Questions on Lung worm

Good morning,

I have a couple of questions and I’m really hoping someone can help me out please.

About a month ago, my son adopted two 7-month-old kittens that were found living under a bridge and brought to Pet Value which is a pet food chain that help cats get adopted.

Recently, one of the kittens started scooting on the carpets so he brought them both to the vet. They did a fecal sample and the one that was scooting was diagnosed with Aelurostrongylus abstrusus, (lung worm). Apparently, this is a common type of worm that cats pick up by eating an infected mouse or whatever.

The problem is the vet is recommending not treating the kitten but just keeping an eye out for coughing, sneezing etc.… Apparently, she said the injections to treat it are extremely painful. ?????

From what I’ve read on several websites, this seems to be something that needs to be dealt with as soon as possible as these worms eventually end up in the cat’s lungs and can lead to serious respiratory problems such as bronchitis, pneumonia and sometimes death. Also, I did not find any information about injections only oral meds.

Have any of you ever had this diagnosis of Aelurostrongylus abstrusus in any of your kitties and if so, how was it treated? Was it eventually cured? Can you let me know what the treatment was?

I would really appreciate any information you can give me.

Thank you,

This is Ollie (left) & Taz (right) Ollie is the kitten with lung worm.

 

I wish I had advice but I don't. These are very sweet kittens and I'm glad they'll have a good home. I hope someone here can help.

 

My cut and paste is not working. Check out these 2 sites:


caringvets.com search for lung worm. It was treated with "Revolution".

capcvet.org Very interesting site for parasites.

 

Sounds like several treatments of worming meds will help. At least humans can't catch it directly from cats.

 

https://capcvet.org/guidelines/lungworms/

https://caringvets.com/2015/05/treating-lungworms-in-felines/

https://www.petmd.com/pet-medication/fenbendazole This drug was quoted as a feline treatment on the CapcVet site.

Now my cut/paste works! Hope this helps.

 

Thank you very much Michele!!!