Dewormer for feral

[AnnaH]

Hello,

There is a feral cat that’s between one and two years old. He looks like he’s lost quite a bit of weight. He has worms. Which dewormer do you recommend for a feral cat?

Kitty is really skinny despite a lot of feeding. It also has some marks that look like flea dermatitis I've seen online. I don't think anyone has been giving them medicine lately. They spend most days/nights on our back porch.

Do you recommend giving him a flea medicine?

Thank you so much. Trying to help the fur babies out there.

@Dr. Christina @Dr. Jean Hofve @Dr. Jeff

 

[AnnaH]

Hello,

There is a feral cat that’s between one and two years old. He looks like he’s lost quite a bit of weight. He has worms. Which dewormer do you recommend for a feral cat?

Kitty is really skinny despite a lot of feeding. It also has some marks that look like flea dermatitis I've seen online. I don't think anyone has been giving them medicine lately. They spend most days/nights on our back porch.

Do you recommend giving him a flea medicine?

Thank you so much. Trying to help the fur babies out there.

@Dr. Christina @Dr. Jean Hofve @Dr. Jeff

Here are photos of the fur baby @Dr. Jean Hofve @Dr. Christina @Dr. Jeff

 

[Dr. Jeff]

He has worms.

What kind of worms (that will help determine the dewormer).

Do you recommend giving him a flea medicine?

Does he come inside?

Here are photos of the fur baby

He's a cutie!

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

If he lets you handle him like that, he is not feral, just stray or unowned. He does look like quite a sweetheart!

As Dr. Jeff says, it depends on what kind of worms. Hopefully you have a local vet to work with to run a fecal and provide the correct dewormer.

For fleas, here is my protocol, also see Dr. Christina's ebook Fleas Be Gone

 

[AnnaH]

Here are photos of the fur baby @Dr. Jean Hofve @Dr. Christina @Dr. Jeff

What kind of worms (that will help determine the dewormer).

Does he come inside?

He's a cutie!

Hello @Dr. Jeff and @Dr. Jean Hofve. Someone reached out to me about this kitty and I’m trying to guide him on how to help this kitty. The kitty only goes on their porch. We’ve had some ferals that let us pet them. It’s not common but happens. I don’t think he will get be able to get some fecal matter because the cat lives outdoors so what do you advise if they can’t get it tested for which worms?

Also, if kitty is having an allergy to fleas but the guy helping can’t do all these natural remedies what is the best option? Let them suffer with fleas to avoid a treatment of single ingredient topical flea medicine? This is a tough call to make. I can ask him to try and flea comb but I don’t know that the cat will actually let him comb let alone all over. I also doubt he can do this every day. Just trying to help out this kitty and the best way possible.

Thank you!

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Oh okay, thought this cat was coming to *your* porch and you could handle him! Let's back up a bit... why does he think the cat has worms... is he seeing tapeworm segments, or is it just because the cat is thin?

 

[AnnaH]

Oh, sorry. I was trying to keep the story simple but yes it’s a guy I know that helps the ferals. He doesn’t see any poop. He didn’t see any segments. He said it was a feral and it took a long while of feeding before he could pet kitty. This black cat disappeared for a couple weeks and came back looking like this. He does have an appetite but nothing too crazy, he'll leave food in the bowl to graze throughout the day. He used to be the bigger of the 2 cats but now the other one (that didn't disappear for 2 weeks) just seems a lot healthier now. This is why we thought maybe it has worms. (Lost weight).


I think I've seen little red dots in his fur that seemed like fleas or ticks. Mike said he will order a flea comb.

It has these 2 bumps on both sides of its head near its ears and then it's left paw has 2 scaby looking things. He now thinks maybe the cat has scabies. I don’t know anything about scabies and how to help this kitty.

Thank you so much!!!



Thank you for your help!!

 

[Dr. Jeff]

what is the best option?

The very best option is to let the kitty live his best life. That may be with or without fleas and worms as long as he seems happy.

Animals in the wild commonly live with all kinds of "parasites". Yet they are fine.

It's often our conception of how they should be living that creates our own stress.

 

[Dr. Jean Hofve]

Little red dots could be lice not fleas (black) or ticks (brown), but lice are pretty unusual on a cat, and they would be on all the in-contact animals. Scabies are EXTREMELY itchy and not only would all the cats have them but they are also highly transmissible to humans so the caretaker would be affected as well. So not likely to be that.

Overall, I agree with Dr. Jeff. I'm not seeing a reason to treat anything or worry too much. If kitty is eating and seems happy, let him be.