My family just adopted two kittens, a brother and a sister. They are probably 8-10 weeks old. They are also quentiened in the bathroom. Our girl cat has bad diahrea and has had 2 poo accidents and 1 pee in the last 6 days. It is not a good thing since I had just found out I am pregnant, and shouldn't be around cat feces. I do wear gloves, but still, it is gross and when she goes, it gets on her fur and I had to give her bathes in the sink. I believe the cats have some kind of worm. They are otherwise healthy and active and have good appitites. The vet didn't say much except to come in to pick up wormer for them (and not go buy some elsewhere, but we are going to anyway).
But my question is, am I going to have to steam-clean and sanitize and disinfect my entire house??? They have been everywhere playing and sleeping. I really don't want my family getting some kind of worm, so I would do all the cleaning if necessary. It is just hard with 3 children running around, sick and fatigued with another and normal life going on. My house is generally clean, no junk or anything gross on the floor. But we only have carpet throughout the entire house... plus furnature. It is a lot of cleaning! I probably know the answer, but if anyone has any advice, please let me know. I appreciate it!
Hi Stacey,
When I got my cats, I didn't realize that they have to have kitten food for a reason (as opposed to cat food). They were having diarrhea issues. We switched to kitten food and that solved it, although now they have issues any time we change their food - you need to mix the old with the new for two weeks so their bodies can get used to it.
Just something that may have been overlooked. Hope this helps.
A.
I don't think you have to radically clean. I would, however, get a different vet. I had a client once who's dog had a bad problem. The vet said it was a bacteria. In other words, it might not be worms. Interesting that the other kitten doesn't have the same thing... shouldn't the vet be testing the stool?
You can't really get worms from cats. I would just deworm them and clean up as best as you can. If they are still having problems then I would make an appointment to see the vet.
If it is a worm then I would concentrait on cleaning and vacuuming the areas used for sleeping. If there were worms in the poop, youd see them and clean them up... Really the only other time that the worms come out undetected by the cat is when they are sleeping...
Good luck with the worms. I don't have any experience with worms. You did say they were being kept in the bathroom. I just wanted to remind you to put the toilet lid down. Unfortunately I didn't years ago and one of our kittens drowned. Good luck!
petsmart has a vet and tueday and thr they have free office call i would take them there and wear a mask to when you clen up not just gloves good luck
First, I would go to a different vet. I have a girlfriend that runs a vet in Riverview. Dont know wher eyou list - I would suggest calling her and tell her I said to call; her name is Maureen. She is very good to her animals and customers. You need to figure out what is wrong with the kittens and get them back to good health. best thing is to keep them in the bathroom or somewhere confined with no carpet. I would steam clean all the carpet just to make sure because of your 3 children. Clean up what you can and as I said take care of the kittens immediately. I would ask the vet; they are very good about responding on what to do.
Good luck,
L.
Hi S.,
I have worked for Veterinarians since 1980. Please do not waste your money on a wormer from the pet shop. They are not licensed to sell a quality product to you, plus they cannot give you the advise that you deserve on care for your kittens & your family that your Veterinary Clinic can. Intestinal parasite, meaning worms, are zoonotic, meaning we can get them from our pets. But, if you use normal cleanliness habits you shouldn't need to worry. Don't let the children clean the litter boxes, dishes or handle the toys w/out washing their hands, until the kittens have been re-tested negative for the parasite. Pregnancy is of course a concern, but you can either have someone else clean the litter box or you can wear a mask & gloves. If you use common sense & normal clean habits, this is not a huge concern. The worms can only be contracted by direct contact w/ infected stool, so you do not have to clean your entire home & carpets. Just clean the areas well where the accidents occured & never use bleach or bleach based products.
I hope this helps & good luck with your kittens & your family & soon to be new addition!
~ J. ~
It is very common for kittens to have worms. I do believe that most pet stores have what you need, but what the vet can provide might work a bit quicker. You will need to treat both kittens, the male probably has them too but is not yet showing symptoms. I would keep them confined at least until you no longer see runny stools. Don't give them milk, this can also give them runny stools. Also, you won't get worms from them, just try not to come in direct contact with the stool, wearing gloves is a good idea. Any vet can give you more information regarding this, if you don't like the response you got from your current vet, try another.
I don`t want to sound "cold" but with you being pregnant-it is a risk to have a cat anyway but if they`re sick??? Maybe ask around to people you know would give them just as nice of a home as you would give them.
Hi S.,
Sounds like you are overwhelmed. First, you should find another vet. Your little girl kitty should be checked out. She could have anything, it very well could be worms, but they can't tell if they don't check her. We have two wonderful cats (strays) now, but before that we tried to bring my father in laws cats 2 boys to come live with us and they marked their territory everywhere. We did keep them confined to the the down family room and tried everything, but the smell never goes away. If it's just a spot here and there, the best thing I have found that works for the odor is vinegar/water solution. Put on and let soak in. For the stains, oxyclean is the best. You may have to do a few treatments with it, but it does eventually take the stains out. They seem to disappear after a few days. You are right about not handling the cat feces, etc. Be careful with that, you should wear a mask too. Most important, get the kitty to a good vet, there may be something else going on, cats with worms usually don't urinate outside the litter box. Hope this helps. J.
All kittens run the risk of being ill for a few months of their life, depending on where you purchase them. As long as you give them TLC and great vet care, they will be fine.
Take precautions in the bathroom to protect the kittens - so they are safe.
As for your pregnancy; take your precautions and you should be fine. I have a cat that I cleaned up after and my friend at the time of my pregnancy had a few in her home. Never had an issue.
Good Luck~
First off by all means worm them, however it is WORMS she would not have problems with peeing. You may want to take her in just because. If she has a bug you want to take care of it now instead of later. I think it is wonderful that you adopted these cats, but you didn't mention where you got them from. Have they had any shots? Have they been checked out at all? If you just got them from somewhere and they have never even seen a vet or the mother had never been checked you may want to consider it. Also take a fecal sample to the vet to check before giving them anything for worms. Some medications are for specific worms and will not work on other types...such as round worms vs tape worms and of course heart worms. Also, depending on how long ago you brought them home and changed their food, if you just changed them from one food to the other, it could be simply the change of food. You need to change food gradually and not one type one day and the next something new. A drastic change like that may not have agreed with her tummy and her body is just reacting to it. Good luck, hopefully it is something simple and nothing to serious.
If it were me and I was expecting I would hire Stanley Steamer or some other company to come in and clean everything. I don't think it's worth the risk to not clean. Did the vet do any type of test? If not you should definately have it tested to be sure it's worms and not something else.
It will cost a littel $$$. But at this point in your life you deserve it. Get the cats all fixed up medically than hire a cleaning service ot come in and do a top to bottom cleaning.
Congratulations
Hello S.,
There is a vet that comes to your home, Yes, a Vet that makes house calls check her out.
It's called Woodward Veterinary Home Care,
website - www.woodwardvet.com.
With 3 kids and one on the way you'll never get to the vet without going crazy. She does everything a regular vet does and it makes life so much easier.
Congrats on the new kittens!!
-M.
Well it sounds like your doing well trying to keep yourself safe from the bacteria in their stool. Your vet suggested not purchasing over the counter wormers for a reason. They are not regulated the way human medicines are. They can potentially cause some serious problems in young kittens that are not in full health as you described. And you may be giving unneeded meds since you don't know what worms you are treating for. I work in a veterinary ER and see many cases of pets being critically ill from over the counter worm and flea medications. I hope things resolve well and gratz on your pregnancy. Please follow your vet's advice about medications, they do know what they are talking about!
Hi S.,
Congrats on your pregnancy, and your new baby kitties!
Just to give you some background before I answer your questions, I am a LVT (licensed veterinary technician) and have worked in the vet field for many years. As far as your kitties, it isn't that uncommon for kittens to get diarrhea. A lot of times it is due to parasites, and I would definitely deworm both of them and get it under control. If that doesn't solve the diarrhea, I would bring her back to the vet to be checked out again, and maybe placed on medication to help.
My first question-have you had a stool sample checked on them? That would tell your vet what kind of parasites you might be dealing with and how to treat it. For the most part-almost all kittens/puppies get roundworms-usually from their mother, but there are other parasites that they can get as well. I would also highly recommend that you get your dewormer from your vet and not a pet store. There are different kinds of dewormers that treat different things, and some are more/less effective than others. It might be a little more expensive than the generic dewormer from the pet store, but it will be more cost effective and less headache to be treating the correct thing. Also, your vet will have products with the biggest safety margins to use in small kittens. Many of the pet store products are decent products, but can easily be toxic to baby kittens/puppies (flea products are a BIG one).
Next, as far as you being pregnant and dealing with the messes-wear gloves, and wash your hands and you should be fine. The main parasite that you should be concerned about with pregnancy is Toxoplasmosis. And, unfortunately it isn't one that is routinely picked up on fecal sample checks and it probably isn't worth the lab testing necessary to determine if your kitties might carry it. It's best just to take the precautions and not worry about it. Also, feces has to sit for 48 hours before the eggs become infective to us. So, if you scoop the litterbox daily you don't have to worry. (Although, if you can get your husband to do it, it's even better-ha!)
The other parasites that people can get from cats/dogs are roundworms and hookworms. But, same thing-get your animals dewormed, clean up poop, wash your hands and you shouldn't worry. I wouldn't tear apart your entire house cleaning, but I would definitely clean any spots where poop accidents were well.
Please don't take the advice that someone suggested that you should find other homes for the kitties. There are lots of old wives tales, but as long as you wash your hands and/or wear gloves, and keep anything that touched their feces away from your mouth (gross, I know...), the chances of you picking anything up from your kitties is very, very small.
Good Luck!! :)
you dont have to i had the same thing happen to me my vet told me to get a spray bottle with half water and half vinger it kills the smell so your animals wont keep going good luck
S.,
Congrats on the new baby!
Cat poop and pee is hard to deal with anytime much less it being diahrea on top of it! I've had many years of experience with this type of thing. The wormer meds should work but I would keep the sick kitten away from everything and everyone until it's feeling better. It's easier for the mess to be cleaned up because it's all in the same area.
Another possibility is it could be giardia if there is blood in the stool. It's a nasty virus that animals get exposed to when they step in other infected animals poop. It's treated with meds and can sometimes take more than one round of treatment. (my cats have gone through this)
Pregnant women should avoid cat feceses if at all possible. But, my OB/GYN explained to me that it's not when the poop is wet that we need to be concerned it's when it's been in a litter box for a few days and had dried out that it can be inhaled and become dangerous to pregnant women. He also explained that if I had been around cats for several years I had probably already been exposed to the virus and attributed it to a stomach bug. If I had already been exposed I didn't have anything to worry about. I continued to take precautions just in case but this is what he told me.
When I did have to deal with the litter box I would wear a respirator mask and good rubber gloves and do it as quickly as possible without disturbing the poop as much as possible.
Also, a product called Nature's Miracle is an enzyme that's supposed to help clean up pet stains and odor's. It suggests that you saturate the carpet. We prefer to spray the spot for several days to eliminate the odor.
Good luck and hang in there. I'm sure kitty will be feeling better soon and you can put all of this nasty stuff behind you.
My cats are now 15 & 17 years old.
It is perfectly reasonable to ejoy pets and still have a healthy home and pregnancy! No need to give up your kittens if you are careful (sounds like you are). Make sure handwashing is done after playing with the kittens...for everyone...it's just a good habit. Also, I would warn against using meds from a petstore. The dosing for baby animals needs to be so precise...you can overdose them with a drop of medicine! Only your vet can give you the proper diagnosis, as well as the proper dosing. If you are worried about cost, be honest with your vet and see what they will do.
Good luck!
~L.
S.,
That seems lame of a vet to not administer a dewormer right then on the spot! For one you can't get a tape worm dewormer except from a vet. I did get a holistic dewormer from PetMeds online. I haven't used it yet, but it's looking like I will.
If you're giving the kittens milk, then stop. That can throw their digestive system off big time. If you have enough litter boxes and they use it, then you should be fine. Get a pooper scooper to clean through the boxes. And just FYI, some vets discourage the scoopable type litter because it will get in the cat's paws and fur, and then they lick themselves and get that grain in their stomachs. And it can build up. I'm serious. Go with the clay stuff.
Look I've had cats with all three of my kids. Never had a problem. Don't over-worry yourself about it. Sounds like you're taking sensible precautions.
I don't think your family is going to get a worm from a cat. And they're still kittens so they have to be allowed time to use the box well enough to not get it on their fur. Much like potty training. Patience.
Lacy gave good advice! Also, has the vet actually seen the kittens? This sounds like a parasite to me, my kitten had this when we brought her home--this will need an antibiotic to cure. Take them to the vet w/a stool sample.
