roundworms keep coming back!

[suh]

My senior cat has been dewormed 3 times since I got him. He was dewormed at the rescue, then I found a worm in his vomit, so I dewormed him another time, then we found an even bigger worm in his vomit, so I dewormed him the third time with Pyrantel Pamoate about 8 months ago. The 2nd time might be a fail, I only gave him one dose as the box stated it's a 1 time treatment but later found out that he should have gotten three doses in order to eliminate completely. So the third time, I gave him 3 doses of Pyrantel Pamoate 10 days apart from each other per recommended by the rescue. I also gave it to my other kitties at the same time just in case. Today he threw up a roundworm again! Before I start him on another round of Pyrantel Pamoate, I was wondering if anyone knows why the roundworms keep coming back? He's been dewormed effectively twice. Can roundworms develop immunity against the dewormer? Should I try something else? I want to take him to the vet, but with the current pandemic, I would prefer not to unless it's urgent.

edit: he's an indoor cat

 

[BlackCatOp]

Several questions...

Do your kitties have access to the outdoors or hunt?(Small prey and insects can serve as a source of infection.)
Have you completely changed your litter boxes after deworming? (Roundworm eggs do not required an intermediate host to develop, they become infectious within the environment. Then the cat become re-infected through grooming.)
Roundworms can encyst within the small intestine - Unfortunately, pyrantel is not effective at the encysted stages within the SI.

Deworming all animals is a wise idea. My suggestion would be work with your vet to get some Profender. The Emodepside within Profender DOES work on the encysted stages of roundworms. I would treat all cats and I would also follow up with Revolution for several months just incase as Revolution is a good as preventing intestinal parasites as well as external parasites. Also don't forget to wash bedding and change out litter boxes as they can be a source of your re-infection.

Sorry your kitty has worms. That worm looks

 

[suh]

BlackCatOp Thanks for answering! I didn't know Pyrantel doesn't kill off roundworms in all stages. Maybe that's the issue all along? All our kitties are strictly indoor and the only insect we have is ants. All their litter boxes were replaced with new ones after the last deworming. I've scheduled an appt to take him to the vet this week, hopefully we can get rid of this roundworm issue once and for all.

And the worm was squirming around

 

[stephanietx]

I would definitely get him to the vet for a check up and for meds that will hopefully take care of the problem once and for all. Show that picture to your vet, too, or see if you can email it to him and he can prescribe something before you take him in.

 

[BlackCatOp]

BlackCatOp Thanks for answering! I didn't know Pyrantel doesn't kill off roundworms in all stages. Maybe that's the issue all along? All our kitties are strictly indoor and the only insect we have is ants. All their litter boxes were replaced with new ones after the last deworming. I've scheduled an appt to take him to the vet this week, hopefully we can get rid of this roundworm issue once and for all.

And the worm was squirming around

Apparently Profender is the only product effective at immature stages.
Treatment of third-stage larvae of Toxocara cati with milbemycin oxime plus praziquantel tablets and emodepside plus praziquantel spot-on formulation in experimentally infected cats

 

[suh]

Apparently Profender is the only product effective at immature stages.
Treatment of third-stage larvae of Toxocara cati with milbemycin oxime plus praziquantel tablets and emodepside plus praziquantel spot-on formulation in experimentally infected cats

Our vet has no experience with Profender so she feels safer prescribing Panacur then follow up with Revolution. For our other kitties, she recommended Pyrantel for 3 consecutive days (panacur is also for 3 consecutive days). I was wondering if anyone has experience giving Pyrantel for 3 days straight instead of a week apart?

 

[BlackCatOp]

Our vet has no experience with Profender so she feels safer prescribing Panacur then follow up with Revolution. For our other kitties, she recommended Pyrantel for 3 consecutive days (panacur is also for 3 consecutive days). I was wondering if anyone has experience giving Pyrantel for 3 days straight instead of a week apart?

I have not heard of dosing Pyrantel that way but your vet probably knows a lot more than me. From my understanding, it shouldn’t be harmful dosed that way as pyrantel is combined with other dewormers that are dosed for 3 consecutive days (Drotal Plus). I just don’t know if it will be effective at the immature stages or not I do know dewormers behave differently depending on dosing so it is possible that it will (I just can’t find any supporting literature)

I do think following up with Revolution makes since for several months so hopefully whatever the pyrantel doesn’t kill the Revolution will.

Best of luck at killing these buggers once and for all!