The cat tapeworm is the most common internal parasite to infest housecats. Tapeworm larvae live in fleas, and are ingested when a cat bites at its skin to scratch at a fleabite, or when the cat eats a small rodent that is infested with fleas that have tapeworm larvae. The larvae mature into full sized tapeworms in the cat's intestines, where they survive on nutrients that the cat has eaten. This can be harmful to the cat, because it will not receive much of the nutrients contained in its food. In extreme cases, a tapeworm infestation can cause a cat to die of starvation.
Signs of Tapeworm Infection
The most obvious sign of a tapeworm infection in your cat is extreme weight loss. The cat will still eat normally, but will not be able to absorb many of the nutrients from its food because the tapeworm gets to it first. Tapeworms also cause itching around the cat's anus, so if it is scratching or biting at this region excessively, it may be a sign of tapeworms. Other than observing your cat getting very skinny or scratching itself, the only way to detect a tapeworm infection in your cat is to find segments of the worms themselves. These look like rice grains, and appear in the animal's feces, stuck to the hair around the animal's anus, or in the animal's bedding.
What is Droncit?
Droncit is a drug that contains praziquantel, a chemical that is safe for cats, but poisonous for tapeworms. The praziquantel floods the cat's body and kills all the tapeworms, which will then come out when the animal defecates.
The dose of Droncit you should give your cat depends on the cat's weight. If the cat is less than five pounds, only administer half of a tablet. For cats from five to eleven pounds, administer one tablet, and for cats over eleven pounds, administer one and a half tablets. The best way to make your cat eat the drug is to mix it in with its food, but if you want to be positively sure that your cat has eaten all the medication, you can make it swallow the tablet by placing it in the back of the cat's mouth and holding its mouth closed.
Warnings
Do not give Droncit to your cat if it is less than six weeks old, and consult a veterinarian before you give Droncit to a weak or debilitated cat. On rare occasions, cats may experience excessive salivation or diarrhea as a side effect of Droncit use. If these side effects do not stop soon after you give Droncit to your cat, contact a veterinarian.
Tapeworms are a very uncomfortable and disgusting parasite that commonly infests household cats. Before the invention of Droncit, a feline tapeworm infestation required a trip to the vet. With Droncit, an entire population of tapeworms in a cat can be wiped out with one small pill.