My cat has diarrhea and sneezes after deworming. Are kittens at risk?

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  Answered By David Darvishian

  Veterinarian

  Published on September 27th, 2017

  Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Misty. Most likely you are dealing with intestinal parasites passed from the queen to the kittens and then back to the queen. All kittens are assumed to have hookworms and roundworms from their mother. They get infected while in the uterus and while they are nursing. Thus, kittens should be dewormed every 2-3 weeks starting at the age of 2 weeks old. The queens get infected from the kittens after they start shedding the parasite eggs. I'm sure a good deworming would help Misty get back on track. Try deworming and go from there. The drug to use is pyrantel pamoate which kills rounds and hookworms. You mention something else that is going on which is sneezing. The queen cat often carriers for life the viruses that cause upper respiratory diseases and after she queens, she will break with the viruses and start shedding them to the kittens. Most likely that is causing her sneezing. I would monitor her and the kittens for signs of Upper Resp Infection (URI) such as sneezing, coughing, red/swollen eyes, discharge from the eyes/nose, fever, decreased appetitie, etc. This infection is usually mild in adult cats but not in kittens. It can be quite severe in kittens so early treatment is key. The best advice by far is to always consult with your local veterinarian if this situation progressively gets worse. Let them get a history and do a physical exam. They can run tests if needed (fecal test, blood tests, etc) to make sure Misty is healthy and also discover some of the less common parasites that can infect cats and kittens such as coccidia/giardia. They can also assess the severity of the URI to see if treatment is warranted. Good luck with Misty and the kittens

  

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