Worms that won't go away?

My grandmother's cat, Hercules (he used to be my cat but then her cat died so I gave him to her) has worms. She doesn't live near me so everything I tell you is hearsay. She says she can see the worms. He has had them for a good while now. She took him to the vet and he gave him a shot. Then she took him back for a followup shot. Now he has them again so she went to another vet and got a pill. Don't know the name or anything.

I was wondering a few things.

1. This cat is exceptionally huge. He is naturally big but he is also fat (20+ lbs). Could this be due to worms maybe? I always thought it was the other way around, like they get skinny and malnourished when they have worms? My grandmother does feed him a lot so there is plenty of cause for him to be so big, I was just wondering if this may be another cause.

2. Is there anything else we/she could do for him?

3. Can humans get worms from cats? My grandmother still lets him sleep in the bed with her even though she says she can see the worms (not sure what see the worms means but either way it is bad).

4. Will cats with worms start peeing in the house - if they are normally inside/outside cats and go pee outside? My mother said that now there is a cat pee smell somewhere in the house. Hercules has always been good about going outside (he has a litter box inside but never uses it) so could this be a symptom of worms?

The whole thing is disgusting but I don't understand why the worms won't go away. Hopefully this pill will do it (2 pills actually b/c he is so big) but if it doesn't???????

 

what is she seeing? Actual worms i.e. tapeworm from the hind end? or little pieces of rice in the litterbox?

There are so many treatments for worms....Drontal, Pyrantel and others - really it depends on the worm. Was a fecal exam done to determine exactly what kind of parasite she is dealing with?

Usually the meds are given once then again exactly 2 weeks later. Normally the worming meds will cause "dire-rear" for a few days.

Normally weight isn't what causes worms...fleas can be a cause so she needs to find out if the cat has fleas that he is ingesting and maybe that's making it so the worms are going away 100%. She could treat the cat with Advantage just to be sure it's not flea related.

Again...depends on what parasite.

I don't think weight has anything to do with parasites - like you said usually a cat that is that infested is going to lose weight and be very listless. But this cat needs to lose weight. Can you get your grandmother to switch over to light catfood and not offer table food (bet that's what she is doing).

She should ask what parasite the cat is being treated for and what the meds are - you could do a search online for her to find out what might be causing it

 

If the cat goes outside maybe he is getting reinfested with a parasite from outdoors? Possibly something in the soil or in a small animal that he may have eaten? I'm sure it varies from vet to vet but my vet recommends a certain type of dewormer 4 times per year as a preventative. Maybe your grandmother could ask about something like this to keep him worm free.

I've heard of cats having a "pot-bellied" appearance with worms sometimes but not actually getting fat from them. Usually, a badly infected cat will be thin but with a pot belly.