My baby has worms - please help :(

[BabysFirstLook]

Hi, I took my 8 week old Kitten (Gene) to the vet a couple days ago. When I got her (1 week ago) I discovered a worm hanging from her fur, it was long and skinny, I thought it was a roundworm. I took her to the vet and they said they didnt find any eggs or worms in her stool. I told the vet I found a round worm and he gave her (35mg Pyrapam).

Yesterday after she pooed, I inspected the worms and I found that I mistook the the worms for roundworms, they are actually 100% tapeworms. They inch forward and elongate and then retract to a segment form.

I'm really worried because I don't know if the medicine treats tapeworms since I told the doc she had round worms? I find about 5-10 worms in her stool and she poos 4 times a days.

Please let me know if you know if these drugs treat tapeworms, there was no info that came along with the drug.

Thanks a lot!

[Catty1]

Just phone the vet, hon - they will know.

Welcome to Pet Talk...and it's good you're taking care of this little one's health.

[KittyCrazy]

Pyrapam is for the treatment of roundworms and pin worms. You may need to get a prescription for Cestex to treat the tapeworms. Here is info. on Cestex:

http://www.peteducation.com/article....articleid=1406

Hope that helps and hope your baby kitty is worm free soon!

[KittyCrazy]

Also, you said: They inch forward and elongate and then retract to a segment form.

Are you sure they AREN'T pinworms? Tapeworms usually look like grains of rice. You should bring the vet a fecal sample to be tested to find out for sure. If it IS pinworms, then the meds you already gave him should work just fine.

[Jessika]

I'm surprised she has worms and yet the vet didn't find any in her fecal? I know tapes can be harder to identify via a fecal but even so it just strikes me as odd.

Regardless, if you can find one or have a stool sample with some in it, bring it to the vet. You typically don't have to have an appointment to drop off feces for a fecal. If you can't get to the vet soon, you can always put it in the refrigerator (NOT the freezer) to bring to the vet later. Now I know a lot of people aren't comfortable with putting feces in their fridge... but I guess double or triple bag it, put it in an air-proof container or do whatever you feel needs to be done and put it away from the food I suppose

[kittycats_delight]

I had these issues with my Artica when she was a puppy. She had tenia (tapeworm) giardia & some other type of parasite (I can't remember what it is called). She had to be treated with 2 types of meds cause the meds for the tapeworm and the other one didn't kill the giardia. It took months to get it under control cause she was a dirty little buggar and would eat her poop causing the tapeworm to come back.

Your vet should probably check your kitty for fleas too cause that is normally how they get tapeworm. They have to inject an egg which is often in fleas. There is a great med for tapeworm. I had to treat a feral mother and 4 babies for them as well. The one I used for the babies was Felex. It is in paste form so pretty easy though messy to administer. There is also a pill that is awesome. You give it once and 10 days later give it again. And that's it. Easy and effective. That one was called Milbemax.

Tapeworm is fairly easy to treat so don't stress too much. Do get a stool sample containing the segments of worms and have it examined at the vet just in case there is something else as well.

Keep us updated ok. And welcome to PT!

Michelle