Colorado Kittens Can Get Roundworms And Hookworms
Colorado kittens are more prone to different types of worms, including roundworms and hookworms. Both types of worms require treatment.
If your kitten has roundworms, you may notice your kitty really isnt thriving. Roundworm symptoms include lethargy, weight loss and diarrhea. Eventually, if no action is taken, roundworms can be fatal in kittens.
Hookworms can cause anemia. These intestinal parasites feast on the blood from the lining of your kittens intestine, making your kitty really sick.
What Parasite Can You Get From Cats
While there are several cat parasites that dont infect humans, humans may be affected by certain parasites including roundworms, hookworms, fleas, ticks, and toxoplasmosis. Because some cat parasites can be transmitted to humans, its important to practice good hygiene as a pet parent. This includes regularly bathing and brushing your cat, as well as taking care when you clean out their litterbox. You should clean your cats litterbox and change their litter regularly, and you should make sure youre washing your hands each time youre done cleaning it.
Where To Learn More About Worms In Cats
Check out this detailed article on parasites in cats, including hookworms, roundworms and tapeworms.
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Cherished Companions Animal Clinic is a veterinary clinic in Castle Rock, Colorado. Specializing in the care of cats and dogs, our goal is to help you and your pet feel more comfortable, keeping your stress to a minimum.
This article is intended to provide general guidance on worms in cats. If you have specific questions or concerns, please contact your local veterinarian.
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External Parasite Treatment For Kittens
Kitten flea treatment is a multimodal approach as fleas will not only be found on your kitten’s body but also in their environment. Your kitten and all other pets in the household will need to start on a year-round preventative. Treatment for cat ear mites often calls for the same or similar topical medication you would use to treat fleas.
If your cat has a tick, the first step is to safely remove it and then apply a disinfectant or antibiotic ointment like Neosporin from your pet first aid kit. Even if you have an indoor cat, it is crucial to protect them from tick bites with a suitable tick preventive. It should be noted that many products that kill ticks, particularly ones made for use on dogs, can be toxic to cats. Ask your vet to recommend the best preventive product designed especially for cats.
By signing up your kitten for pet insurance, you can get reimbursed for up to 100% of the treatment cost for parasitic infections. Some pet wellness plans also cover the cost of preventative therapies to ensure your pets ongoing well-being.
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Recovery Of Intestinal Parasitic Infection In Cats
In most cases, the prognosis for recovery from a GI parasite is good. Proper treatment will rid your pet of the parasite and allow them to regain their health and vitality. Although treatment is usually effective, reinfection is common. To prevent further infection, several steps should be taken. Other cats and companion animals in the same household should also be seen for diagnosis and, if necessary, treatment. You may need to restrict the infected cats access to other pets until their infection has been completely resolved. Proper sanitation and hygiene are also important to aid in healing and prevent reinfection. Daily cleaning of the litter box, removal of fecal matter, and regular disinfecting of the litter box and surrounding areas are essential. Flea, tick, and rodent control measures should also be taken to prevent future infestation.
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What Is Intestinal Parasitic Infection
An intestinal parasitic infection occurs when a parasite enters a cats system and takes up residence in the gastrointestinal tract. This type of infection is very common in cats, especially in shelters, boarding locations, and grooming centers. In some cases, up to 45 percent of the feline population has a GI parasitic infection. These infections can be caused by worms or single-celled microorganisms called protozoa. Many types of intestinal parasites that affect cats can be transmitted to humans. The side effects of an intestinal parasitic infection can be life-threatening, so medical attention is required if a cat demonstrates symptoms.
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Diagnosing Worms In Cats
While some worms can be seen by the naked eye, others must be diagnosed with fecal testing. Your veterinarian will ask you to bring in a stool sample, which will be placed in a solution that allows the parasite eggs to separate from the feces and float to the top.
Next, a drop of the sample is placed on a slide and examined under a microscope to determine the exact type of worm infesting your cat. A physical exam, along with blood work, may also be carried out to get a complete picture of your cats health.
Because the lifecycle of each parasite is different, its important to know exactly the type of worm infesting your cat. This will determine medication, treatment, and follow-up care. After treatment, your cat will likely need another fecal exam to ensure the worms have been wiped out.
Thankfully, most intestinal worms in cats are easily resolved with either a single dose of dewormer or a short course of deworming medication that your vet can prescribe and administer. Certain worms can be more stubborn to resolve, resulting in slightly longer treatment courses of intestinal dewormers.
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How Do I Know If My Cat Has Toxoplasmosis
One of the problems with toxoplasmosis in cats is that they may not show any signs of being ill. Only a small number of cats show any symptoms when they have toxoplasmosis, and you might not notice any symptoms if you get toxoplasmosis from your cat.
If your cat does show symptoms of toxoplasmosis, you can expect them to experience symptoms such as diarrhea, loss of appetite, fatigue, fever, difficulty breathing, and yellow skin . If you notice several of these symptoms in your cat, you should schedule an appointment with your vet to get a potential toxoplasmosis diagnosis.
How Your Cat Gets Intestinal Parasites
- Roundworms: Primarily spread from cat to cat via infective eggs shed in the poop. Kittens can also get roundworms from nursing on an infected mother cat.
- Hookworms: Hookworm larvae can enter the cat either by mouth or through the skin, particularly the feet.
- Tapeworms: Requires an intermediate host, such as fleas or prey . It is not spread from cat to cat.
- Coccidia: Primarily spread from cat to cat via oocysts shed in the poop. Oocysts are difficult to get rid of once they are in the environment.
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Weight Issues Involving Sudden Loss Of Weight
Noticing a change in our pet’s weight may be a warning sign to a parasite infection. Here are a few symptoms to watch out for:
- Young cats and kittens that are not gaining weight appropriately.
- Drastic weight loss in adult cats.
- Failure to gain or maintain weight.
- Increased appetite, with no weight gain.
A cat’s weight can tell you a lot about their health. A drastic drop in the weight of an adult cat generally points to a parasite. Though it can be as simple as needing to alter the food we are feeding our cat. It is always a good idea either way to keep an eye on the weight of your cat. No matter if they are a kitten or a senior.
It is not uncommon for a cat to have and increased appetite and start eating more without weight gain if a parasitic infection is involved. Monitoring your pet’s food intake and weight together will help you determine if they have a possible parasite.
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Gastrointestinal Parasites In Kittens By Dr Erica Ellis Dvm
What is the culprit?The most common organisms who infect the gastrointestinal tract of kittens include protozoa like giardia, tritrichomonas feotus, and cryptosporidium parvum. Worms like diplidium caninum are also possible cause of diarrhea, and weaned kittens are susceptible to ancylostoma tubaeforme and toxocara cati .How are different parasites transmitted?Protozoa are spread by infective feces that can contaminate food, water, or other objects that even a young kitten could lick. The queen may not be showing any symptoms despite a chronic infection, so do not rule this cause out even if the kittens mother is healthy. Tape worms are spread when kittens ingest fleas. Round worms or hook worms transmission requires ingestion of contaminated feces or of hosts ranging from rabbits to earthworms. As such, these parasites are less likely to infect neonatal and infant kittens but are still worth ruling out in older kittens.What symptoms will the kitten show?Protozoal parasites: Diarrhea, which can tend to be mucoid and foul-smellingHook worms: Malaise, poor weight gain, a distended abdomen, anemia, a rough hair coat, diarrhea, and blood in the stool
Round worms: Intermittent diarrhea, a distended abdomen, failure to gain weight despite ravenous appetite, possibly white, noodle like worms in the stool
Tape worms: You may see no symptoms, or you may see worms resembling rice grains in the stool
Intestinal Worms In Cats Symptoms
The symptoms of cats infected with intestinal worms will include the followings:
- The vomit or the feces may contain worms or segments of tapeworms the roundworms are 2 to 4 inches long and have tapered endings
- Poor appetite in cats affected by hookworms, roundworms or stomach worms
- Increased appetite in cats with tapeworms
- Anemia, as the parasites may deprive the cat from the nutrients
- Dehydration, caused by the vomiting and diarrhea
If your pet has tapeworms, you may see the worm segments moving in the rectal area. These segments are alive and have been detached from the parasite. If the segments are no longer alive, they will look like rice grains and may be found in the cats feces.
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Intestinal Parasite Treatment For Kittens
If you notice kitten stomach parasites, be sure to seek veterinary care as soon as possible. Treatment will depend on the type of parasite affecting your kitten. The medication for kitten parasites is also dose-dependent and should be determined by your veterinarian.
Kittens should be dewormed at two, four, six, eight, and twelve weeks. After this, they can be treated with a dewormer every three months.
Types Of Worms In Cats
The most common types of worms that cats can have problems with are whipworms, tapeworms, hookworms, and roundworms. But, there are also some worms that are not so common but can cause severe health issues and life-threatening problems, like stomach worms, liver flukes, heartworms, bladder worms, and lungworms.
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Can I Treat My Cats Worms At Home
Although some anthelmintics are sold over the counter without a prescription, different medications kill different types of worms. Because you must first find out what type of intestinal parasites your cat has, make a visit to your veterinarian for a fecal test. Your veterinarian can then recommend the proper anthelmintic.
How Can A Cat Become Infected By Worms
Infestation can vary between each type of worm however, the most common way a cat or kitten will get worms is by coming into contact with eggs or feces from another infected cat.Some outdoor cats may hunt rodents and become infected by worm larvae living in the animal’s tissue.Litters of kittens can develop worms if their mother is infected. This occurs through nursing when worm larvae pass to the kittens through their mother’s milk.
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Intestinal Parasites In Cats : Signs Remedy And Prevention
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Cats perhaps good at self-maintenance however can develop into hosts to many intestinal parasites. Intestinal parasites are a typical downside in cats, with prevalence charges as excessive as 45 %.
The indicators related to parasites in cats are nonspecific, corresponding to a boring coat, vomiting, diarrhea, coughing, a pot-bellied look, bloody stools, lack of urge for food and pale mucous membranes.
Vomiting, diarrhea, and dehydration, attributable to intestinal parasites, will deplete your cat and make him extra vulnerable to different infections and illnesses, in addition to robbing your cat of excellent well being. Some parasites may even infect people.
Everything You Need To Know About Worms In Cats
Written bySmall Door’s medical experts
Discovering your cat has worms can be shocking and upsetting. Whether theyre external or internal, these parasites can wreak havoc on your cats health. But with proper diagnosis and treatment, worms in cats can be effectively treated and eliminated.
In This Article
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How To Treat Worms In Cats
The best way to treat worms in cats is with deworming medication, to kill both the larvae and adult worms within your cats intestines. In many cases, dewormers may be given in multiple doses to interrupt the life cycle of the intestinal parasite. Make sure to follow your vets instructions for dosage amounts and when to administer them. In many cases, the second dose is used to kill any worms that might have hatched after the first dose was administered.
Prevention Of Feline Intestinal Worms
The worms can be transmitted through direct contact with an infected feline or through the ingestion of feces that contain eggs or larvae from the parasites.
In rare cases, the worms may be transmitted through the ingestion of fleas or mice that carry tapeworm eggs.
Consequently, you may prevent the infection of your pet with intestinal worms by restricting his access outdoors and by avoiding contact with cats that are infected with intestinal worms. However, thismay be difficult to do, so the best way to avoid intestinal worms is toget preventive dewormers. These should be administered on a regular basis.
You may also prevent the occurrence of fleas and keep your cat away from mice that may possibly infect the pet with tapeworms.
Eliminating the intestinal worms in your pet is essential for your pets health but is also important for you and your family. Feline intestinal worms such as hookworms and roundworms can be passed to humans and children are more exposed to contracting these parasites.
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Diagnosis Of Parasitic Infection In Cats
The diagnosis of a parasitic infection can be done through an examination of the blood, feces or urine of a feline. The exact diagnostic test depends on the type of parasite the feline is infected with, but your veterinarian may choose to perform:
- A heartworm Test: the veterinarian will require a small blood sample to be placed in the snap-down heartworm test. Results of this test appear within minutes.
- A fecal flotation: the veterinarian will require a fresh fecal sample to dilute and view under the microscope.
- A urinalysis: a small urine sample will be taken from the cat to be analyzed.
- Skin scraping: a test used to detect mites.
- Flea comb: a specialized comb used to collect flea dander .
Treatment For Intestinal Worms
The detection of intestinal worms can be done through an examination of the feces typically all worms will be eliminated through feces, so the vet will be able to establish if the cat is infected with worms and the type of worms he is infected with.
The treatment for intestinal worms is typically administered through oral medications or injections. The cat should get a cure of dewormers. Depending on the type of worms that affect the cat, he will require 1 pill or an injection or several pills to eliminate the eggs and the larvae as well.
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Keep Your Cat Comfortable
The best thing you can do is to use the medication your veterinarian prescribed. Keep a close eye on what your cat is eating and monitor their litter box habits. If your cat has gastrointestinal symptoms, like diarrhea or vomiting, they may also need a special GI-friendly diet that is easily digested as their stomach and intestines recover. Your vet may recommend a specific food or suggest a bland diet like cooked rice and baked chicken. A probiotic like Purina’s FortiFlora® may also be recommended to help your cats GI system return to normal sooner.
What Is Coccidia In Cats
Coccidia are parasites that live in the gastrointestinal tract of cats and other mammals. There are several species of coccidia parasites, and cats can harbor a few different types. Common types include Isospora felis and Isospora rivolta, intestinal parasites that only infect cats, and Cryptosporidium parvum and Toxoplasma gondii, two coccidia species which are both known to be zoonotic, or contagious to humans.
No matter the species of coccidia, they’re all spread the same way: accidental ingestion of sporulated oocysts, the infectious life stage of coccidia parasites. Oocysts lurk in feces from cats infected with the parasite, or food or water contaminated with feces. Toxoplasma can also be spread by consuming raw meat infected with parasitic cysts therefore, cats that hunt or eat raw meat are at higher risk for developing coccidia.
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