Any medicine to kill round worm at any life stage?

We have 3 feral rescue cats that we started caring for about a year ago. They were 15 weeks when we found them and have been indoor ever since. They have had worms the entire time. They've been de-wormed about 15 times but the round worms just keep coming back. The most recent time we treated them every other week for about 2 months and they went 3 months without having any worms. All of a sudden this past week one of them started having diarrhea and today I positively found a round worm in their stool. Is there any way to get rid of these things for good or are they going to need to be treated every couple weeks for the rest of their lives? We've used Sentry Sure Shot, Revolution and some super expensive oral treatment from the vet.

You need to clean your environment really well in addition to giving the cats medicine. Also, are you sure it's round worms and not tapeworms? Round worms are longer (maybe an inch or so) and thin where as tapes are short and fat like grains of rice.

I haven't heard too many cases of recurring round worm infestations in cats (but I'm certainly no expert) but I have heard of cats getting tapeworms over and over again because of an uncontrolled flea problem.

Not sure where you live but there are some deworming medications that are over the counter and therefore less expensive than the ones at your vet. Pyrantel is for round worms and praziquantel is for tapes.

Sorry you're dealing with such a frustrating problem. Good luck!

Thanks for the reply. Yeah we've bleached the entire area that we are keeping them several times and we are positive that they are round worms. Both from personal identification as well as confirmation from the vet. The only thing I can think of is that the larvae is somehow continually staying in their system or that they are passing it back and forth somehow reacting differently to the medicine. There is another possibility that the worms might be entering the house. We have the cats in our basement. 1/2 of the basement is finished and 1/2 is unfinished. They live in that entire area right now. The back wall in the unfinished part has an interior french drain covered by plastic. I'm guessing it's possible that the worms could be coming in through there. The only thing is that I've never seen worms down there prior to the cats being there. I don't see any worms in that spot now either but if the cats were eating them then that would be why I don't see them.... I don't want to attempt adopting them out until we know they are clear so it's pretty frustrating.

What are you using to treat them?  I've never had to treat more than 3 months to rid of worms.  Is it possible you're dealing with something other than roundworms?  Might ask the vet to do a fecal panel to be sure you're not dealing with something else.

stephanietx said:

 
What are you using to treat them?  I've never had to treat more than 3 months to rid of worms.  Is it possible you're dealing with something other than roundworms?  Might ask the vet to do a fecal panel to be sure you're not dealing with something else.

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We've used the Sentry Sure Shot the most. We used it three times in a row and it seemed to get rid of them. 3 months went by and now they are back again. The Revolution (topical) was the only treatment that seemed to really do nothing. Yeah any time I've spotted what i think are worms in their stool we take a sample to the vet to confirm.

The more I talk to people about it the more I get the feeling they are eating them from somewhere. This would be tough to prove/disprove though.

Do they send the sample out to the lab or do the fecal float in the office?  I'd ask them to send it out to the lab and do the PCR fecal panel.

stephanietx said:

 
Do they send the sample out to the lab or do the fecal float in the office?  I'd ask them to send it out to the lab and do the PCR fecal panel.

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That's a good question and I'll have to ask them. It takes about a day to get the results so I would assume they are testing in house. I'm not sure what facilities they have there for testing though.

Are they eating any prey that they catch? That's how cats typically get roundworm, either that or from their mother. Even insects can carry roundworm eggs and infect a cat that eats them.

ETA: I looked up Sentry Sure Shot, and, like most over the counter wormers, it contains piperazine as the active ingredient. Piperazine is generally considered less effective than the ones the vet sells. You may need pyrantel instead - that's what vets typically use for roundworm, but it can be bought over the counter as well. It won't be labeled for cats, though, so you'll need to find out the correct dosage for a cat if you don't buy it from the vet. You will probably need 2 or 3 doses of pyrantel, 2 weeks apart, to get rid of all the worms.

Here's some information on the PCR test for cats and dogs.  You might explore the site and see what else you can find.  https://www.idexx.com/corporate/news/press-releases/20090116pr.html