My cat has tapeworms. Is one Drontal pill enough to wipe them out?

Due to the lifecycle of tapeworms, more than one treatment is needed to kill all the worms. At least two treatments need to be given two weeks apart. The first kills the adult present, while the second kills the adults that had not yet hatched at the time of the first treatment. You need to take your kittens back into the vet.

Your pet should get two doses 2 weeks apart because this is the life cycle of the worm. Keeping Tabitha on a monthly heartworm preventative (which has an intestinal dewormer in it as well) can help prevent reinfection. Thanks for visiting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Take care and I hope you get rid of those hookworms soon.

Hello, thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Cats should be treated with an initial dose (based on the label instructions) and then again after 3 weeks. DO NOT give multiple doses in a day. Cats get tapeworms by ingested fleas that are infected with the tapeworm larvae so be sure to get the fleas under control.

Penny needs a second deworming treatment two weeks after the first to kill all the worms. The first treatment kills the adults present, while the second kills the worms who had not yet hatched from eggs during the first deworming. I would take her back into the vet to get another treatment. Best of luck.

Arya will have to eat the full dose in order to kill the tapeworms. Tapeworms can be a little more difficult to detect than other types of parasites unless you actually see them in the stool or around the rectum. You will need to repeat the medication and make sure that it is labeled for the Dipylidium species since it’s the most common in cats. You may also call your veterinarian as they will carry medications to kill that particular species. Most of the time cats will be dewormed once and then repeated 2 to 4 weeks later to make sure there are no parasites left. You may consider having her stool checked for the eggs but this may not always reveal an infestation. I hope this helps.

No, they don't go away on their own. I recommend giving them Drontal, it is an excellent dewormer that kills tapeworms. You can get it from your vet, so I would take them both into the vet to get this prescription medication.

The reason for the second deworming 3 weeks later is to kill any tapeworms that were still immature at the last deworming and were not yet sensitive to the dewormer or if she has gotten infected again since the last deworming. Drontal is a very safe medication with very few side effects since it only affects the parasites in the GI tract. I am attaching a link to a handout on Drontal below including a discussion of side effects. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=531 I hope that was helpful and answered your questions. Thanks for using PetCoach.