Marlow produces gift (worm)

When I scooped Marlows litter box this morning I was bummed to see he had diarrhea again. As he tried to cover it he inadvertently ejected bits from the box onto the floor. Then I saw a roundworm just lying there on the floor. I collected it in a baggie and took it to the vet. I came home with Drontal for both Marlow and Sasha. The vet said it was a "roundworm'. I kept it and through research online identified it as Toxocara Cati.

I'm trying to sort out how this could happen. Sasha has always been indoors. He was treated for worms as a kitten and subsequent fecal exams, performed annually, were negative. Last fecal exam in March '09. Marlow was treated with "Advantage Multi" for two months before he came inside for good. Last dose of "AM" on Oct 20, '09. Now Marlow definitely has worms. Sasha may too at this point.

I guess the Advantage Multi didn't perform as was advertised or there was a dosage application issue. Or Sasha has had worms for three years and they were missed on the fecal exams.

The two are sitting here whining for lunch now. I'm going to make them wait till later and when they are good and hungry I'm going to give them the crushed Drontil in their food. BTW, finicky eater Sasha seems to like "Blue Wilderness" chicken canned food. He has rejected probebly 40 other brands and flavors. At some point I expect he'll reject this "new" food. I hope it's not tonight.

Good luck treating them and getting them to take their meds. Knock on a whole forrest Ive never had to deal with worms in my house and Im thankful for that because Im the poop scooper in the house and Id get freaked out and squimish yelling for the BF to come get it! lol

Yeah, I had roundworms "pop up" after 6 mos with my fosters .. and no indication of the little squirmers up til this point. So-- Strongid liquid all the way around... assessed by weight. Had to weigh them.. 1 baby scale, 1 carrier and lots of wrestling!

Marlow got his Drontal finally. I mixed it with wet catfood first. He ate a little then turned up his nose. I put a little beef gravy on it. he ate a few more bites. I warmed it a bit, another bite. I cooked some bacon, crumbled it and stirred it together in a cooled skillet, a few bites. I figured he ate about two thirds of his dose so I mixed some of Sasha's dose with sour cream, he licked some off my finger then quit. I put some of the sour cream mix on turkey jerky. He ate a piece. I cut some smoked sausage and tucked the mix inside. He ate one piece. I put some mix on a piece of cheese. he ate one. I took some more of Sasha's dose and mixed it with milk. He drank most. I decided he had enough.

Today he still has diarrhea but it is bearing dead worms.

Sasha, however, is another story. He too has diarrhea and has been vomiting over night. At 10:45 this morning he gets to see yet another vet. His new regular vet is off today. He also got no Drontal. Probebly just as well. He would probebly have thrown it up.

Marlow's diarrhea has abated. He did produce more dead worms this morning. Sasha has firm stool also. Maybe things have finally turned for the better in our home.

Hey digger - I found this interesting post by a vet online that may explain why both of our kitties turned up w/roundworms:
Roundworms have an interesting way of infecting dogs and cats that can lead to persistent infections in some pets.

Roundworms eggs are expelled in the stool when infected pets have a bowel movement. The eggs develop into an infective larval stage that sticks to the skin as a new host walks around an infected area. The larvae then bore through the skin and migrate right through body tissues until they find their way to the intestines where they develop into adult worms. During the migration period the animal
has a good chance of developing an immune response capable of killing the worms and when they are in the intestines adult worms can be killed with several deworming agents. The immune system is capable of developing a protective cyst around the migrating worms but not quite able to kill them.
These worms are also difficult to kill with dewormers. So they live in a sort of "jail" built by the immune system. In times of stress, especially pregnancy, the immune system weakens and encysted worms begin to migrate again and develop into adult worms.

In your mom's cat's case, the most likely scenario is that the stress of boarding allowed development of a previously arrested case of roundworms, although there are some cats that just never develop the immune response necessary to control the worms and have to be dewormed frequently throughout their lifetime. The only way to check on this, that I know of, is to do repeat fecal examinations. If they keep coming up positive for roundworms then it is necessary to develop a
routine deworming program for the affected cat or dog. More often, deworming once or twice will stop the new infection and things will be OK until the next big stressful event occurs.

Mike Richards, DVM
5/12/2001

That's good to know. I am going to be keeping a close eye on my to boys in the months ahead. We are going to have a worm protection protocal in place. I will expand it to include my mother's and my sister's cats. (Floyd, Baxter, and Cat Stevens) If my indoor guys can have worms so can their indoor/ outdoor guys.

He didn't 'look' wormy