Can I trust the fecal test?

[brookesphynx]

Originally Posted by tigerclaw

Thanks, i'll have to take a look at those pockets at Petsmart. Thanks for the other food ideas, i'll find something he loves I hope. I haven't given him a whole lot of variety in foods as yet so maybe the tuna or salmon will work or the gerber baby chicken food.

Cats are so good at knowing when you're trying to slip something past them, aren't they? I always try to explain to mine that it's for their own good, but they don't care...talking sense to them never makes a difference!

Pill Pockets are great, when they work - here's a quick tip if you use them:
Give the cat a Pill Pocket without a pill or medicine inside first. He can chew it slowly and discover that he likes it... Then he'll be more likely to gobble up the second one with the medicine inside. If the first pill pocket he ever eats tastes like meds, more than likely he'll never take another pill pocket from you again!

And, make sure you pinch it so that the inside of the pill pocket gets stuck to the medicine. I had a cat that always figured out how to eat the pill pocket and somehow managed spit his pill out every time!

 

[tigerclaw]

Your right, cats do know when something is in their food that normally isn't in there or something is different. No I havn't used the pill pocket. But i'm keeping that in mind if I need to use them. So far he's doing ok. He took his medicine last evening and this morning. I changed his food mix and I think that is why he stopped eating. I had been feeding his 15% soft canned food mixed in with hard food. He loves the soft food so I figured I could put the powdered medicine in just soft food. He ate it the first time and after that refused to eat. I went back to the original food mix and he began to eat again. So it was my fault he stopped eating. Too big a change in food all at one time.

The powdered medicine(Panacur) mixes very well into the soft moist canned food, then I mix it in with the hard food. The powder simply disappears into the soft food and there is know pill to drop out or get crunched or be a suspicious foreign substance. It seems to be working very well. I'll try other methods if this begins to fail. So far so good.

Thanks for your help and insight. It's always good to know what to do next just in case.

 

[baby_whiskers]

Hi all, and sorry to add a question to this thread so many years later... I adopted a cat a month ago, and last week I found a Round worm in her litter box. After taking her and the worm to the vet, he gave me medicine (need to look up the name) to give her for 3 days, then repeat again after 3 weeks. Her fecal tests came negative for any parasites! I am concerned: if tests are not reliable, should I consider giving her Tape worm dewormer just in case? Most importantly, she is missing a small patch of fur on her head - a clean looking round bold spot (she tested negative for Ring worm via the fecal test, but again, those are not reliable. UV light test also came negative). What could that missing patch of fur be? My vet is an older gentleman who seemed not all that concerned. I am however afraid to pet her, because I am afraid to get infected with whatever she has. Thoughts anyone? Thank you

 

[_spadekitty]

In vet tech school we're taught to say, no parasites found at this time or no parasites seem because you can never truly deem a fecal negative. Worms have different shedding periods for their eggs and such and so you can't always see them in every fecal.

Good thing about panacur is its broad spectrum, so whatever type of worms the cat may have should be killed

 

[baby_whiskers]

Thanks _spadekitty. So the situation hasn't changed except my cat is scratching her bold spot too often. I called the vet, and they basically said they can't confirm without more tests ($120-150 lab estimate and $70+ office visit). I can't afford to continue throwing money into testes when they are not reliable... just makes no sense. As I asked the vet, what they put in the record for the initial visit, they said a scar...

Has anyone successfully treated your kitty for ringworm with over the counter medicine?

 

[foxxycat]

I think someone had a long thread about ring worm-if you search the site-should be one called my long fight with ring worm-they will tell you what you need=besides a new vet. $70 for a visit is outrageous!