I recently adopted a kitten on Sunday, and I already have a 4 year old cat and a 4 month old puppy. I scheduled an appointment at the vet for tuesday, and I woke up that morning at 4:45 am to her vomitting. There were 4 piles and in the 4th pile was a roundworm. The vet gave her strongid and we scheduled a 2nd dose for September 8th, but I'm wondering how contagious she is at the moment. The vet made it seem like as long as she doesn't share litter boxes with my other cat, I shouldn't have to worry about anyone else getting infected, but that doesn't seem right to me. I have done extensive research on the internet, but no one really adresses how contagious they are inbetween the doses of dewormers, just that it only kills the adult roundworms and that's why you need a second dose. The internet seems to agree that they can track the eggs around, but not how easily they track them around and what an infectious dose would be (for example, her paws touch her litter and then walks around the apartment on the carpet. If I touch the carpet, and then touch food, and then eat it, would I get roundworms? Or can my immune system handle small amounts of roundworm eggs and it would take a large amount of roundworm eggs to make me sick?). I also can't find a clear answer on whether she is still passing eggs now that she's had her 1st dewormer.
She had diarrhea the first few days and kept getting poop on her back legs, so I kept giving her baths and washing the towels and blankets with hot water. She also has leakage out of her rectum sometimes, and can't seem to use the litter box without tracking tiny bits of poop around. We had her isolated in an enclosed space with a puppy pen, but she has figured out how to climb out of that. I can't get her to sit still and she is very fast and all over the place. She also keeps jumping on the bed, no matter how clear I make it to her that she is not allowed. So basically the only way to keep her isolated or contained to one spot would be to put her in a pet-a-porter, and it's not like I can keep her in there for the next month.
So I guess I'm wondering if I have to keep her completely isolated, or if as long as I change her litter every day, vaccuum up the tiny bits of poop she tracks around, and give her baths when there is visible poop on her if she can be out and socialize with my other animals.
She had diarrhea the first few days and kept getting poop on her back legs, so I kept giving her baths and washing the towels and blankets with hot water. She also has leakage out of her rectum sometimes, and can't seem to use the litter box without tracking tiny bits of poop around. We had her isolated in an enclosed space with a puppy pen, but she has figured out how to climb out of that. I can't get her to sit still and she is very fast and all over the place. She also keeps jumping on the bed, no matter how clear I make it to her that she is not allowed. So basically the only way to keep her isolated or contained to one spot would be to put her in a pet-a-porter, and it's not like I can keep her in there for the next month.
So I guess I'm wondering if I have to keep her completely isolated, or if as long as I change her litter every day, vaccuum up the tiny bits of poop she tracks around, and give her baths when there is visible poop on her if she can be out and socialize with my other animals.
