At my wit's end- spirometra "fish tapeworm"

[GinaN]

Hi, I know this is an old thread, but I am hoping someone can help me.

I have a cat I am taking care of and she was diagnosed with spirometra. For the same reasons as the OP (she is semi-feral and not a good patient) they decided against the pills, so she received a Droncit injection today. She is 7 pounds and she received a dose of .50 (that's all it says in the paper I'm assuming since it's liquid is ml). Does anybody know / can they point me to a link that talks about the proper injectable does (all I can find are doses for the pills).

The .50 seems low to me but I am not sure.

All I know for spirometra it's supposed to be double the dose.

Thanks.

 

[Sarthur2]

G GinaN

How much does your cat weigh?

The injectable dosage of droncit is 0.4mL for 5-10 pounds, and 0.6mL for 11 pounds and over.

 

[GinaN]

Hi Sarthur2 she is a little bit under 7 pounds.

Right - that's the dosage - but for Spirometra it needs to be doubled. The regular dosage will not kill Spirometra. That's why I'm thinking it's too low but I am not sure if the injectable is different than the pill.

 

[Sarthur2]

I think you should discuss this with your vet as your cat will probably need more.

 

[GinaN]

Yeah, I was just hoping someone here would know the answer, but that's what I'm going to have to end up doing. I was just hoping for some kind of reference before doing it. The information out there is clear and specific for treating Spirometra for the pills, but not for the injectable.

I am really afraid that this dosage is too low and won't kill it - or worse have the worm become resistant to it.

Not to mention having to stress the cat AGAIN to go through the proper dose.

 

[Sarthur2]

I wish I could help, but I'm not familiar with the injectable. I do know it's better in general to give too much than too little, and to treat twice - with doses 2 weeks apart.

Would you be able to pill her at home?

 

[GinaN]

I wish I could help, but I'm not familiar with the injectable. I do know it's better in general to give too much than too little, and to treat twice - with doses 2 weeks apart.

Would you be able to pill her at home?

Thank you for trying to help I appreciate it.

I do have a message out to a local vet who deals with a lot of ferals/strays and often helps on a public board.

My understanding is that the dose should given 2 consecutive days. Although perhaps that needs to be repeated in 2 weeks.

And I'm with you on the better to give too much than too little - again from what I've read the safety margin on this medication is pretty good, even at does several times the label amount (even though I'd be more nervous of side effects the higher the dose no matter what they say.)

I was going to TRY to pill her at home (not by doing a pill gun or anything like that - I cannot get close enough to pet her) - but by cutting the pill in half and putting it into 4 different treats (the pills are big though so even if cut in half, not sure I would have been able to pull it off.) The reason I didn't is that I had an appointment to take her to the vet so I figured I'd let them do it. They were not successful - she was super stressed out. Although I think part of that may have been that their pill gun was sticky. So that didn't help. :/

 

[Sarthur2]

Let us know what the vet says after you hear back.

 

[GinaN]

Let us know what the vet says after you hear back.

I will - just realized that I never answered your question re: pilling her at home - I added it above.

 

[Sarthur2]

Maybe you can try pilling her with the pieces inside the treats. It would be far less stressful for her for future treatments.

 

[GinaN]

Maybe you can try pilling her with the pieces inside the treats. It would be far less stressful for her for future treatments.

Yeah, I would give it a shot to see if it worked with the treats. If it did, would definitely be less stressful.