Roundworm found in kittens :(

Hi there,

I just adopted two kittens that my neighbor and I rescued from under a deck last month. She took the mom and 2 kittens, and I took two kittens as well. They are 14 weeks old. They are in pretty good health, but the vet let me know that they both have roundworm. They both seem ok. No vomiting or diarrhea. One of the kittens does seem to have a bloated belly and had some gas tonight. The vet gave them both deworming meds 3 days ago.

My concerns are:

1-I have a 2 year old cat in the house, who is currently kept separated from the kittens. But I would still like to know how contagious this is? Has anyone here ever dealt with this?

2-Is prognosis pretty good once they have received medication? I am going back to the vet in 2-3 weeks for more shots and to check for Roundworm once again.

I am just so attached to these kittens already and would be pretty devastated if anything happened to them.

Any advice?

I apologize but I just kinda laughed and smiled a bit while reading this. Your concern is wonderful honestly but roundworm is no big deal and is extremely common. With Sera and Tsuki they were dewormed 5 times and Vincent has been done by a vet 4 times. When I had Vincent down the last time I had Sera done a 6th (5 was before Vincent) and the vet was hesitant to do Sera as well. But in their case they were living together. Just have them dewormed and it shouldn't be a problem. As for spreading I'm pretty sure it's mostly litter boxes that worms are spread through so if their separate there shouldn't be any issue and if they weren't worst possibility should be a deworming needing to be done.

I mean Vincent pooped out a worm one time and  puked up two hours apart (puking/pooping were separate cases).

Edit - If the vet isn't concerned I wouldn't be too worried either. It will pass they may need a few rounds of dewormer but that's it. Hope the kittens are well and hope to see pics

Lol I have a tendency to freak out about my cats. Your post made my anxiety level go down quite a bit! Thank you! I googled it and flipped out. I just cleaned this place from top to bottom and completely emptied the litter boxes, washed them and put new litter in. I can't imagine what I'd do if they puked up a worm. I'd probably need a xanax lol. Glad your is ok!
Here are some pictures of Gizmo and Bella!

Oops, pics didn't post. Let me try that again...

Cute little devils!  Thank you for rescuing these adorable cats.

Are they going to be indoor only?  If you keep them indoors there is much less chance of them picking up parasites.  If you decide to let them out you will need to use a preventative like Revolution.

Ugh, they are still positive for roundworm. They are indoor cats. Now I'm worried that they are still positive despite deworming meds.

MikeyKitteh said:

Ugh, they are still positive for roundworm. They are indoor cats. Now I'm worried that they are still positive despite deworming meds.

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Often times with a good sized infestation they need dewormer several times.

If you are fine with the vet's cost for all of the cats to be done there, that's great.

If not you can buy pyrantel online, a big bottle that lasts at least a year, and can be dosed every 2 weeks for a couple months even, just to be sure they are all gone.

Pyrantel is extremely mild, near impossible to over-medicate too. Save for tiny kittens even.

I've had plenty who I had to re-treat for a couple months as they had worms more than the norm, but just know, virtually ALL kittens have worms.

Thank you so much. I may look into that. They have been given Strongid at the vet 3 or 4 times now. I don't see any worms in their poop, and they don't seem sick. My vet wants to try panacure. But it can get expensive, because I have 3 cats (2 kittens, 1 adult).
I may buy what you suggested. I wish I could test them at home too!

If you do go the pyrantel route, you really won't need to test, just keep dosing every 2 weeks to ensure it is cleared.

If they tested pos for worms after 3-4 doses, I highly suggest the pyrantel route to save money at least.

This tells me the worm infestation is a good one, and will take re-treating to be rid of them.

You will only see a worm in poop when there is a good amt of worms in them. The key is to treat, then re-treat every 2 weeks, allowing the newly hatched worms to be killed.

This is how I do with all cats and kittens in my rescue group.

BTW, they are little dolls!!

Be sure to get their little butts fixed as soon as possible. 3 kitten vaccines too, then one at 1 yr old, then they are good!