First Time Dealing With Pinworms

I’m wondering who’s ever had to treat a juvie for pinworms and how your experience was. I just had a fecal done for my girl, I’m guessing she’s about 4 months old, because she was lethargic and not interested in food. I got the results today and she tested positive for pinworms. Unfortunately, the exotics vet wasn’t in today so I have to wait until tomorrow to speak to her. As a precaution, the vet started her on Albon Friday, but now it sounds like we need a new medication.

I’m worried that she hasn’t been eating on her own. I’ve been getting baby food and soy yogurt into her, but she’s not interested in her feeders or salad. She has been active and alert the past couple of days since starting treatment.

So with all of that said, how hard is it to treat pinworms? What is the outlook for her? Any other advice is welcome.

Sorry to hear about the pinworms. They actually are easy to treat and he was on Panacur. I used Benebac gel for a probiotic and after only the 2nd day of treatment, he got his appetite back. He loved the Benebac and would willingly lick it off his nose.

Does your beardie willingly take the baby food & soy yogurt or do you have to squirt it in her mouth?

Antibiotics are also very drying so be sure to give frequent baths and offer oral fluids.

Thanks, set my mind at east a bit!

Yogurt and baby food, yes she happily accepts those via syringe if I drop it on her nose. The meds, not so much! That's a power struggle!

I will try to get her in the tub daily. I've been doing every other day. I also mist her salad, but she's not eating so that's not really helping her. The baby food is mixed with water so she's getting hydration there too.

Let us know how she does.

I don't know if this will work or not for you, it did my two when I was fighting parasites in them. I drew the meds up in the syringe first then a tiny bit of baby food, pulled the plunger completely to the top and shook the daylights out of the syringe to mix the two. They got their meds but didn't taste the full effect of the meds, they got it flavored a bit.

Just a quick update. Ember had her last round of panacur yesterday so now we wait and see what happens. She's still been accepting baby food and yogurt so I'm still getting something in to her, but she hasn't started eating on her own yet. I'm hoping she will soon. She has not lost any weight, in fact she was up 4 grams yesterday which is good.

I did call the vet to get a copy of her fecal results. I'm not sure if all vets use the same language, but she tested positive for pinworms and it said her levels were 3+ which means 11-50 eggs/parasites were seen on the slide making her case a moderate issue. I'm so glad I brought her in when I did instead of trying to wait it out a big longer.

I'll be posting some new pics in her thread later tonight.

Happy to hear that Ember got her last round of meds. Great that she's still eating the baby food & yogurt and has actually put on 4 grams. Hopefully she'll start eating on her own again soon. How's her activity level?

Yes, it sure is good that you had her fecal tested when you did. I've heard that 3 to 4+ results need treatment.

Her activity level has been really good. Yesterday she was VERY active. Today she's kind of chill, but I think that's because she got to come out so much yesterday.

That's good that she is quite active. It's common for them to have one day if high active and be quieter the next. It's surprising how much the weather can affect them too.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I've been very busy lately.

To sum up what's been going on. Ember finished her meds, seemed to get a little bit better (never starting to eat on her own), but then slid back again. I'd go home at my lunch hour and she would either be sleeping under her fleece blanket or tucked away in the corner on her log. She's also been darker than normal which to me says her belly is still causing discomfort. She's still active, but nearly as active as she has been in the past. I've been syringe feeding her all along although I did stop for 2 days to see if she'd start eating on her own again which she never did. Still today she's not eating on her own.

I got really concerned so I took her in Tuesday for a recheck and to get another fecal done. The vet felt Ember's tummy and could feel that she had a full belly. She was concerned about her being constipated. We briefly discussed an enema, but the vet decided on her own to try subq fluids first to see if that would move things along since Ember's still so small. Ember weighed in at 72g which was up 11g from her intitial visit which is good considering she's not eating her normal foods. So, we had the subq fluids done and now we wait and see how she responds. She did poop yesterday, but it wasn't very much and it didn't look right. It looks like it was dry and hard/crumbly if that makes sense. So hopefully with the extra hydration it'll help move things along quicker. Her fecal came back negative so at least we know that parasites aren't the issue anymore.

For home treatments, this is what I'm doing. If you have any other suggestions, I'm open to them...

- Continue with syringe feeding baby food mixed with carnivore care, calcium, and water.
- Mix in a drop or two of olive oil into each feeding.
- Give baths frequently (which I've been doing) and give lots of belly massages.
- Take her outside as much as possible for real sun (which I've been doing).

I'm going to try to update her thread later with some new pics.

Hello Mandy,

You are doing great with Ember!
I am glad that her fecal came back negative now too, that is wonderful!
She is looking beautiful, too.

Tracie

So I haven't updated in a while.. again.. I need to get better at this. I have good news and bad news to report. First the good news. Ember has taken a turn in the right direction finally! She's eating on her own once again. She's eating anywhere between 30-50+ phoenix worms a day along with some dubia at night (at her highest she ate 9 dubia). Yesterday when I got home and walked into my room I interupted her while she was eating some salad too. The only problem we're having now is getting her to poop regularly. I'm still giving her probiotics to help with that so I'm hoping that'll fix itself as well.

Now the bad news. After just going through this horrible parasite ordeal and getting back to normal my poor girl is now getting hit with a full body shed! I know in theory it's a good thing, but I really wish she had more time in between everything. Her whole back and tail are grey as is her nose and sides of her mouth. Her arms and legs are starting to turn and it looks like her beard and belly are turning as well. There's not much I can do at this point other than to bathe her regularly to try to speed things up.

I'll try to get some new pics up in her thread tonight too.

Thanks for the great update. So happy to hear that she is eating on her own again. So, she's enjoying her salad too, awesome. Good that you're continuing the probiotics, that certainly won't do any harm and may help get her on a better pooping schedule soon.

Hopefully the shed will start lifting soon and the baths will help her out. It is a good sign she is shedding, shows she is gaining some wt and growing. Hang in there Ember, once the shed lifts, you'll feel much better.