My kitten has tapeworms?

Question

my 12ish week old kitten has tapeworms (i have no idea how, because he hasn't had fleas since we got him 6 weeks ago, and he's not around other cats)

anyway, we took him to Petco 2 weeks ago because they had a traveling vet clinic giving vaccines, and we got him some vaccines and they also gave him dewormer. well we thought it got rid of the worms, but earlier this week we started seeing them again.

i read online not to buy the over the counter dewormer, so should we take him back to Petco again this weekend and have him dewormed by them or should we take him to another vet?

did that vet give him the wrong medicine or does it just take multiple treatments?

other than totally grossing me out, is it bad for him to have them?

Answer 1

The average dewormer does not treat tapeworms. You need to see a regular vet and have them weigh and give you the wormer for tapeworms

Answer 2

"Only one treatment is needed to kill tapeworms present; however, many clinics recommend a second injection in three weeks. The reason for the second injection is this: If the owner finds out at the time of their office visit that they need to control fleas to control tapeworms, they will need at least a month or so to control the fleas.  

After the first treatment is given, there is no reason why the pet cannot immediately reinfect itself. It probably will reinfect itself at some point.  By seeing the animal in three weeks and giving another treatment after the fleas are controlled, there is a good chance that the tapeworms will not just be back three weeks later. It takes three weeks from the time tapeworms are swallowed by the pet to the time segments can be seen by the owner.

On the other hand, who knows when the pet will swallow another infected flea? Our recommendation is that a single treatment be administered whenever segments are seen."

Make sure you do get proper treatment.  I had a kitten with tapeworm, and even with treatment, she died.  I'm sure they have better medicines now, but I wanted to be sure you know that it is serious, even fatal, if not treated.

Answer 3

Do you let your cat outside?  They usually catch tapeworms from rodents that they hunt.

If the first round of medications didn't work then you need to take your cat back to the vet.  They lay eggs and the eggs could be in your house which is why the cat may still have them.

Ask your vet if there is anything you should do--change bedding, clean carpet, ect.  It can take awhile to get rid of them.

Answer 4

Usually deworming is done twice..once initially in the form of an injection or a pill, and then again in 4 weeks to get any eggs that might still be left to hatch out more worms.  Also, all it takes in one flea for your cat to swallow to ingest the worm larvae..so you should be using a flea product on him as well, as even you can carry a flea in from the outside on your clothing, or they can jump in the house from the lawn, etc.  Advantage works well.  As far as the worms being bad for him...yes, if he has a lot of them and he is  tiny they could cause harm.  They can take all their nutrients.  Otherwise..they are pretty good parasites and don't usually kill their host..if they did they would not have a place to live.  Go back to the vet for either another set of injections or Drontal in a pill form.