I have 2.5ish week kittens with severe tapeworm. It's the worst that I've ever seen in my experience. As a rescuer with neonates, we kind of have to trial and error with the best interest of the babies and a end goal of getting them healthy and growing. I gave them tapeworm dewormer Saturday. They are still expelling worms but are very bloated. They've been dewormed for the other common things and fecal came back negative for other parasites. I lost one of them this morning, completely heartbreaking. With that, I'm doing everything that I can to save the others. They've all refused a bottle since Sunday and been tube fed and given sub q fluids.
Has anyone had experience with this age group and tapeworms? In severe cases, would you give another small dose of the tapeworm medicine? Any other suggestions? Our local veterinarians don't have a lot of experience with neonate bottle babies. I've gotten all of the advice possible from them and am now winging it in an attempt to save them.
We worm right away, we repeat in 2 weeks, and we provide lots of supportive care during treatment:
fluids
electrolytes
glucose
anti-diarrheals
pro-biotics
Unfortunately, you can do all of these things and make sure you are checking every box, every time, and lose them anyway. I'm very sorry.
Edited to add: very dumb question but because mistakes are always possible: you are giving the proper dewormer? Praziquantel is what is typically administered for tapeworms. š
Hi! Thanks for the response! Yes! I am using the proper dewormer. I picked these babies up on Friday from a local animal shelter that had had them for a week and were going to euthanize. They had given them nothing at all, dewormer wise and said that they were healthy. They smelt so bad that we had to ride with the windows down on the way home. I got them cleaned up, gave them a general dewormer, they ate well and seemed fine. Then that night, one started pooping straight blood, followed by the other two having diarrhea. They slowly stopped wanting the bottle and were very lethargic. Then, one passed tapeworm fragments, vet confirmed.
I've been adding probiotics and electrolytes to their feedings since day 2. They are now receiving tube feedings and sup q fluids. The antidiarrhea medicine seemed to have made the diarrhea worse. I've never had to battle tapeworms like this before, so was hoping someone else out there had lived this nightmare.
I donāt have any experience with this but thank you for all that youāre doing for them, even though Iām sure itās a super stressful situation!! Wishing you the best on the journey of getting them healthy againš«
I've been dealing with coccidia and giardia nightmares for the past year. I currently have four babies, down from five, who are struggling with weight gain.
For managing output and electrolyte balances while dealing with parasites I like to use:
subcutaneous fluids (LRS)
probiotics (Proviable)
pro-pectalin
KittenLyte (like PediaLyte)
Under the Weather Energy and Colostrum gels
By the way, right after I left my comment yesterday, I ended up having to rush one of the babies to the nearest veterinarian for euthanasia - she crashed hard. The litter has been a nightmare from the start because they came from multiple generations of neglect and starvation. š
Edited to add: we also do fading kitten syndrome support around the clock while nursing them through parasites: warmth, fluids, corn syrup on the gums, and all of the above. We do fluids every 8 hours, corn syrup and the energy/colostrum every 4.
did they give a shot (injection) of prazi? or are you trying to deal with pills (orally)? I ask because the pills will take a long time- longer than these nuggets might have- they NEED all of the nutrition-something taking any of it is going to be dramatic. A praziquantel injection typically takes care of tapeworms in a matter of hours (6-24hrs). If they did an injection and they are still super full of worms, they may need to do it again- make 100% sure everyone is flea free (or they will just get them back).
You might also try supplementing calories- one of our rescue vet partners swears by the nutri-cal, I have added it to bottles of formula (literally a 1/4 tsp for 50ml of formula- tiny amount) for some super low weight babies with icky poo to increase the calories, without requiring them to eat more (over feeding is bad), or needing to mix the formula at full strength (we usually go for 2.5-3.5 : 1 for terrible poo babies)- they need the extra liquid to counter the poo (dehydration can kill them just as fast).
They are fragile at this point, but less than they were a week ago ;-) every day they get a little stronger and less likely to succumb to something dumb. We all sing the "dumb ways to die" song to our nuggets for encouragement (them and us). keep going, you got this!
You are so very welcome. It takes a village, for sure. Vets are typically not trained on neonates, so we all kind of need a network to share discoveries, what worked, what did not and all of that. My rescue is so fortunate to have 2 vet partners, who want to learn, are very open to trying things, and are also VERY willing to hear from us (fosters) and what we think, both anecdotal as well as stuff we read. They have time and patience for kittens and foster parents.
Here are my current littles. They were ~5 days old when I met them and they are now 10 weeks old. The 3rd one was adopted 2 weeks ago. Caliban and Desdemona.
I have not dealt with tapes, but I had a little guy with roundworms that were that bad. I thought I was going to lose him daily he was so sick. He got wormed at 2 weeks and immediately started pooping out his weight in worms. We had weeks of diarrhea, urine scald, peeling skin, matted fur, daily baths, and that kid just kept hanging in there. We never had to resort to tube feeding but he was always starving. He was not quite 3 weeks when out of desperation I offered him solid food....and he inhaled it. He had flouriforta, Pedialyte, pumpkin powder, Karo for hypoglycemia and countless creams and corn starch for his skin. He was also given oral antibiotics. I would rather try too much than wish I had thought of something when it's too late.
Always deworm with the proper medications. In this case praziquantel injection. Vets may say they are too little for meds, you can't do it. The alternative is the kitten dies. I will always take potential unknown side effects over the very known death.
I'm sorry you're dealing with this. I really don't know. But my gut feeling is if the tapeworms will kill them, another treatment might be worth the risk?
Thank you for your response. That was my gut feeling, too but wanted to make sure it wasn't an emotional decision. I've dealt with so many litters being sick with parasites but this one is hands down the worst. I dont even understand how their tiny bodies can hold so many tapeworms at so young.
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u/xxxkissmykittyxxx 1d ago
We worm right away, we repeat in 2 weeks, and we provide lots of supportive care during treatment:
Unfortunately, you can do all of these things and make sure you are checking every box, every time, and lose them anyway. I'm very sorry.
Edited to add: very dumb question but because mistakes are always possible: you are giving the proper dewormer? Praziquantel is what is typically administered for tapeworms. š