Tapeworms??

[Catlady711]

None of the cats are showing any signs of worms at all.

I'm wondering if I could just get over the counter de-worm medicine from the pet store? (that is, even if I should de-worm them at all since they don't show signs) The pills from thej vet are $11 each and I have 4 cats (and my big guy will need to take 2 because he weighs about 25 Lbs). That alone is $55 and they will have to take them and then take them again in 3 weeks. Much as I love my kitties, I just don't have $110 for something that I'm not sure is really necessary.

WOW your vet charges $11 EACH for the tapeworm pills??? I think our hosp only charges a couple dollars each and a buck or two for the bottle. We combine the pills for multiple cats in one bottle then write out individual instructions for each cat (we don't combine dog and cat pills though). And our pills don't require any addictional doses 3 weeks later, we only repeat the dose if the pet shows signs again (which doesn't happen often and usually it's because the cat is still catching mice or still has fleas).

There are a variety of intestinal parasites (worms) an animal can have (tapeworms, hookworms, whipworms, roundworms etc). OTC de-wormers normally only take care of roundworms and are sometimes very harsh on the tummy. We've also had clients call in a panic later because those de-wormers caused their animal to be very sick and recently we had someone loose a puppy b/c the owner over dosed it.

If you were our client we'd recommend you only treat the ones with signs of tapeworms. If none are showing signs just keep close watch, as I said it takes about 3 months for signs to show, and it's not for sure that any or all of your cats have tapeworms.

I don't know what kinda area you live in, but it might be worth calling around just to get pricing at other vets as they all vary in pricing. It's possible that you just live in a higher priced area and that's the norm for your state/area, but around here that's considered expensive!