Cat medicine question: worms?

Factual Questions
1

Back in August, I adopted a new kitty, Squeak. Squeak is actually the mellowest cat that has ever lived. She will happily wrestle with the dog. She’ll even let the dog hump her and pretend it’s a massage.

However, three symptoms have shown up. One is that her poop is the most godawful smelliest cat poop ever dispensed on this planet. The smell of a new poop has actually woken me from a sound sleep, from ten feet away, though a closed door, and a kitty box with a lid. It’s that bad.

Second, she is constantly eating. The cat food bag recommends 1/2 cup a day. She’s going through at least a cup, if not more. If she runs out of food, she eats the dog’s food. If there’s no dog food, she starts chewing through bags that might have food. Worst, she’ll jump up on kitchen counters or the table to score any crumbs or unwashed dishes.

Third, while she has gained weight, it’s all in her stomach. Having been around fat kitties before, she doesn’t fit the profile. Her stomach isn’t soft. It’s tight and bloated.

I’ve taken her to the vet and dropped off poop samples only to be told there’s no indication of a parasitic infection. However, the vet and my reading tells me that this isn’t unusual. Parasites drop eggs or spend worms occasionally, not all the time.

There are other, more expensive tests that could be done. I have health insurance for the kitty, so I’m not too worried about the expense, but I’m not convinced the tests will be very accurate. On top of that, reading the Merck vet manual, I have the impression that most intestinal parasites are treated with the same medication at the same dose, and the medication is otherwise harmless.

Can I just ask my vet to dose the cat for a broad spectrum of parasitic worms and cross my fingers without going through the testing hoopla?

2

Half a cup of dry food a day is a starvation diet. You didn’t mention her age. A young kitten needs a special diet. My two cats go through much more dry food than that, plus wet food; however, they are fat. :slight_smile: I just brought them to the vet, They are both six years old and weigh 10 and 11 pounds. The vet didn’t mention that they are overweight. Hey, they are happy.

A couple of years ago, I adopted a stray. She was obviously abandoned because she was declawed. I brought her to the vet for an exam, and she was given a clean bill of health. I mentioned to the vet that overall she was skinny but had a large tummy. He just shrugged his shoulders. Shortly thereafter, she got diarrhea and her poop was not always in the box. I brought her back to the vet, who found she had worms and had to be put down. It was the same office, but they have two vets. She obviously had worms when I brought her in the first time, which was the reason she was so skinny but had a fat tummy. It was soft and bloated, not tight and bloated. The vet should be able to tell by feeling it.

3

If the vet has not said that she is fat, try increasing the amount of food by a bit. Are you giving her kitten chow or adult cat chow? If the latter, try the former.

Ten and 11 pounds are usually, relatively, “normal” weight for average-sized cats (ie, not fat). Cats usually will have some fat pads in the back.

Yes, I’d suggest asking your vet to treat the kitty with some general dewormer. She is old enough to take any of them. Be advised, if she gets dewormed, it’d be good if she gets another dose in three weeks (for some parasites, breaks the cycle in case she gets them again from their environment).

Is your kitty in some sort of preventive medication (usually spot-on)? Many of those also help with some parasites, so a monthly anti flea/tick/heartworm treatment may get rid of some intestinal parasites.

Also, usually tapeworms are not a problem, but if the cat has them: 1. You’ll need a different dewormer for those 2. Your cat has access to fleas. Check the poop, if it looks like there are “rice grains”, those are tapeworms.

Out of curiousity, what are the other tests your vet is recommending?

4

My cat had tapeworms a few weeks ago. The medication that I was given worked for both tapeworms and roundworms, and it’s very safe even in large doses. It’s pretty cheap online and I don’t think you need a prescription in the States. Google suggests the brand is Drontal, it’s a broad spectrum dewormer so it should be good for whatever your cat has. Check with your vet first, of course, but I was told that most cats won’t have any ill effects from this medication even up to 6 times the recommended dose. My cat back home was given dewormer regularly even when he didn’t have worms for sure as a prophylactic measure, so even if worms aren’t your cat’s problem, you’ll at least be able to eliminate it as a possibility.

5

I feed the cat a brand of dry food called Natural Balance, which uses the same formula for kittens and cats and was recommended by my vet. I started with the regular version and then switched her over to the Low Ingredient Diet, which has no grains in it. This seems to have helped, because she went from puddly yellow poop to tootsie roll yellow poop (sorry for the visual). The vet has said that cats don’t need wet food, but I give her some about twice a month just to see Happy Kitty Go Nuts.

There is no visual evidence of parasites - no visible eggs, grains of “rice”, et cetera. I’m going off clues of stench, hunger, weight gain, and tummy feel.

barbitu8, why would a kitten with worms have to be put down? That’s awful!

Euryphaessa, thank you! I will look for that.

6

Switch her from dry cat food to wet. Do it gradually over the course of a couple of weeks. It could be that her body is craving something that she isn’t getting from the dry food. I know it sounds a bit crazy, but the vet had me do it with an overweight cat of mine who scarfed up everything in sight. Nowadays, she’s sveldt and she will even walk away from too much wet food.

7

Karl Grenze, the vet has suggested another round of the same stool testing, then a round of stool testing with more specificity and accuracy, and then, I think, possibly a blood test checking for antibodies. This discussion was about three months ago, so my memory’s a little fuzzy.

8

Poor kitty! Hmm… OK, dewormers are relatively cheap and safe, so you could try the standard ones. Drontal is not usually a “reach first” dewormer, although it is also relatively cheap.

The other parasites which are harder to find on some fecals are protozoa, most likely some type of coccidia (Isospora spp.). IIRC, somebody once mentioned to me those infections can be smelly… And those require a different drug altogether, and are most likely the parasites that need the more “fancy” fecal testing.

9

The websites that list Drontal for sale say there must be a veterinarian prescription.

10

Cats need wet food if they don’t drink enough water. If your cat drinks enough, then they don’t need it, but they do like it. My cats eat the Fancy Feast’s Medley wet food. I feed that twice a day. I know some people say you should give wet food only as a treat, but I don’t agree with that. Give them what makes them happy. That’s the only ones they eat. For the dry food, I actually have several brands I keep out for them. The male cat loves Purina’s Hairball Management, Salmon and Rice. Unfortunately, the local chain pet stores (Petco and PetSmart) don’t stock that any more. They have Hairball Management, Chicken and Rice. The female cat loves the Science Diet, which she got used to at the shelter, but also likes Royal Canin, 35/30 brand. Unfortunately, also, the pet stores don’t stock that any more either. I’ve bought some Royal Canin 32. Hope she likes it.

Another locally owned store, not a chain, do not stock any cat food that contains grains. They insist that grains are fillers and cats don’t need it. They stock Wellness and Ecco. However, cats do eat grass. I pointed that out to them and they said they eat grass for digestion purposes. Well, duh. They obviously need the fiber. I belong to a Yahoo group on cats. One lady there is quite knowledgeable, and she insists that cats need grains, too. True, cats are obligate carnivores and use proteins and fats for energy, not carbs, but that is not to say that they cannot use carbs, especially for fiber.

It was quite a pity to have to put that cat down. I cried for weeks. She was abandoned and finally found a place to sleep and eat. I was so happy for her. The vet said I could try to keep her alive, but she would not be happy. I took solace that she, finally, was happy and died happy. She was really upset that she could not keep all her stuff in the box. Even now, I’m in tears thinking about it. Perhaps we could’ve kept her alive. Perhaps I should’ve tried, but the vet really encouraged me to put her down.