OH NO I think He's got worms

I feel so bad for my Jordan. Not only does he have the acne thing, but I'm almost 100% positive he's got worms. I've been noticing these little white things that look kind of like grains of sand on his but once in a while. Well tonight I saw two of them the first one didn't move so I didn't think much of it, but the second one did move. I don't know if it will be of any help, but I sealed it in a plastic bag to take to the vet's office with us on Wedness day & I'm going to do my best to get stool samples from both of them. From a book on cat health I have it looks like a tape worm which would make sense because he was so flea infested when he was found the people who brough him to us had given him like 5 flea baths & we still gave him one at the shelter. At any rate I'm wondering how contagous tape worms are from cat to cat & cat to people. They boys share a little box, a water bowl & they have two food bowls but you know they eat out of which ever one strikes their fancy. So do I need to worry about Levi too? Also, since they were in a foster home should I inform the foster Mom about the worms assuming since he's been with me only 3 1/2 weeks & been inside the whole time he must have had them before he came here? Especially since I noticed the first little white thing after he'd been here 2 weeks? Any ideas or info?

If you have 1 cat with worms, you are best off if you treat ALL cats at the same time. Sounds like a bother, but it is better than ridding them in 1 cat only to have another cat start speading them all over again.

That was exaclty my thinking before looking up about tape worms on line. I just figured you do one you might as well do them both, especially since both have had some intermitant diarreah. However according to what I saw on-line if it is tape worm then it doesn't pass from cat to cat in that manner. What I read says that the eggs must be ingested by a intermediate host, ie. fleas, or rodents depending upon they type of tape worm. So I don't know, but I'm still leaning towards just doing both of them. I've run a flea comb thru both of them & have not found any fleas or flea dirt so I don't believe they currently have fleas. However Levi does have one of they symptoms of a serious tape worm infestation & that is dry dull coat. Not all of his coat is dry, but the lower half of his back & butt area are. Again another thing to ask the vet about tomorrow morning. I've got a sheet of paper with a list of things. I will say that right now I'm kind of irritated that this is going on. Because at the shelter we tell people the cats have been dewormed & so they will be fine. Well obviously they are not fine. I have no problem paying for this because I'm making the decision to take them to the vet rather than deal with the shelter, but I am going to talk to director about the type of dewormer we use to see if tape worms are differnt & can't be covered in the same medication. Maybe someone here has an answer to that.

It's best to treat them both for worms. In my household, when the cats get wormed, the humans get wormed too. The only critters that escape the worming schedule are the fish. I would also inform foster Mum of the situation.

I get my worming tablets for my cats from my vet. I insist on their all wormer tablet. Though I'm not sure whether it covers tape worm. I really ought to ask.

Fleas bring the tapeworms. If you have any fleas at all, it is best to treat them for that first, wait a few days then treat all of them with tapeworm medicine (usually droncit). The vet will prescribe droncit based on your cat's weight so make sure you know that when you call them for meds.

As far as the cats being treated for worms at the shelter - I think it depends on how severe the infestation of worms was to begin with as to whether just one dosing would take care of the problem. We had to "worm" Lucky several times (she was our feral - and was infested with several types of worms). It's a good thing you caught this now and you can get them both treated right away. We had to treat each cat in the household.

I read in another one of your posts about the murmur problem as well...have you thought about maybe getting a second opinion from another vet in the area? Just a thought - you probably already did this or have thought of it.

I wish you much luck with all of this - it's too bad it's got to happen all at once - I know just how you must feel. Sending you good vibes that all of this can be worked out for you and your new babies quickly.