Tapeworm?

Butterfliesarepretty

My cat charlie is 9 and eats rats mice and birds plus his normal dry food and occasional wet food.

When I got in tonight he threw up a large amount of mushy meat intertwined with string like you get on a ham joint, the string was not moving but I saw a long flat worm in white that moved and was as flat as fettucini (like the pasta).

hes ok now but will normal worming tablets work on this?

I was nearly physically sick myself, now charlie has a good appetite and is physically well and mentally well and has a shiny coat.

Or should I visit the vet for a product for tape worm.

Fridaycat

Drontal is an excellent tablet that kills all known feline worms. You can get it online from somewhere like MedicAnimal. Make sure you weigh your cat before giving him the tablet, any cat over 6kg should have a Dronal XL tablet.

You should use something like Drontal at least every 3 months, especially if your cat eats rats, birds etc. Like most things, cats are vey adept at hiding symptoms of things until very late, it is likely he has had worms for months.

maidincornwall

Check if your normal wormer does work on tapeworms, however if it is the type you can buy in the major supermarkets along with the cat/dog food I doubt it will be very good, if your registered with a vet, I'd ring them and ask them if you can collect a decent all round wormer. The bit that moved in the vomit, was it one long worm or was it a long worm made or segments? as a tapeworm has segments. You could of course scoop up the vomit and take it to the vet and they will tell you what type of worm it is, but this is a bit extreme! MIC

Butterfliesarepretty

maidincornwall wrote: »

Check if your normal wormer does work on tapeworms, however if it is the type you can buy in the major supermarkets along with the cat/dog food I doubt it will be very good, if your registered with a vet, I'd ring them and ask them if you can collect a decent all round wormer. The bit that moved in the vomit, was it one long worm or was it a long worm made or segments? as a tapeworm has segments. You could of course scoop up the vomit and take it to the vet and they will tell you what type of worm it is, but this is a bit extreme! MIC

no segments at all, just looked like fettucini pasta when boiled. but it moved, now whether thats just the food moving i dont know.
Im going to ring the vet monday and collect on my day off wed, as I work till 6pm and they wont be open till then.
I have not used wormer on my cats for years, they are very clean, gracie the female does not eat birds or anything, shes not interested, but charlie is a typical boy cat, playful and will eat anything. I reckon the string was off a ham joint that someone has put out for him. the string was interlaced squarely.

scaredy_cat

tapeworms usually come out of their bum, looking like a grain of rice when they dry out, and you would see it's segments if the cat threw one up. It might have been a roundworm as these live in the stomach and intestine.

Go to your vet and get a worming tablet from them, as has been said, the supermarket wormers don't really work well.

maidincornwall

Mine have been known to eat the string off joints they manage to steal from the bin! I'd definatley get a good all round wormer as recommended above, I'm sure your cats are very clean but cats are hunters and will catch worms, do them both as she may have caught some from him through grooming etc. My neutered Tom is very susceptible to tapeworm, I have to do him in between the others as he eats such muck, its not unusual to see a segment on his bottom 2 months after being wormed with whatever my Vet prescribed, usually I use a wormer (Ivormec I think) from my local farm store as this is economical and good and one tub £15 ish does all 5 cats and 2 dogs twice, but once a year I get whatever the vet recommends just to change it and make sure nothing gets immune. MIC

tankgirl1

Sounds like roundworm.

Drontal or milbemax will do the trick - currently I use drontal as it can be bought without a prescription. (I'm a Qualified Vet Nurse, but currently a SAHM)

However you MUST flea all your animals too - I use frontline, effipro or advocate (advocate is prescription only) depending on money.

Outdoor cats WILL pick up fleas and worms, and should be treated regularly. Some people only do flea treatment when there is a problem, which is OK I guess, but worming must be done regularly as it can become a human health risk.

Sorry for caps in advance, but MOST PET SHOP AND SUPERMARKET FLEA AND WORM PRODUCTS DO NOT WORK AND CAN CAUSE MORE HARM THAN GOOD. They are false economy - Drontal, Effipro and Frontline are all available without prescription, but will have to be bought from chemist, pet shop etc, and are more expensive than the B** M******* or J******* stuff from supermarkets - but they work!

adouglasmhor

No Frontline, seriously no, I wouldn't encourage that at all unless last resort, Advocate doesn't work on tapeworm though if it turns out to be that.

tankgirl1

adouglasmhor wrote: »

No Frontline, seriously no, I wouldn't encourage that at all unless last resort, Advocate doesn't work on tapeworm though if it turns out to be that.

No, Advocate doesn't work on tapeworm - no spot on flea combo does.

Frontline & Effipro work just fine if applied correctly, and Drontal is a broad spectrum wormer which does the job fantastically.

However, rather than listening to people on the interwebs, the best way to go about it is to take your vet or VN's advice - which they will usually give for free over the phone.

adouglasmhor

It was my Vet who said that Frontline was a last resort. It works really well but has more risks than other formulae.

Butterfliesarepretty

tankgirl1 wrote: »

Sounds like roundworm.

Drontal or milbemax will do the trick - currently I use drontal as it can be bought without a prescription. (I'm a Qualified Vet Nurse, but currently a SAHM)

However you MUST flea all your animals too - I use frontline, effipro or advocate (advocate is prescription only) depending on money.

Outdoor cats WILL pick up fleas and worms, and should be treated regularly. Some people only do flea treatment when there is a problem, which is OK I guess, but worming must be done regularly as it can become a human health risk.

Sorry for caps in advance, but MOST PET SHOP AND SUPERMARKET FLEA AND WORM PRODUCTS DO NOT WORK AND CAN CAUSE MORE HARM THAN GOOD. They are false economy - Drontal, Effipro and Frontline are all available without prescription, but will have to be bought from chemist, pet shop etc, and are more expensive than the B** M******* or J******* stuff from supermarkets - but they work!

I do flea treat them every three months with the droppers you put on back of their neck. The female does not catch anything, she just watches them. Charlie is a male and always brings back mice and leaves the head and legs and tail. Also noticed today the grains of rice looking segments, so its tapeworm. And I still feel sick from seeing him throw the mass up.

I will get drontal and treat them both.