Question on deworming

[yorda]

I brought in a fecal today for an abandoned cat we decided to take in and they said he has hook worms and tape worms. I was given two different medications- five days of Panacur and one day of Praziquantel (actual brand name not on vial) and told I would not need to repeat this in two weeks. I am a bit confused because our deworming protocol was so different at the shelter…so is what we were told by the vet correct?

I don't know if things have changed in the past few years for deworming info and it will still be a few weeks before we introduce him to the other animals, but I just don't want everyone to get infected if we were told wrong.

 

[sicycat]

Usually one dose is all it takes. Sometimes they'll give two in another two weeks just as a precaution, but you will know if it didnt work because tapeworms are pretty obvious!

 

[yorda]

Since I have never heard of doing that in one shot before, is the time on how long it takes to get rid of them any different than if we had just done two sets of Panacur two weeks apart? I hadn't realised his neuter appt was so soon (Nov.29th) and am just trying to figure out when it would be safe to start intros after that and the worm issue are taken care of.

Thanks for your help!

 

[sicycat]

I am not familiar with hookworms, sorry, but I know tapeworms disappear almost instantly after being treated. I am guessing the hookworms take longer since its a 5 day dose vs. the 1 dose for tapeworms.

 

[les0304]

It would be a good idea to have them recheck a fecal sample in 4-6 weeks after the treatment, mainly for the hooks. Most of the time 1 course of panacur does the job.

 

[yorda]

I definitely have considered that for piece of mind.

Iâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]ve never dealt with hookworms before and to be honest I am very confused how long till they are cleared up after the initial treatment. Some things I saw mention it took 5 days for the eggs to hatch (which I would think would fall under the five days of panacur) but something else I read mentioned worming again after 30 days incase migrating worms were missed? I think that might have been if you used another product, but I havenâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t found any decent information on treatment either so…I just donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t want to spread anything to everyone else, so I donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t even know when it would be safe to start integrating him. Any advice or additional info is appreciated.

 

[les0304]

The best thing would be have a stool sample rechecked in 4-6 weeks. Also, was he tested for FeLV/FIV? If so, he should be retested in 10-12 weeks to be sure that he wasn't "incubating" one of the viruses at the time of the initial test, then once he tests negative again, it is safe for introduction. Sometimes, waiting this long isn't always practical for some people, but it is definitely the best way to go.

 

[yorda]

We brought him in to be tested for Feleuk/FIV the day we agreed to take him in and it did come back negative for both, though I have read about retesting like you mentioned.