Help! Could my kitten have worms?!

Hello All, 

I adopted a kitten about one month ago - he is about 4 months old now and he gets a de-worming pill every month. I am not sure the brand or name of the pill but I pick it up once a month directly from my vet. Riley's last pill was taken November 1 and the vet said he got one once a month prior to that. 

Today after he went to the bathroom I noticed there was something small and white right near his bum hole. I took it off with a paper towel, and it was a very small solid white "thing". I'm not sure what it was, but it was alive, as when I looked at it I could see it stretching and going smaller. It was about 1cm long, so quite small. The internet search makes is seem like tapeworm, as it was small like a grain of rice.

Riley has been acting normal and eating the same. He is not due for his next worm pill until about two weeks. I tried to do some Google searching, but wanted to see if anyone had any advise or ideas of what this could be. I will call my vet in the morning, but I am just a little panicked here right now until then. Is it possible to spread this to me, as he sleeps in the bed with me every night and tends to sleep on my pillow, so the bum region is never too far from my head. 

Is it possible he could have worms, even though he gets his treatment every month? If he does have it, does he simply get an Rx to make them go away? I live in a first floor apartment, so there have been a few bugs found inside the apt since I've moved here (spiders, silverfish, some small black bugs). 

Thanks in advance everyone 

Edit: I just located his last pill bottle: The pill he got on Nov 1 was Interceptor Green 5.75MG

Interceptor is for heartworm prevention, and it also treats hook and round worms, but it does not treat tape worms. Tapeworm comes from fleas, does your kitten have fleas? He will need a different medication for that (droncit) and he should be on a flea treatment such as frontline plus.

(do NOT use any OTC flea treatments such as Hartz, Seargents, Bio Spot etc)

Call your vet and tell her/him that your kitten has tape worms, and get some frontline plus while you're at it.

I'm not familiar with it but looked it up. It appears to treat (prevent?) only heartworm. Tapeworm needs to be treated with Drontal (also a pill, given monthly).

You cannot get tapeworm from your cat. It MUST go through a host. The only way you could get it is by eating a mouse or something. :lol3:

Is your cat indoor-outdoor? Do you also apply Revolution or Advantage Plus or Frontline?

The protocol we use for the feral cats we're able to apply topical treatments is to apply Revolution (treats fleas, flea eggs, flea larvae, heartworm, roundworm and hookworm) every month. Two weeks after applying the Revolution, we treat with Frontline (does a better job with ticks and fleas). This we apply monthly. (So Revolution and Frontline alternating every two weeks). And a drontal pill monthly (for tapeworm).

Revolution treats most of the internal parasites really well, Frontline treats the external ones well, and drontal kills the tapes.

But drontal is over kill, if you are using revolution or interceptor. Drontal is broad spectrum, treating hook, round, and tape worm, but both interceptor and revolution also treat hook and roundworm.

Droncit is for tapeworm only, so if a cat is getting topical revolution, or oral interceptor, s/he does not need drontal, s/he needs only droncit.

Thanks everyone! Riley is an indoor kitten only, and I'm fairly certain he doesn't currently have fleas. I checked all over him tonight, also he was just at the vet about 2 weeks ago to get his second set of shots so he was good then. He hasn't been outside since then, and all the windows have been closed as it is chilly out. 

When I was at the vet two weeks ago they didn't mention anything about applying Revolution or Advantage Plus or Frontline and I pretty much told them I was new to all this so give me as much help as possible, but all they gave me was the Inceptor pill. So I'll be sure when I call them tomorrow to note everything mentioned above and get everything they recommend. 

I'd like to think he didn't eat a mouse .. but I live in an apartment in an old house, so it wouldn't surprise me (though I'd not like to think about it  )

Thanks again everyone. Putting me more at ease for this evening. 

Oh gosh, I dunno but Please listen when Otto says not to buy something over the counter. If everyone knew about Hartzkills.org, they wouldn't even be in business. I found a 7week old kitten where someone thought it wise to put a store flea collar on a lil one. She died from brain seizures. Only get the safest things you can buy at the smallest doses needed to do the job.

Just got off the phone with the vet, and I'm stopping by after work to pick up some stuff for Riley. And I would never buy anything over the counter/from the pet store. I don't know too much about any of this, so I wouldn't trust anyone bet the vet office. Thanks again everyone!! 

It sounds like you're a good kitten owner, and you're asking for help when you come up against something that you don't know about.

Tapeworms are very common in cats; they come from a flea bite, but the flea may have bitten the kitten before you ever had it.  They are not usually a serious problem (although the "ick" factor is pretty high), but you want your kitten to be as healthy as possible, so I'm sure you'll do what you need to.  The tapeworm pill is pretty expensive, nearly $20 for one pill from the vet.

If you're not treating on a regular basis with one of the topical flea treatments, you should do it at least twice.  It usually takes that long to kill any residual flea eggs in the cracks in the floors, etc.

x2006nkg said:

Just got off the phone with the vet, and I'm stopping by after work to pick up some stuff for Riley. And I would never buy anything over the counter/from the pet store. I don't know too much about any of this, so I wouldn't trust anyone bet the vet office. Thanks again everyone!! 

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mrblanche said:

It sounds like you're a good kitten owner, and you're asking for help when you come up against something that you don't know about.

Tapeworms are very common in cats; they come from a flea bite, but the flea may have bitten the kitten before you ever had it.  They are not usually a serious problem (although the "ick" factor is pretty high), but you want your kitten to be as healthy as possible, so I'm sure you'll do what you need to.  The tapeworm pill is pretty expensive, nearly $20 for one pill from the vet.

If you're not treating on a regular basis with on of the topical flea treatments, you should do it at least twice.  It usually takes that long to kill any residual flea eggs in the cracks in the floors, etc.

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To clarify, tape worm comes from the cat ingesting the flea, not being bit by the flea. (tape worm can also come from ingesting rodents)

Wow $20 for a droncit (or drontal) tablet? It's $6 at my vet.

I agree that a flea treatment should be used for a few months, but I would say, four months, rather than two. Eggs can lie dormant for that long. And vacuum, a LOT! Since the kitten is already on interceptor, I would advise Frontline Plus.

Thanks for clarifying, Otto. I'd forgotten Drontal was broad spectrum. :anon: I guess our vet was comfortable with "over kill" for the ferals (it has been a bad season this year).

The only thing I'd add at this point is that the Hartz flea collars are good for one thing - killing fleas/larvae/eggs in the vacuum. I'd buy one and cut several pieces of it off to put in the vacuum cleaner bag/chamber. Every time you empty it, add a few more cut up pieces. This way you're killing the fleas/eggs/larvae you vacuum up. :nod:

Thanks again everyone! We have real hardwood floors in our apartment, with a rug in the living room, so I'll be sure to vacuum the whole place and use the cut up flea collar trick. Do the Hartz collars come from the Vet or the pet store? 

My BF went to the vet to pick up the pills today, as I was stuck late at work. I gave him a big list of questions to ask the vet, and since I had already called them this morning they knew he was coming. What they gave us was Milbemax 4mg. They say with that he won't need the Inceptor anymore, as the Milbemax is similar to the Inceptor + Tapeworm killing. (Again, I wasn't there, this is just what the BF told me, so I'll be calling them in the morning for clarification to be sure he gave me all the correct information  ). 

The vet told us to just give him that now, and he would be fine. They told the BF that we should check if he has fleas (as he didn't have it two weeks ago) by rubbing a piece of white paper over him to see if any red spots go on the paper (?!?! has anyone heard this before?!). So he looks good, so the vet said if he didn't have fleas, we didn't need to give him any de-flea medication. What are your thoughts on this, from all the above information it makes it seem like he SHOULD be taking anti-flea medication. 

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to be sure I do this all right and he is a health boy 

He may have had fleas before you got him. . .it takes a while for the tapeworm to mature to the point of shedding segments (the thing you saw was a tapeworm segment). If he's flea-free now you should be fine without treatment, but do keep an eye out for fleas, especially in the summer, and get treatment right away if you see one (or any flea dirt). You can get a cheap flea comb and run it through his fur now and then to check.

Rubbing the cat with a damp paper towel might show up fleas; their dropping are essentially blood, so it dissolves and appears red.

Willowy said:

He may have had fleas before you got him. . .it takes a while for the tapeworm to mature to the point of shedding segments (the thing you saw was a tapeworm segment). If he's flea-free now you should be fine without treatment, but do keep an eye out for fleas, especially in the summer, and get treatment right away if you see one (or any flea dirt). You can get a cheap flea comb and run it through his fur now and then to check.

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mrblanche said:

Rubbing the cat with a damp paper towel might show up fleas; their dropping are essentially blood, so it dissolves and appears red.

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(to both posts )

Fleas don't live on the cat, really, they jump on the cat to feed, and to lay eggs. So even if there are no fleas on the cat, there may still be fleas in the environment. In addition to the damp paper towel trick to check for flea dirt (I hadn't ever thought of that before, but it makes sense) check his bedding. Put a white pillow case on one of the spots he sleeps in and check it for flea dirt. If you see a lot of debris in the bedding, and it turns red when you drop water on it, that is flea dirt, and means he needs flea treatment.

Keep us posted

Hi,

Glad to hear that you figured out what was wrong with Riley and that he's doing well. 

Sorry to hijack the thread, and hope its ok to post in here. But your post made me wonder if my cat might have a tapeworm?

She sometimes has what look like small white rice grain pieces stuck to her fur around her bum. I usually pick them off thinking they are litter? (I feel completely grossed out now!) I have some of that wheat litter mixed into the regular stuff. I didn't notice the pieces moving, but they were "soft" and I guess squishy? They were kind of small to really feel the texture of them. Maybe a tiny bit larger than a piece of regular sand litter.

She doesn't really go outside, she's indoor only. I think she's been out once or twice in the past 6 months. She does sit next to my open window. The only other times she is in contact with the outside is in her carrier from my apt to car, then in her carrier from car to her playmates house. I'm pretty sure she doesn't have fleas unless maybe my new place has them? I'm going to try the wet paper towel and look for flea dirt, however she is longer haired so not sure if it will work as well. I don't use flea treatment as she doesn't go outside, but less than a year ago she had a clean bill of health from the vet after my room mate adopted a stray. And we kept them separate with separate litter boxes until the stray was given a clean bill of health.

She shows no sign of illness, eats, plays and uses the litter box normally. 

Thanks for any help.

argh! 

Well, Olive definitely has a tape worm. Took her to the vet and had her de wormed. 

But now the real chore of vacuuming and washing everything begins. How often should I vacuum to make sure that everything is killed? 

They put advantage on her. I'm kind of annoyed because they asked to take her to the back to pill her, and put it on... which I'm fine with... but they put it low enough that she is able to reach it and lick it off. I can tell she is actually getting some because she makes a funny face sound and is licking her tongue like it tastes bad. So I'm worried about her ingesting the chemicals, plus I feel like they should know better than to put it that low. Really tempted to call them to complain. But anyways. Sorry for the rant. 

Just wanted to stop in and say good luck with cleaning etc and thank everyone for the tips given, really helped me out.