# Drontal has made my cats ill!!!



## Pushkabounce (Nov 6, 2012)

Ok so some of you may remember me having poop issues with my 3 indoor cats. Now it's just Oscar still with the runs on occasion.

Anyways, out ruling things - worms and other parasites. 

Went to my vet and got Advocate and Drontal for all 3 of them.

Advocate was given yesterday and Drontal at 7pm this evening. 

All 3 have been sleepier since it's got colder and Oscar always gets cuddly after a bout of diarrhea.

At about 8pm I started noticing Oscar looked really spaced out. His eyes just looked weird. At 8.30pm I made him get up and he was disorientated and a bit staggery.

Tested if he was interested in food and all 3 were happy for a cheeky snack before dinner.

Oscar got worse, unable to jump onto the sofa, 3rd eyelid not drawing right back quickly. He looked drunk!

Called my out of hours vet. She said Drontal is very safe and it's not that. She said it sounds something underlying and to monitor for another hour and bring him in if he gets worse.

I fed him a little wet food, tempted him to walk around a bit. He seemed to perk up and started meowing again. Quiet and Oscar don't got together. 

Just started to think he is looking a bit more with it and then I see Tinker staring off into the distance, his eyes looking weird. I finally get his attention, he comes staggering over, just makes it to the sofa, 3rd eyelids all scary and super sleepy! 

I looked it up and a few places say that it can make cats appear this way.

Anyone else experienced this?

I'm a wreck! Could hardly hold back the tears when talking to the vet.


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

It's very odd to me that it affected all of your cats...I'd be double checking the dosage the vet suggested against what's recommended online. It sounds like they may have had too large of a dose for them all to have that reaction.

Drug reactions, while serious, aren't very common so for all three of your cats to have a sensitivity to the same medication is very unlikely. If the dosage is too high it makes it more likely they would all react. I'm not saying that's what it is for sure, but it's worth checking.

If they're still obviously off tomorrow I'd be phoning your vet and complaining at the least...taking them in if they haven't improved.


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## Pushkabounce (Nov 6, 2012)

Yes definitely taking them tomorrow if they aren't normal. 

It's just 2 that are off, Wilson seems fine. 

My partner said about the dose and it kind of makes sense.

Wilson is 3.6kg and had the tablet for a cat weighing up to 4kg so he is at the higher end.

Oscar is 4.5kg and had the tablet for cats between 4 - 8kg so he is at the lower end

Tinker is 6.8kg and had the same tablet as Oscar. Tinker has a score 3 heart murmur so I I wonder if that's played any part of him reacting to it?


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## zuma (Nov 5, 2009)

Yeah the weird thing is that two have the same symptoms. One with an adverse reaction I can see, but two seems unlikely. 

Is there anything else they could have gotten into? Anything eaten that they shouldn't? Is the one without symptoms on a different routine as far as food goes? Trying to think what could cause this. I'd probably bring them in and have them checked. I know after hours is pricey but might be worth peace of mind if nothing else. 


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## Pushkabounce (Nov 6, 2012)

Oscar today has just had biscuits because of his tum. Everything else between them in the same.

I have the pills at 7pm, all 3 came and snuggled on the sofa and at 8pm I noticed Oscar was looking off.

Oscar seems fine now. Much more alert. Hunting Wilson and playing about the emergency carrier.

I I thought it was strange that 2 had reactions to it too. 

Just wondering if anyone else's cat has acted like this after drontal?


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## zuma (Nov 5, 2009)

How are your kitties doing? Hope they're all back to normal!


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## Pushkabounce (Nov 6, 2012)

zuma said:


> How are your kitties doing? Hope they're all back to normal!
> 
> 
> Sent from Petguide.com Free App


Oscar was fine by about 11.30pm. Walking about and jumping on things. Talking to us and eyes eyes normal. He is absolutely normal this morning.

I let Tinker sleep until 12.00am. He jumped off the sofa and was unsteady on his feet. I think he would have fallem over if it weren't for the table there. He seemed pretty quiet until we fed them at 12.30.

He went running for his food and ate no problem. 

This morning he is still a bit staggery but once he got moving he seemed to brighten up.

Thank you for asking


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

Oh dear, I am sorry to hear you are having problems. From what I read in your first post and what Librarychick is thinking, I'm pretty sure I know what the problem is.

Advocate is the UK equivalent of Revolution (so those in the US know what I am about to say)
You have given a very large dose of worm medication.
Advocate is a wormer as well as for fleas and ticks. So if you gave them Advocate, which is effective for 3-4 weeks (at least) and the very next day gave them a dose of Drontal, I'm not surprised they are behaving oddly.
What IS surprising is that the vet didn't catch this when you called them?

I hope your boys are feeling better today


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## Pushkabounce (Nov 6, 2012)

I went into the vet to explain about my poop situation and they said they normally advise to use both together because advocate does pretty much everything apart from tape worm and so the drontol does the tapeworm. 

I thought it was quite a lot but they said do it a day apart and they will be fine.

I am convinced it was the drontol that caused the problembut the vet kept saying it wouldn't be. Both Tinker and Oscar had the same symptoms after having the same pill.

It's put me off ever using drontol again. I know it's bad luck that 2 out of 3 of my cats reacted to it but I've never had that issue with other wormers


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

Cat face that makes a LOT more sense!

Pushkabounce, by giving them a day apart it was likely a combination of the two that caused the issue. I didn't know Advocate was Revolution..essentially your vet told you to give appropriate doses of two poisons. (That's what worming meds are, low dose poisons.) without sufficient time in between for your cats to recover!

In the future I'd suggest waiting at least a week between treatments. Commonly (here) deworming pills are given in two doses about 7-10 days apart (to catch worms that were in a different part of their life cycle the first time). I would suggest giving only the Advocate at that time and waiting 3-4 days before giving drontal.

I'm sorry this happened, and if it were me I'd be looking for a new (more cautious) vet!


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## zuma (Nov 5, 2009)

Oh yes, that makes a lot more sense now! 
I'm do glad they're ok. Scary!


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## sweetcuddles (Jun 30, 2013)

Take a look at this:

http://www.merialvetsite.com/sites/fields/FleaWormingTreatment1506.html

I looked up both of those treatments and this says that they should be 48 hours to two weeks apart.


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## Pushkabounce (Nov 6, 2012)

I'm so mad! She kept saying "we normally team them up because they do everything".

When I asked if I should do them at the same time she said it's best to give about 24 hours in between.

I'm so annoyed. I honestly thought Oscar was dying! So much stress was caused last night by this whole issue


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

wow, I know it is so very frustrating!! What an awful - needless thing to go through.

If it's any help at all, I use these on the girls:
*Milbemax* -_ a very good wormer, for ALL worms in UK_ - prescription only, get it from vet
*Effipro* -_ fleas and ticks _- no prescription needed - same as, if not better than, Frontline.


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## Pushkabounce (Nov 6, 2012)

cat face said:


> wow, I know it is so very frustrating!! What an awful - needless thing to go through.
> 
> If it's any help at all, I use these on the girls:
> *Milbemax* -_ a very good wormer, for ALL worms in UK_ - prescription only, get it from vet
> *Effipro* -_ fleas and ticks _- no prescription needed - same as, if not better than, Frontline.



The effipro, does it contain fripronil the same as frontline? Tinkers skin is sensitive to it. Maybe all my cats are just broken


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

I'm glad they're feeling better! How scary! Maybe you should contact the vet and let them know you suspect it was related to the short period between giving the doses, just for future reference...


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

Pushkabounce said:


> The effipro, does it contain fripronil the same as frontline? Tinkers skin is sensitive to it. Maybe all my cats are just broken


I'm pretty sure it does  Sorry

Perhaps for the other two then?

I can't remember if your gang is inside only or not. If Tinker is an inside only you could always use *Johnson's 4Fleas* _for cats_. It kills all fleas on them for 24 hours. And you can use it as often as needed. It is even safe for kittens. It's what I gave my girls when I first got them at 12 weeks old. They were coated in fleas!

It may well work if Tinker doesn't go outside much. I mean there are some people that only use Johnson's 4Fleas as their primary flea fighter, but their cats only go outside for a little. 

I don't use it as a primary, but I do give them Johnson's when it's the peak of summer and fleas are bad and the flea drops are struggling in the last week or so of their drops. It helps quite a lot as a supplement, for me, but then all my girls like to live outside in the summer so they need all the flea fighting help they can get.


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## Pushkabounce (Nov 6, 2012)

Yes I've called them but they still keep saying it can't be the drontol! The 2 which had the larger dose both eexperienced the same side effects shortly after having the pill.

My 3 are all indoor and it's not as common in the UK. They said no one else has ever reported these side effects to them before but I wonder if it's because im in the minority of people in my area that spend so much time with my cats. Many people I know just worm them and then let them go back out. 

I've used 4fleas before and Tinker was fine with that. The kittens are ok with fipronil

Thanks for all of your kind words


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

I think it was the combination of the two wormers given so close together, not so much just the one being the cause. 
So they can quite confidently say it wasn't the Drontol. 
Any two wormers given at the same time OR so close to one another is likely to cause an undesirable reaction.


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## Pushkabounce (Nov 6, 2012)

Yes I thought so too but with a professional telling me that they 'always team them up' and that I could do them so close together I believed it.

I'll stick to my gut next time and also use my usual wormer


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

Are the boys doing alright now?


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## Catmamma (Apr 18, 2011)

Are your cats litter mates?


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## Pushkabounce (Nov 6, 2012)

Yes all 100% back to normal 

Wilson and oscar are. Are you going to say about giardia?


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## cat face (Apr 4, 2013)

Pushkabounce said:


> *Yes all 100% back to norma*l
> 
> Wilson and oscar are. Are you going to say about giardia?


Ah, excellent... very good news


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## queen34 (Aug 30, 2013)

I am very glad your cats are back to normal now. After reading your post I was hesitant to give Droncit to King. I just did yesterday. 

My question is I was unsure on how to administer it, so I crushed it and added a little water and syringed it into his mouth. I know now it was to be given whole. Will it still work just as good or did I cut the effectiveness down?

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