Hi Roberta,
The garlic won't help. You should be able to get piperzine at your feed store. Piperzine takes care of roundworms and rounds are common in kittens and puppies. It is fairly inexpensive.
You can get shots at the feed store for the kittens too. They are around $7.00 a shot. Tractor Supply carries them.
Carrie

For both the kittens' sake and your's I would suggest brining them to a shelter where they will be treated and cared for properly. It's very sad that you can't afford health care for yourself, so what are you doing spending money on dry cat food, tuna fish, wormers that will be only partially effective, etc? If it were me, I'd take care of myself and my family first, until I was in a better position to be able to help some kittens.

Wow Patrick, I sure am glad I don't depend on health insurance to keep me healthy ---- Doctors aren't God and what they do is called a "Practice". My last trip to a doctor was in 1972 when I gave birth to my fourth child. I am extremely healthy and have no need for people practicing on me. I do just fine with that category myself. Yes, I could take the kitties to a shelter and they would put them down. Yep that sounds like a good plan!

I am simply looking for a way to naturally de-worm these babies. There has to be one or no feral cat would make it in the wild. (Yes, I know the life of a feral cat is three years. Take them to a shelter and their life span is - hmmm - when they get there.) Please don't tell me about no-kill shelters. That is a joke.

The classifieds are full of free kitty ads. I like these little guys. They are living with the chickens (in fact, the chickens are caring for them) and they will be good to get rid of our rodent population some day.

So Patrick, I am glad I am not you.

You have an interesting perspective on things. You asked for advice, and I gave it, based on a lot of experience with these matters and what IMO is best for all involved. Sorry that it wasn't the answer that you were hoping for. I could go on about there being no real natural dewormer, only the select few fittest animals that survive with a manageable parasite population that may overtake them at the slightest stress. I could argue that a chance of adoption in a shelter, even if euthanasia is a possibility, is better than a three year existence without any medical care for these kittens who had no control over their being born, but somehow I don't think that you'd agree. I see now how silly it was of me to suggest that you provide medical care for a kitten when you yourself have done so well for so long without it. Best of luck to you.

Hi, I've had to deworm feral kittens before,and I found that a lot of feed stores carry dewormers for cats.Here in canada I pay around 5 dollars for a little pack.More than enough to do mama and kittens.I just guessed you might freqent a feed store because you said you had hens.
I'm sorry I don't know of any herbal methods of worming.
Good luck.
Ann.

I work at a feed store and we carry a couple wormers for kittens we also carry the basic shots. It is hard to have a vet come out and a long way so we tend to care for our own animals as much as possible. Some of the kitten wormers can be mixed with food I would use a cat food because sometimes tuna(not really a good food for cats) will give them the runs.

I think it's great of you to care for these kittens. If they were taken to a shelter they would more than likely be euthanized because there are more kittens than they can adopt out. Isnt it a shame that a vet trip is so $$$, then again what isn't! Good luck

Roberta, I hope your kittens are doing OK. I have found that my chickens occasionally kill and eat mice in my yard too. But my 'owner' cats keep all kinds of pests out of the yard. I also have a couple of feral cats that come around every now and then and I give them wormer in their food, just so they don't spread worms to the cats that own me.

It's possible that the kitten that has the distended belly may already have so many worms that she may not be healthy enough to survive. That's the hard truth about living in the wild, but I'm sure you already know that. The garlic you mentioned will help your kittens to repel external parasites like lice, mites, fleas and ticks, and I do recommend that if you have some, give them a little bit of it on their food each day.

A lot of people who work in feed stores know about the care of animals or know someone who does. When I have questions about my chickens, instead of asking the vet, I call one of these local guys and see what he thinks. There's a lot of local knowledge and experience out there, just ask. But always trust your gut whether you're talking to a vet or a farmer, because none of us knows everything.

Cheryl

Thanks for all your good advice. I don't drive and will check out the feed store once I can get there. The garlic seemed to do something though. I don't even know if the kitties had worms --- maybe not and maybe they are just active and healthy looking because they are happy to be alive.

I don't see extended bellies anymore now. Hmmmm. Maybe it was just my imagination that maybe they had problems.

I do wonder though how animals in the wild do without health insurance?

The feed store should have some food-grade Diatomaceous Earth, which acts as a natural dewormer. The pharmaceutical dewormers can cause other problems for your cats, so I wouldn't recommend using them.

If your kitten has worms, it's most likely Roundworms, as they are the most common. However, if your kitten has fleas, it could easily be tapeworm. It's best to keep the cats' home as free of fleas as possible so they don't get tapeworm from the fleas, and deworming only works if there aren't more fleas to get it from again. So I'd recommend planting some flea-repellent plants near where your kittens live, such as lavender, garlic, lemongrass, or catmint.

However, it is most likely that your kitten was just a little constipated, which is a common occurrence among weaning kittens, especially if there is much corn or dairy in their diet.

@Patrick: Vets and Doctors are greatly influenced by money. Isn't everyone? A lot of money comes their way for recommending products from large corporations who'll pay them to recommend things. This is why most vets recommend pet food with corn,wheat, AND soy in it, which shortens the lifespan of your pet by 75% or more. (A cat who doesn't have these elements to their diet can easily live into it's thirties or even forties, but as we know, the average lifespan for a house cat eating regular cat food is 10-12 years.) Why would you trust a vet, or a doctor, with the health of your loved ones? Obviously, they can be useful, but trusting them implicitly is about as smart as trusting a politician.

I know it's a little late, but I've heard you can use pineapple juice as a natural dewormer.

Food grade diatomaceous earth is said to be a natural de-wormer. It is good for all kinds of animals and can be used in several ways. I think it has to be administered more frequently though. I'd Google it and check it out. I don't think worm medicine for a kitten would be very much even at a vet's office. Just go to a vet's office and ask how much medicine to de-worm a couple of feral kittens would be. If it's too much, you can just say "Thanks" and walk away.

Roberta, thank you so much for all you are doing. Please ignore any comments from the sociopathic cheap seats. As a former cat lady volunteer at a local shelter, I know all too well how many are killed - some 67 in one day while I was there. Again, thank you for your compassion to these little ones.

I wouldn't use a "natural wormer"....I don't think that would be as effective. Go to Walgreens and get Reese's Pinworm Cure...which is made for children but it is the same strength as what you get at the vet. It is pyrantel pamoate. It will kill round worms and hook worms and is very safe. Put a little in a syringe and squirt it in their mouths. Hold them by the nape of their neck, so they will be still. It smells like bananas and the taste isn't that unpleasant, so it won't be difficult. I'd give about 1/10 cc per pound and repeat every week for about 4 weeks and every month or so after that.

Good Old Country vets will tell you most feral cats do not have serious worms/parasites. I would not worry about trying to worm them. However, that said, you should try to at least tame them to the point that you can have them neutered (can reproduce as young as 4 months) and you can give them annual vaccines including rabies (depending on the laws in your state). Vaccines are easily/cheaply bought at local farm stores and very easy to give under the skin. That will do more toward their overall health and your safety than anything else. FYI feral cats hunt and eat mice, rats, birds, insects so they typically have a natural flora of microorganisms and parasites that they coexist with.

I know this thread is old but maybe the info can help someone else who came upon this page via search engine....

***Get some FOOD GRADE diatomaceous earth,

Mix a tablespoon in with each kittens food (ideally wet food),

Give them this mixture daily (or twice a day if possible ) for 4 weeks.

To use as a preventative, mix in a cup of DE with each bag of dry food, feed as useual.

________________________________________________________

And BTW PATRICK, your an idoit. She asked for advise on deworming

Feral kittens, not for your ignorant silver spoon fed opinion .

Cinnamon, aka "The Dread Pirate Lampshade" had to have surgery immediately after upper respiratory distress and conjunctivitis progressed too rapidly to help her. She went from a little goopy eyes to "Omg, the cat's eyeball just POPPED all over me!!!" in a matter of days. :'(

My inability to look my children in the eyes and tell them that the kitten they already gave their hearts to was going to die because Mom couldn't afford the vet bill saved her life. O_o

I only get to be their hero for a short while. That time is priceless to me.

In a shiny happy rainbow pony kind of world, "Take them to the vet or shelter!!", as so many like to stand on their soapbox and lecture about...but Lampshade alone cost about $1200 to save.

Vets aren't free. Even the cat rescues aren't accepting cats anymore because there are just too many! So people have taken to dumping their strays at my Mom's, who lives in the country. They're ALL sick now. Every litter has worms, Upper respiratory infections, conjunctivitis and FLEAS! :(

Saying "Not your responsibility" is great...if you aren't the one looking a sick pathetic baby kitten in the eyes as it says "Mew!" and rips your heart out with it's cuddly little kitty voodoo!!

O_o

And YOU can try "reasoning" with my children...My animal activist, syringe feeds baby birds that fall out of the nest EVERY spring, animal loving children that bring in any and every animal that needs help!

("I CAN'T save the baby bunny! It's got no HEAD!!!")

Good luck with that. Lol

There's nothing wrong with helping the ones you can with cheap homeopathic methods. It's better than turning a blind eye and doing nothing. There's nowhere for them to go.

Apple Cider Vinegar in the water, FOOD GRADE Diacatamous Earth in the food and rubbed into their fur, Lysine treats to boost immunity...Antibiotics and Terramycin ointment when you see goopy eyes (See also Fish Mox) because that's an upper respiratory infection and if it spreads...you get cases like our poor little lampshade. Then it's either $1000 vet bill or dead kitty. :( One may be something that you can live with...but these things are highly contagious, it's never just one. Lost around 8 kittens a week ago and can see signs of illness in them all. :(

Those sick kitties can spread illness to the other animals and people, too.