Help.....

My cat had diarrhea for about a week.. but none of my other cats had it.. I took him to the vet and they took a stool sample and said he had tapeworms.. gave me two pills.. and his diarrhea went away.. that was a couple of weeks ago.. about 3 days ago.. he got the diarrhea again.. its really bad.. such a mess all over the rug, litterbox, etc. My other cats still don't have it though. He's the only one without vaccinations.. because I didn't plan on keeping him. Plus I've had my other cats since they were 2 wks old, and found him outside a few months ago with an abscessed leg.. I dont know if that has anything to do with his immune system or not. Could it just be the worms and the other cats have a better immune system than him? Or is it more likely something else. I can't take him back to the vet.. I just got done paying an expensive vet bill on all four cats.. and with valentines day coming up.. and my dog needs his vaccines. So.. if anyone can give me some advice on if its probably something other than the worms since hes gotten diarrhea again.. or if its most likely the worms and my other cats just have a better immune.... and what I can do to make it stop.. I've tried the withholding food.. it didn't really work. I have him another home, but I don't want to give him to them while he has diarrhea. Any information would help.. thanks.

Sometimes worms need 2 or 3 treatments a few weeks apart to be fully eliminated and it sounds like that's what's happening with this cat. Perhaps try another worming treatment and another in a couple of weeks time and see if that clears it up. Of course, work with the vet on this. If one cat in the house has worms, it is almost certain that the others will be infected too. My guess is that the other cats aren't showing symptoms, as the worms are in their early stage. It would be a good idea to treat all your cats to make sure they don't keep passing them back and forth to each other.

Tapeworms are carried by fleas, so you have to control the fleas in the environment and on the cats in order to get rid of the worms. As long as there are fleas, there will be tapeworms. Cats do not pass tapeworms to each other, they only get them from eating raw meat, like mice, or from eating fleas when they are grooming. Becky

Originally Posted by zanniesmom

Tapeworms are carried by fleas, so you have to control the fleas in the environment and on the cats in order to get rid of the worms. As long as there are fleas, there will be tapeworms. Cats do not pass tapeworms to each other, they only get them from eating raw meat, like mice, or from eating fleas when they are grooming. Becky

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Tapeworm EGGS are carried by fleas, not the full grown tapeworms themselves. How the fleas get the eggs though I have not figured out or read about as of yet.

Yes, you are right. To be precise, eggs are carried by fleas. Most people don't care about details however. But since you asked.... The life cycle of the tape worm is that the mouth part of the worm is attached to the lining of the cat's gut. It can live for 2 or 3 years in there. It releases the little egg packets that you see on kitty's butt. The egg packets can move around and release eggs all over the place. Flea larvae, not known for their good taste, eat the eggs. When the larva becomes an adult flea, the cat ingests it while grooming. The egg is released into kitty's gut to start the cycle all over again. I don't know why that is the life cycle or why if kitty eats an egg packet that doesn't cause infestation, but it doesn't. The egg has to spend a part of its life cycle inside a flea's gut. What a life. But praziquantel, Drontal, causes them to lose their protective covering and they are just digested by the cat. Never to complete that cycle. Becky

Actually, your cats can get tapeworms from each other, if they are mutual groomers. The eggs can also fall on their fur, or the cats can pick them up in the litter pan and then lick their paws and ingest the parasite. If you have small children in your home, they can also get tapeworms from your cats if they pet them and then don't wash their hands. Usually those hands or fingers end up in the child's mouth.

You are probably thinking of roundworms, Hissy. They do not need an intermediate host as tapeworms do, and people can be infested from exposure to the eggs in litter boxes, sand boxes, garden dirt, as well as worm eggs on the animal themselves. And they are passed from cat to cat through the mother cat's milk as well as mutual grooming. Wash your hands before you eat. But the tapeworms that infest cats require an intermediate host, like a flea. Tapeworms can also be gotten from under cooked and raw meat, especially in countries where feed controls are not as strong as in the more developed countries. We had a patient the other day from Mexico with a condition called cysticercosis, caused by eating under cooked pork. The worm gets encysted in brain tissue and can cause severe inflammatory responses.
Becky