Worms! What now?

[bobbys girl]

I was just about to answer Jan's cute post about Blackie, when Bob, who was sitting on the sofa next to me made the same, distressing little mew he does when he sees Felix and promptly threw up, all his tea and a humungus tape worm!

Poor little fella! I feel awful. Granted, it is a little while since they were all wormed - but not that long. Makes me wonder if he actually had the tablet.

Question is, what do I do now? We do have some milbemax tablets that he has had (not had?) before. Should I crush one and syringe one into him in some liquid to make sure he gets it all? Help please folks.

[Lilith]

Oh yuk! Takes me back to the days of George, the Beast of Bodmin lookalike, when I lived on the edge of farmland and a rabbit colony. To this day when I stroke a black cat (my Mouse is black tuxedo) I'm on the watch for those vile little squirming tapeworm eggs lurking around the cat's backside...barf! It's just one of the hazards of the normal hunting cat imo.

Sorry I can't advise about the meds - George used to get an injection but it's 30 years ago now and this lot don't roam. I can only send my best wishes but uggghhh, I too have seen the sicked up tapeworm and you know of course that that is not the whole tapeworm; the head's still there in the gut and giggling at the idea of a few spare segments being seen as the whole tapeworm and nothing but the tapeworm...I believe this may be another way the vile thing reproduces because in the wild the eggs in the segments would wriggle off to find hosts and...

Not a night to consider macaroni cheese for supper eh?

Have I ever told my tapeworm joke on here? It was told to me by a classroom full of teenage art students as I (life model) sat naked in front of them. They got an awful telling off for 'making the model wobble' And I only hope the mods will permit this -

There was this guy who had a tapeworm. The doctor told him, right, come back tomorrow, same time, with an apple and a Mars Bar. So he did, and the doctor told him to take his jeans down and bend over, whereupon the doctor got the apple and the Mars Bar and put them where you errm put suppositories. 'Right, same time tomorrow, don't forget the apple and the Mars Bar.'

This continued for a week until the guy said he was tired of this, no results, still got the tapeworm. So the doctor said, 'ok. Come back on Monday, and bring an apple and a hammer.' So he did.

He bent over and the doctor posted the apple up the usual place. And waited. And when the tapeworm stuck its head out and said, 'where's me Mars Bar then?' the doctor hit it over the head with the hammer and killed it.

With very best wishes to Bob and hope you get some proper advice soon, but he's got a very normal and happy life by the sound, regardless of the foul tapeworm

[bobbys girl]

You're never right girl!

We've decided to leave him 'til morning. I couldn't stand waking up to 'guess where the puke/poo is.

He seems OK at the moment, poor baby.

[Crewella]

Yuk! I've had the odd one or two over the years, my lot being avid hunter-gatherers. If it were me I'd pop a Milbemax 'down the hatch', or you could get some Broadline that does both fleas and worms as a spot-on. Poor lad, but as Lilith says it's only because he leads an outdoorsy cat's life - it's just one of the hazards.

[bobbys girl]

Thanks for that Helen. I'll call at the vets (on the way back from my dentist in Donegal ) and get stuff for all of them.

[Lilith]

Oh good luck - and at the dentist too, all the best!

I've just remembered a story about George's tapeworms. At the same time I was working in a bookshop where, since I'm Pagan, I was given the job of organising the occult section, and had many regulars, including a clairvoyant medium. For some reason I've never really taken to most mediums, but I liked this lass, and one day, chatting, she described my house to me, and the field behind (we didn't even know each other's name) and gave details that she was unlikely to have known even if she knew of me and the neighbourhood. Then she said, you've got a black cat with a white spot on him. I said, oh that's George. But he's pure black, no white anywhere. No, she insisted, he's got a small white spot on him, somewhere near his shoulder.

This was just around the time of one of George's many tapeworm injections. A couple of days later, for some reason, a mild allergy maybe, all the fur round the site of the injection (on his neck) fell out - and until it grew back, which it did straight away, he was indeed a black cat with a small white spot on him, near his shoulder ...

[bobbys girl]

Well I called in at the vets and was given Milbemax tablets - that's all they had for tapeworm. While I was waiting for the receptionist to finish chatting on the 'phone (!) I was looking at the range of stuff they had for worms/fleas /ticks. It would seem if I had a dog I'd be spoilt for choice, but a cat - a Frontline that does round worms only and Milbemax that's it. Even at the better of the two local vets cats come way down the list of importance or interest.

On the dentist front I can get nothing done about the broken tooth (which isn't bothering me ) before she has 'fixed' the VERY sensitive tooth. She couldn't find a reason for the sensitivity but decided to re-do the filling (not one she had done) FOUR lots of anestheic later she gave up trying. Starving hungry we went for something to eat - not easy when half your face is frozen. The girls behind the counter saw me struggling and gave me a straw for my coffee.

Bob seems fine after his shock last night. But I wont rest now until I know he is 'sorted' and the nasty little beggers in his tum are history. Tomorrow is going to be fun, as we round them up and I clamp each cat in a towel and OH makes sure they actually swallow their tablets. I'll just make sure we have the TCP and sticking plasters handy - and perhaps a brandy.

[Crewella]

Ouch - sorry about the teeth, I hate tooth problems. And dentists.

Good luck with the round-up!

[meriad]

I'm 99.9% certain panacur granules treat lungworm as well and can be bought online without a prescription and really cheap compared to most of the stuff. Then you just sprinkle that in their food; it's fine powder that is easy disguised. But all it does is treat tape worm, not any of the other worms cats may have.

As for the milbemax; it's what I give mine and provided they like the webbox sticks (or even better Sainsbury own), they're really easy to administer as they're so small. Simply take a section of the stick, break it in half along the length and then mould it around the milbemax

good luck!

[bobbys girl]

Thanks for that Ria. We have done three out of four - Purdy has evaded us so far, but she Is the one that likes webbox so we will try that.

I must remember those granules for next time. It's always such a battle with tablets - you should have heard the carry on from Grace. You would think we were trying to skin her, wailing down my ear'ole like a banshee!

[Alice]

I recently read a hint about giving tablets to cats, but haven't tried it, and think its success will depend on the size of pill and how strong a flavour it has (might not work with amitriptyline which has a strong taste). The suggestion is to put the pill in a packet of treats for some hours, or perhaps longer, for it, hopefully, to take on the taste of the treats, then give both the pill and a few treats, in the hope that all go down together.

[bobbys girl]

Thanks Alice, I had not thought of that one.

[Cussypat1974]

I find milbemax really easy to give them! They are so small and half a pill does most of my cats as they are under 4kg. Mostly I just pop them down the throats, but for the strugglers, I use processed cheese. Only Abby refuses this (she only likes dry food) and is a struggler. She needs a dose now actually (a real hunter!) and I have actually forgotten how I managed last time!

I love tapeworms though..... As in I find them both cute and fascinating

They generally don't cause too many problems in cats either, unless they have a huge amount of them. The roundworms I dislike intensely!

[bobbys girl]

Well in the end we nabbed Bob and gave him the tablet before he knew what hit him , struggled with a hissing Grace and growling Willow and totally conned Purdy with a bit of webbox - nom nom, 'Wha? What you laughing at?'