how frequently can you worm a cat? (warning, gross)

[geekgirl]

I wormed our cat 6 weeks ago (try to do it monthly but often it'll end up being two months rather than one) - well, I just stepped into a dried-up puddle of vomit with lots of roundworms in it . I tracked down the cat immediately and shoved another Drontal tablet down his neck (after binning the - thankfully cheap - rug he'd chucked up on).
He is a hunter, which is good and I would not stop him from catching things... Should I be more conscientous about worming monthly? I am surprised that he managed to develop a full-blown roundworm infestation in such a short amount of time though, I'm quite certain that he didn't spit out the tablet

Are you 100% sure it's roundworms? Not that I know or think it could be something else or what else it could be but it might be IYSWIM?

If I were you I'd give the vet a quick ring to ask for some advice. Did you get the worming pills from the vet or from a pet shop/supermarket. In my experience only things from the vet actually work.

ballpoint, no I am not 100% sure. It was all dried out ... it could have been grass I suppose but it was all white/translucent stringy matter rather than green (sorry, gross I know!).
The worming pills are Drontal multiwormer - I got them from a vet. pharmacy, but my vet sells me the same tablets (for 10x the price).

just googled some more roundworm pictures (loooovely! urgh) and I am pretty sure it was roundworms.

Grim!

I don't think I've ever wormed my cat and she's never had a problem.

Where could he be getting the worms from? If possible best to address that rather than overdose him!

oh it's from eating all sorts of small mammals! He's a good mouser. Nothing I can do about it - nor would I want to tbh. It's useful.

Blimey our vet told us to give a tablet every 3 months. Think I might up the dose after reading you op geekgirl.

Argh no! DO NOT google 'worms'! I did once when dc had threadworms. I don't think I ever recovered

Worm the mice?

You should be worming monthly if you have children around cats or dogs. If you are seeing roundworms from an adult cat that was only wormed 6 weeks ago I would be a bit concerned as this is unusual however. I would question if the wormer you were supplied is really what it says on the packet, I would question if the cat actually kept the tablet down/swallowed it when it was given and I would question if for some reason there is some sort of resistance to this wormer by the worms. Usually drontal cat is a good wormer and one vets would supply so the brand is not really a concern. Perhaps the best plan is to go to your vet and get a different wormer however to make sure you cover all types of worms with a different active ingredient to be sure of all of the above scenarios.
Tapeworms on the other hand are commonly seen in cats, especially the rice grain like ones that come from their bottoms...urghh!! Make sure any wormer you get does cover all types of worms as these are the sorts of worms cats get from hunting.

thank you beautifulgirls, I gave him another Drontal today and didn't let him out of my sight afterwards - I fed him a pouch of wet food (rare treat) straight away so that he'd be swallowing properly and get the tablet into his system.
I checked his cat bed this afternoon and found some of tapeworm bits in there (delightful ).
I think he must have got rid of the tablet I gave him 6 weeks ago somehow . Maybe he went outside and threw it up straight away.

Our cats are masters of chucking up tablets, even if you locked them in one room and watched them like a hawk, you'd still find a spit-up tablet on the floor a few days later! Ask your vet for Profender which is a spot-on, much easier than trying to give them pills.

If he hunts year-round you'll need to worm every month, but ours only hunt in the warmer months so our treatment timetable goes: January, March, May, June, July, August, October. Basically they get wormed every month in summer, and every three months in winter - and there's only two months between the March/May and August/October treatments, so it covers them if they to hunt a bit earlier or later than usual. Their flea treatments follow the same pattern but we just miss out the October and January ones.

Thank you Mrs L! Have rung my vet and ordered a 3 month supply!!! What a revelation!! I currently wrap the poor cat into a towel and use one of those tablet syringe things. He endures it in a manly fashion, but a spot-on solution sounds ideal!