Cat Worm Medicine: Is it OK to give my cat more worm medicine?

I recently wormed my cat and didn't realize the medicine had expired and he still seems to have worms. Is it OK to give him more medicine even though it's only been 8 days?


I recently wormed my cat and did it again in 10 days like it said. I didn't realize at the time that the medicine had expired and he seems to still have worms. I bought some more medicine and was wondering if it was OK to worm him again even though its just been 8 days?

It is a male cat and he is 1 year old. He acts so hungry and just wants to eat but looks so skinny! I don't want to hurt him by giving him more if I needed to wait awhile even though the other one had expired.

Comments for Cat Worm Medicine: Is it OK to give my cat more worm medicine?

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Jun 15, 2010
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Which cat worm medicine did you use?
by: Kurt (Admin)

If we're talking about roundworms or hookworms, I haven't run across deworming meds that specifically use a 10 day interval. For worms in cats other than tapeworm, at least two treatments are needed to completely rid your cat of worms, sometimes more.

The recommendations that I've seen from veterinarians, however, are two treatments, three weeks apart with follow ups if needed. The exception is tapeworm, which is a single treatment. This of course, is assuming that the medication is fully effective, and we're not sure about those first two doses in your case.

See this About.com article on treating tapeworms in cats which states:

"The adult worms will often be seen in the pet's feces after a deworming. Roundworms, hookworms and whipworms each have a slightly different life cycle, but they all produce migrating/developing larve that require a second dose of dewormer to kill these new developing worms. For roundworms and hookworms, a second dose is needed in 3 weeks (and sometimes another dose in a few more weeks), for whipworms, the second dose is at 73-75 days."

Did you confirm that your cat definitely still has worms? It's hard to tell sometimes so soon.

The directions for Drontal Cat Allwormer Tablet, made by Bayer state:

"Weigh cats before treatment. Cats should be dosed according to bodyweight. Drontal Cat worm tablets are given as a single dose by mouth. Cats should be dosed on an empty stomach. One Drontal Cat Allwormer Tablet treats up to 9 lb in weight. Cats and kittens 4.5 lb and under should be given ½ tablet, cats 4.6 - 9 lb should be given 1 tablet and cats over 9 lb should be given 1 tablet per 9 lb of bodyweight. A common regime for treatment is to worm kittens every 2 weeks from 2 weeks old until 12 weeks, monthly from 3 months until 6 months then every 3 months as an adult cat. These recommendations are of a general nature. In specific instances where infestation is particularly heavy or many cats are housed together, a veterinarian should be consulted."

In other words, every 2 weeks is acceptable according to the Drontal instructions on kittens, but the recommendations that I've seen from vets is typically three weeks as mentioned in the above referenced article, presumably due to the worm lifecycle. If the worm medicine that you used is different, different rules may apply. If I were you, I would make a quick call to the veterinarian, a pet pharmacist, or the manufacturer to make sure you're not missing anything.

Does that help?

Click here to add your own comments

Join in and write your own page! It's easy to do. How? Simply click here to return to Cat Health Questions.