Worms

What are the signs of having worms?

Most cats show no obvious signs. Heavy infections can partially block the intestines and cause weight loss, vomiting, anaemia and failure to thrive, particularly in kittens.

What are worms?

Most commonly, cats get roundworms and tapeworms. These live in the intestines. Tapeworms are long, flat and segmented; whereas roundworms are 8-15 cm long and have a round body (like a piece of spaghetti). Infected cats will have microscopic eggs in their faeces and tapeworms release little segments into the faeces that you can see resembling grains of rice.

How are worms caught?

Roundworms can be caught by:

• Eating the faeces of another (infected) cat.
• Eating an ‘intermediate host’ i.e. an infected mouse or rat.
• Most importantly through the milk of the queen (mother) to her kittens. Previous infections leave some dormant immature larvae in the tissues of the cats body, which when she gives birth migrate to the mammary glands are excreted in the milk. This means that nearly all kittens are infected at a very young age. It is safest to assume all kittens will be infected.

Tapeworms:

• are often caught via fleas. Flea larvae eat the tapeworm eggs in an infected cats faeces. When other Cats pick up the fleas and eat them during grooming they also become infected.
• are also transmitted via rodents although this is less common.

Treatment

Kittens

Frequent treatment of kittens for roundworms is very important because they are nearly always infected at a young age. We advise worming a kitten every three weeks until three months of age and then every three months thereafter.

Older cats (over 6 months old)

Older cats are more likely to be infected with tapeworms so we advise using a product active against roundworm and tapeworm every 3 months.

It is important to understand that all worming products can only kill the worms living in the intestines on the day the treatment is given. They cannot protect the cat from re-infection afterwards. This is why repeated regular treatment is the only way to ensure your cat is free of worms.

Always wash your hands after handling your cat before eating, and make sure that children do too.

Products for worming

When your kitten first comes for a health check or a vaccination we will discuss a suitable worming timetable and product tailored to the kitten’s requirements. It is helpful to know which wormer was used previously and when.

‘Granofen’ and ‘Panacur’ are highly effective against roundworms and are used in kittens every three weeks. Granofen comes in the form of granules that are sprinkled into moist food and Panacur comes either in the form of a paste or liquid that goes directly into the mouth or onto food. Both wormers are given as a three day course.

‘Drontal Cat’ is a broad spectrum wormer; it treats all the types of worm that cats can get in a single highly effective dose, in tablet form.The dose depends on the weight of your cat so please make an appointment for a ‘weigh and worm’ check with us if your cat has not recently been weighed. Some people find it tricky to give tablets to their cat, in which case we are happy to administer the tablet for you.

Human health implications

Humans can be infected with both roundworm (Toxocara cati) and tapeworm (Dipylidium caninum). Toxocara is potentially dangerous in children where ingestion of the worm eggs may result in migration of the larvae through the body. If they go to the back of the eye they can cause blindness. Although this is rare, we advise that if you have young children you need to be particularly vigilant with worming of your cat. Of course even if you don’t have children your cat may go where children play.