Now a couple of things just fell into place - Texas screaming for food, as well as the throwing up from many members of the rescue - trying to keep up with everyone gets difficult, no extra funds makes times like this a huge nightmare.
Tapeworms are nasty creatures that take nourishment away from your furry friends - why in the hell people would opt to have one inside of them baffles me - really!!! Just so you can eat anything and everything you want - if that isn't a sure as hell sign that you have some mental problems and issues with wastefulness - I just don't know!
Not an expert on Tapeworms by any means but know enough about them to suit up for war when they make their presence known.
The tapeworm lives in stages and can be combated at any one of these stages, and can enter your pet at most anywhere - so there really isn't too much you can do to prevent them but here are some good measures to employee:
- Keep fleas away from your pet. Hardly an easy task, but one that must be addressed constantly - especially in warmer climates where fleas don't have an outdoor 'kill' season.
- Keep fleas off of your property, out of your home, and not a one in your vehicle.
- Don't let your pet around other animal's waste.
- Be selective in your pet's encounters with other animals and non-home environments.
Basically and I can't emphasis this enough - Fleas are your culprit - keep them blood sucking creeps away and you have most of your battle licked. (pun)
There are Rx available for keeping away fleas and we employee them here on the dogs, way too expensive to treat all the cats and one cat - Lil' Man has severe allergic reactions to the chemical in these products - so very hesitant on putting him through that.
Last year I purchased a large quantity of Diatomaceous Earth and still have most of it, just recently transferred the remainder into totes as the bag had a bad smoke smell from the fire and it (the bag), had to go.
Diatomaceous Earth is a natural ORGANIC means of parasite control, that when administered properly is an effective and safe means to internal worms (excluding heartworms), and exterior pests.
Have to admit that I have failed to get the animals back into a regular dosing of the Diatomaceous Earth since the beginning of the whole moving (2 houses and maybe counting), adventure. So like about 6 months... so have to get everything back on a schedule.
As soon as the worm was discovered a plan was put into motion. This is how it started and continuing as this is being typed.
Withhold all food for as long as I can get away with, the cats - especially those who are affected by the worms more so than others (Texas), will get real mean and actually start hurting the other cats when the tapeworm tells him it is hungry.
(side note here - when we lived in Greenville, SC - not long after moving from Houston, TX - Our Texas was almost exclusively an outside cat - he was feral when I put him in a cage and drove 1000 miles to our new home - and he had tapeworms - I had seen them, but also his behavior was aggressive - I witnessed this cat drunk on tapeworm appetite attack, kill, and completely devour an adult squirrel - Texas was still a juvenile at the time. For me it always spoke what the chemical make-up of the parasite can do to it's host)
So not able to withhold food for too long but they need to be hungry - real hungry to get them to take the medicine - the Diatomaceous Earth.
When my experience tells me I've pushed it just about as far as I can - to the feeding station I go - with cats jumping here and there - you would think they were part of the flying circus - as you catch a glimpse of furry tail gliding through the air from one flat surface to another - vertically. At this stage of frenzy the dogs stand a good distance back - they know all too well that the cats will slice and dice anything they view as a threat to them being fed. In a large bowl I add one 3.5 ounce can of wet cat food - the wetter - the better - the stinkier - the best! To that I add apx 1\4 cup of Diatomaceous Earth and mix throughly, then I add another 3.5 ounce can to the bowl and stir this well, depending on what I have in my cupboards... this time it was a shot of Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil - not much - just enough to make it oily (slightly oily). I prefer Hemp Oil - one of the single best ingredients to have in your home - for all kinds of uses - which is exactly why I am out - I use it for cooking, for the pets, for health and beauty aids... Mineral oil is another good additive, but it is from crude oil - out of the ground - which in this form isn't harmful to humans or animals but it isn't a renewable source so therefore I frown upon such uses - Hemp - renewable!
This formula makes up a batch that allows me to give the cats one Tablespoon each, when everyone is smacking away I give the bigger cats and\or known infected cats just a bit more. Everybody is so hungry they don't balk at the gritty texture of the Diatomaceous Earth in their food. The bowls are licked clean.
The above feeding will take place many times over the next few days. Small amounts heavily mixed with Diatomaceous Earth. When I see a break in their behaviors, that will start the taper down of my regimen and then we will get on a schedule for administering the DE on a regular basis.
Even though it was on a cat that I seen the worm - every animal in this rescue will be treated, every square inch of this dwelling will be treated, a good portion of the main walk ways of the yard will be treated.
Diatomaceous Earth will kill without mercy, it doesn't care if the insect is friendly or not - so it is my responsibility to make sure I am careful when applying this around my home\ rescue.
Diatomaceous Earth kills two ways:
It is a natural silica property that slices and dices everything that it comes into contact with - why caution must be used - for self too - do not breath this stuff into your lungs, do not apply haphazardly onto your animals. (I wear protective apparel when administering, utilizing extreme caution around pet's nose, mouth, and eyes).
It dries up mucous membranes and basically dehydrates it's victims to death - think of the flea or tapeworm (or anything of like substance), being mortally wounded in battle - then this fog rolls over and removes all moisture from them - it is like "Wham", "Bam"!!
Just for the sake of knowing I checked the current prices on the only drug I have found available to me that combats the nasty arse tapeworm and for dogs you get 5 tablets per bottle and the cheapest I found was $26.89 per bottle - it would take 10 tablets to treat the canines here and that is 2 bottles = $53.78, the cats can't take the same strength - so their bottle houses 3 tablets and cost $12.45. It would take 3 bottles to treat all the cats = $37.35 for a whopping grand total of $91.13 (plus shipping).
That $91.13 is a good average price to rid ourselves of tapeworms every time they invade us, which can happen many times a year. The purchase of Diatomaceous Earth has already paid for itself twice so far and now we are working on it paying for itself a few more times - now that is what successful means to me. These nasty parasitic pests are something you can't get away from without a lot of money and harmful chemicals - OR you can employee Natural remedies that pay for themselves time and time again.
Normally I have Diatomaceous Earth available for sale from our website and after I get a handle on the issue here at the rescue will offer again.
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