Round Worm

Anybody know how long round worm takes to gestate or grow or whatever they call it? Lazlo threw up round worms last night. He was de-wormed when we rescued him in July. There are three potential sources as far as I can tell. The Vet says it takes three weeks, which would make only two options possible.

1) Eggs remained in his system unkilled by the de-wormer. (He's had round worm since July 7 and just got sick now?)

2) We tracked larvae in on our shoes. Our shoes come in on the bottom step indoors. The cats do sit down there at times.

3) He got it when he was at the Vets to be neutered 1 1/2 weeks ago. According to the Vet, this is impossible.

????

We sanitized the entire house, all furniture, surfaces, our shoes, changed all linens, etc. last night. We bagged all cat beds and pillows on couch, etc. last night and took them to cleaners this morning. Oh - and of course the litterbox, scooper and entire area were completely cleaned (again). Hubby's a germo-phobe to begin with, so that gets done weekly anyway.

Thanks,

Laurie

I've not experienced roundworm in cats, just tapeworms. However, when we got my dog Sam last year he had a bad infestation of roundworms. The vet gave him the dewormer and told us that everytime he pooped in the backyard we had to scoop it up so that he wouldn't get reinfested with roundworm. Then after 2 weeks we were to bring him in for his final deworming, but we no longer had to scoop poop. I would think that the same would be true for cats but I really don't know since a cat always goes in the same place, i.e. the litter box.

I've been in a similar situation. When I took in Ivo, I had a stool sample checked for worms. At that time (mid October last year) she had no signs. Then, at the end of January (about 3 1/2 months) she vomited up two roundworms. Her fecal was positive then. She got a worming pill (yellow) at that time. In late March, she threw up a roundworm again. That time, I gave her Revolution, and she hasn't thrown up or passed worms since.

The vet suggested that she had a very low-level infestation, and that is why it was missed initially. Also, the first wormer she was given is now not entirely effective, because some worms are becoming resistant to it, but my vet prefers to start treatment with it. So, it is quite possible that Lazlo also had resistant worms, and that the infestation just needed to build up high enough for him to vomit them. I never took any extraordinary measures with Ivo's stuff-I bleached her litter box after she passed the last worm (yes, I spent a lot of time looking at her poop) and bleached where she threw up the worms, but that's it.

I'd check with the vet about getting another type of treatment, to kill the resistant worms.

Christy

Christy & Sabra, thank you so much.

We went nuts cleaning everything because hubby is a germophobe, and we care for a colony of ferals, so it is possible it came from our shoes. But then of course, as soon as the Vet mentioned the words "Larvae" and "microscopic," Gary got concerned that the cats might have tracked it through the house on their feet after burying their "business."

Guess the home can always use a good, thorough cleaning anyway, hunh? What better to do at midnight! LOL!