TL;DR (Too long don't read) Reenie Weenie went to the vet and now I'm paranoid about hookworms and touching my cat.
If you have the time to read: Thank You if not, the short version is above.
I've had cats before and taken them to the vet and made sure they were taken care of before any problems would happen. But this time a friend decided to give me another cat, I have two now. First things first, visit to the vet. This poor thing had everything known to man. She had tape worm, hook worms, fleas. It made me really sad to hear all this since I've been used to my cats being well taken care of. So they gave her a de-wormer for the month as well as the medicine that takes cares of fleas, worms and mites for the month. I'm absolutely scared of this cat now. I go back for reapplication for the worms in two weeks.
The doctor told me that the medicine will take care of the tape worms but then he told me that the hook worms don't really go away but can be controlled. Then I researched hookworms and I was extremely scared at what I was reading. The way they come to be, the hatching from the stool, the attaching to the skin etc.... How they can live without any blood in the stool and the thousands of eggs hatched randomly.
Obviously prevention is keeping the kitty clean, cleaning the litter box daily, vacuuming etc. My cats are inside cats so hopefully once the medicine takes care of those nasty things, she'll be back to normal. The vet told me since my cat has thousands of eggs ready to come out (shudder) that I would not only have to change her litter every day (I'd usually just take the poop out,) that I would have to throw everything out everyday. The litter and the poop!
He told me, not until she gets better. I feel horrible because I don't even want to touch her anymore, I'm scared of her. These worms can get on humans and while not deadly, can cause brain problems etc.
The thought of keeping her very clean everyday is fine but fleas are everywhere! What happens if she swallows another one and the cycle happens again? I have a feeling I'm going to have flea powder all over the place. I want to hug her because I know she had a horrible day today at the vet. She had her shots, three different types of medicines. I just want to give her a hug. My boyfriend scoffed at me saying before knowing all this, I was playing with her just fine. Am I just paranoid about all this? Will I ever feel safe again?
If you have the time to read: Thank You if not, the short version is above.
I've had cats before and taken them to the vet and made sure they were taken care of before any problems would happen. But this time a friend decided to give me another cat, I have two now. First things first, visit to the vet. This poor thing had everything known to man. She had tape worm, hook worms, fleas. It made me really sad to hear all this since I've been used to my cats being well taken care of. So they gave her a de-wormer for the month as well as the medicine that takes cares of fleas, worms and mites for the month. I'm absolutely scared of this cat now. I go back for reapplication for the worms in two weeks.
The doctor told me that the medicine will take care of the tape worms but then he told me that the hook worms don't really go away but can be controlled. Then I researched hookworms and I was extremely scared at what I was reading. The way they come to be, the hatching from the stool, the attaching to the skin etc.... How they can live without any blood in the stool and the thousands of eggs hatched randomly.
Obviously prevention is keeping the kitty clean, cleaning the litter box daily, vacuuming etc. My cats are inside cats so hopefully once the medicine takes care of those nasty things, she'll be back to normal. The vet told me since my cat has thousands of eggs ready to come out (shudder) that I would not only have to change her litter every day (I'd usually just take the poop out,) that I would have to throw everything out everyday. The litter and the poop!
He told me, not until she gets better. I feel horrible because I don't even want to touch her anymore, I'm scared of her. These worms can get on humans and while not deadly, can cause brain problems etc.
The thought of keeping her very clean everyday is fine but fleas are everywhere! What happens if she swallows another one and the cycle happens again? I have a feeling I'm going to have flea powder all over the place. I want to hug her because I know she had a horrible day today at the vet. She had her shots, three different types of medicines. I just want to give her a hug. My boyfriend scoffed at me saying before knowing all this, I was playing with her just fine. Am I just paranoid about all this? Will I ever feel safe again?