ALWAYS works, that my only reaction to seeing fleas was, "Guess I forgot to dose them.") Anyway, they got that second dose about two weeks after the first. Now I have the Advantage on hand, but I haven't used it yet, thinking they'll have an overdose or something. I was planning on waiting out the four week period and then doing it. Your thoughts?

And of course in the meantime I am combing them all like mad, vacuuming the house more than usual, etc. The fleas are almost entirely gone, but clearly the damage has been done.

And the Advantage packaging doesn't say anything about worms. Comments, please?

At this point I'm leaning toward going to PetCo and getting the over-the-counter deworming. Thanks so much - I had no idea this was even an option.

So what we know about my cats worms:
-- the cats definitely had fleas
-- the worm was on the poo
-- the worm was white and elongated - so, longer than a piece of rice, but not more than an inch long, very slender

Does this indicate which kind of worm? And thus which medicine I need to buy?
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:33 AM on September 17, 2013


Best answer: You won't overdose the cats. The Advantage doesn't do anything for worms--that's why you need a separate tapeworm tablet. But if you don't treat the fleas, the tapeworm tablet won't work. That's why you need to do both. You should give them the advantage ASAP and the tapeworm meds that evening or the next morning. I dealt with fleas in North Central Florida so I know your pain, but I'm telling you, kitties will be fine. Also, nothing will improve until you kill the fleas and frontline doesn't work. Trust me on this one. They'll keep laying eggs and replicating and as soon as you think you have the problem under control, they'll crop up again (with another batch of worms). So seriously, advantage, ASAP.

I'm 90% sure what you're describing is a tapeworm. When they're alive they're longer and gross and wriggly (ugh).
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 7:56 AM on September 17, 2013


That said, over the counter medications containing Praziquantel are available to treat tapeworms. As a vet professional, I don't recommend them because they seldom work. They seldom work because the proper dosage is not administered, and because fleas are not sufficiently controlled.

And with all due respect, I've never had any trouble with getting rid of tapeworms with my cat. The tablets generally work fine, so long as you simultaneously administer the flea medicine.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 8:05 AM on September 17, 2013


I've never had any trouble with getting rid of tapeworms with my cat. The tablets generally work fine, so long as you simultaneously administer the flea medicine.

I'm glad that it worked well for you. With all due respect, do you know the life cycle of Dipylidium caninum? Do you know the difference between D. caninum and Taenia taeniaeformis? Do you know what stage is infectious? Do you know if it is zoonotic? Do you know how frequently you should dose, based upon the prepatent period of the organism? Do you know how the flea is integrated in to the Dipylidium caninum lifecycle? Do you know how predation is integrated into the Taenia taeniaeformis lifecycle? Do you know about the life cycle of the flea? Do you know what parasites are treated with Heartgard vs. Heartgard Plus vs. Revolution vs. Advantage vs. Frontline vs. Praziquantel vs. Drontal vs. Fenbendazole vs. Pyrantel Pamoate? Do you know how to administer these drugs safely?

Because your vet does. I'm just saying.
posted by Seppaku at 9:00 AM on September 17, 2013 [2 favorites]


Best answer: Do you know what parasites are treated with Heartgard vs. Heartgard Plus vs. Revolution vs. Advantage vs. Frontline vs. Praziquantel vs. Drontal vs. Fenbendazole vs. Pyrantel Pamoate? Do you know how to administer these drugs safely?

This information is all available on the manufacturers' websites.

While I understand your concern and personal investment, the OP is dealing with several crises situations. It's understandable that she wouldn't have the emotional energy to devote to taking multiple cats to the vet, and there's really no reason not to try over the counter remedies first. Which, again, may be perfectly successful in treating the situation; there's no reason to de-facto assume they won't be.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 9:07 AM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


Call your vet and see what they recommend. Vets are often understanding about not wanting to come in for a visit as they know it is stressful for the owner and pet, and they can often give you meds without you bringing the pet in for a visit.
posted by radioamy at 9:26 AM on September 17, 2013


This information is all available on the manufacturers' websites.

Some of it is. And yet clients who have tried unsuccessfully to treat parasites at home with OTC remedies are routine visits in veterinary general practice.

Which is why, as a veterinary professional, I recommend the OP go to the vet. If you are at the point of asking the internet in general about your animal's health problem, it is time to go to the vet.

Because vets are not often understanding about not wanting to come in for a visit. Most vets want to actually see your animal and examine it before prescribing medications. Crazy, I know.
posted by Seppaku at 10:28 AM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


wilful, smoke, lollusc, and Trivia Newton-John may not be aware of this, but some antiparasitic medications (including products like Revolution [selamectin]) that are OTC in Australia are not OTC in the US.

Moreover, some similar antiparasitics that can be purchased OTC in the US are in concentrations and doses intended for large animals, and one not-infrequent presenting problem for general-practice veterinarians are clients who used large animal preparations from farm supply stores on their cats. This is...often not a good situation.

I think Seppaku's advice is the best. One part of the issue to consider is "how many times do you want to deal with this?" You can try the praziquantel for felines, and it might work. There is also a not-insignificant chance that it won't, anecdotal evidence in-thread aside, and then you have to start over. That is not a less emotionally-exhausting outcome.
posted by Uniformitarianism Now! at 11:14 AM on September 17, 2013


Response by poster: I appreciate all the advice, even the conflicting advice.

My vet will not dispense the meds without seeing all four cats. And since my other major project today is to attend the funeral of a ten-year-old, I am going to try to do the OTC remedy. (It doesn't help that all the local stores are out of tapeworm dewormer, but somehow I will deal with that.)

If anyone sees this in the next few minutes and has a brand of dewormer they like that's available at Amazon, please let me know.
posted by BlahLaLa at 11:37 AM on September 17, 2013


Best answer: Not sure if I missed you, but: Here's one that ships within 2-3 days. It's available on PetSmart's website too.

Sorry for your loss. Thoughts are with you and your family.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 12:17 PM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


kill tapeworms with droncit/praziquantel. But kill the fleas first.
posted by txtwinkletoes at 1:26 PM on September 17, 2013


the worm was white and elongated - so, longer than a piece of rice, but not more than an inch long, very slender

Does this indicate which kind of worm? And thus which medicine I need to buy?


Who knows without performing a fecal examination? But if it is a roundworm and not a tapeworm, the praziquantel that folks are suggesting you purchase will not be effective.
posted by Seppaku at 3:53 PM on September 17, 2013 [1 favorite]


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