Are These Feline Whipworms? (warning Gross Pictures)

[Dacatchair]

I have been dealing with a sick 8 month old kitten for the past 3 weeks and I am finding the help I am getting (not getting) from local veterinarians a bit of a nightmare.

My kitten has been de-wormed with various treatments recommended by a veterinarian every 4 weeks since he was 12 weeks old but a recent examination of his stool revealed a robust roundworm infection. The opinion of 2 new vets I have seen is that the once a month treatments may not work as kittens initially need to be treated for roundworms every couple weeks 2 or 3 times to make sure the worms and developing larvae they inherit from their Mom are killed off. The various worm treatments are only good for killing adult roundworms.

My kitten has been getting anorexic a couple weeks after the anti parasite spot on treatments, which was probably caused by the roundworm larva starting to mature and return to his intestines replacing the previous generation of killed off roundworms, and messing up his digestion. But he also has an inflamed colon and has been pooping very small and infrequent poops. The roundworms have been treated twice starting a couple weeks ago, and that got him eating again, but his inflamed colon and fever have not entirely gone away even though he has been on antibiotics for 2 weeks.

He is a bit better than he was a couple weeks ago but not eating or pooping as much as he should be, still loosing weight, and as his course of antibiotics is now over and the round worms should be mostly exterminated. As he is not really much better, I am really afraid I may loose him.

But a couple days ago I noticed a hair like fiber or worm in his poop. One of my new vets had asked me to document when he poops and how much, color and consistency, and instead I have been taking pictures.

I wondered if this odd long hair sticking out might be a worm, and I began taking a picture of it every minute or so and noticed it was very very slowly uncurling at the end, moving upward... Hmm maybe not a hair ... I immediately emailed pictures of it to my vet and asked if this might be a worm, and apologizing for being an armchair veterinarian, I said the only worms I can find that look like this are whipworms. From what I have been able to find on line it sounds like they are very rare in cats, usually are found in dogs, but they do cause inflammation in the colon, the eggs to not always show up in feces, and they are not treated by any of the common parasite treatments recommended for cats.

I waited a couple days but I got no answer from the vet. Apparently they only work a couple days a week. But I was told they would be in today and they would call me. So then today when my cat pooped, I pulled it apart to get some good pictures to show the vet and there was quite a few hair like fibers in it. I don't think my cat has eaten anything that would come out looking like this. So I picked one hair and took a picture every 30 seconds and looking at it in relation to the flecks on the cat poop scoop, it was very slowly moving!!! I sent these to the vet, and was told they would call me, sat all day by the phone and didn't get a call. So then I notice after they closed, I was sent a reply to the emails, and all the vet said is he would recommend Panacur for whipworm and the round worm treatments my kitten had received would not treat whipworms. But they did not clearly say whether this is whipworm for sure and there was no suggestion I come in to get the Panacur or an offer to prescribe this...

Maybe they had a long day and a cat with worms is not a priority. Or maybe they didn't like getting daily pictures of cat poo...

But my kitten is slowly fading away and if these are whipworms, and getting rid of them might return him to health, I will find him some Panacur tomorrow even if it means traveling a long way to get this.

But... Does anyone know if these are worms and if so what kind? Has anyone had a cat with whipworms? Maybe the combination of roundworms and whipworms really messed him up?

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Whipworms are very hard to see with the human eye, or so I read, and especially with a still picture, so I certainly cannot say if these are them or not. But if your Vet said he would recommend Panacur, I'm guessing maybe he thinks that's what it is, perhaps just with your description, which is pretty darned good. Did you call them today to see if they have it on hand? Just an FYI, in case you haven't seen this particular article on them, is an article on Whipworms and different ways to treat: Whipworms in Cats (Trichuris Vulpis) - PetPlace

 

[Dacatchair]

Thanks for the reply Mrsgreenjeens!

After thinking the hair like things in the cat poop could not be cat hair, it occurred to me the movement I thought I saw in that specific hair might just be me slightly changing the angle of the camera. But the hair like thing I thought I saw moving the other day is harder to explain... It is on another device and I will post a picture in a minute.

Digital cameras really make small details stand out, but I am still not sure if these could be whipworms or maybe juvenile roundworms? Or maybe just cat hair... But the only reason I noticed this is because my vet asked for me to document my cats BMs and snapping pictures is faster than typing.

It seems there is a lot of conflicting information about whipworms. For one thing there seems to be a lot of disagreement whether they can be transferred between species or if each species of whipworm needs a specific host to do it's life cycle. I have read there is not much known for sure about this parasite.

Trichuris serrata and Trichuris campanula are the species of this worm most commonly (but still rarely) seen in cats. T vulpis as mentioned in that article is much more common in dogs, and I have not seen where it is said to be seen in cats ... Except in the article you linked to.

Pyrantel Pamoate, the active ingredient of Strongid T that article says will treat whipworms is usually said to NOT be effective against whipworm, also my vet also told me this and prescribed Panacur. He was not sure if the hairs might be worms, but said the Panacur would not hurt, so it was worth a try.

I gave my kitten his vet prescribed Strongid T last night as the 3rd followup for the roundworms he had / has. He has been totally listless the past 2 days and had eaten so little this morning I began force feeding him cat food soup through a syringe. He is so thin and run down he really can't loose any more weight! At noon I gave him his first dose of vet prescribed Panacur. It seems really unlikely the Panacur worked this fast, and more likely the Strongid T I gave him last night, but at 2 pm he suddenly woke up, hungrily ate most of a 3 oz can of cat food with little encouragement and then wanted to go out for a long walk about the yard. He hasn't wanted to go out in a couple weeks and I was taking him out on his harness, carrying him 150' from the house and making him walk back for exercise. Just now we went all over the place, he did some nice leaps trying to pursue things into the bushes, and I had to make him come back in.

So it seems maybe some parasite is really messing with him, and he does usually rebound for a week or 2 after a parasite treatment. Just usually it take a day not 2 hours!

This whole thing has been a roller coaster ... I keep thinking he is getting better, and then he backslides.

The link below seems to be a good summery of the actions of different worm medications.

Active Ingredients in Wormers

Also

Whipworms in Small Animals - Digestive System - Merck Veterinary Manual

 

[Dacatchair]

Here is the first long hair like thing I saw in my cats poop that seemed to be moving and which got me looking at different kinds of worms, and wondering if it could be a whipworm. Sorry to be so slow. My minutes have turned into days apparently....

My kitten was prescribed 3 dosages of Panacur on the off chance his symptoms are cause by whipworms, and because the treatment would not hurt him. His last dose was yesterday. He maybe slightly better today but he has a pattern of improving and backsliding. So it is too soon to be sure, but most of the long stringy things in his poop are probably magnified cat hair.

I have been trying to clean up and sterilize with fire or boiling water some of his outdoor bathroom areas, and notice his dry decomposed poops under the house also contained a lot of hair.

But here is the first poop that made me think I was seeing a worm. The pictures were taken a minute to 30 seconds apart, go from left to right, top to bottom, and it seem the long thing goes from a hooked cane shape to an upside down L shape. Maybe it is a dying juvenile roundworm? About the same time when I was hand feeding him I found this in his food bowl. Shown in the second picture. I have no idea if this is just stringy chicken or a worm that crawled out when he was eating. He has not vomited at all but he does seem very conflicted about eating. Wanting to and sometimes recoiling once he smells the food. Other times enjoying the same food.