Cat Health Worm Symptoms and Treatments
There are many problems that affect the health of the cat. There are external an internal worms. Let us discuss cat health affected by internal worms here. Cat health will be bad if worms are found in them. There are no distinct outside signs that suggest the cat is having worm problem, but still worm infestation can be suspected in case the cats is having frequent diarrhea, if the cat is not gaining weight and look emaciated in spite of health food intake, and the coat of the cat is dull and ruff. The worms of the cat can infect the human being too; hence these worm problems of the cat require early attention.
There are different types of intestinal worms that affect the cat. They are round worms, hook worms, and tape worms.
Roundworms- toxascaris leonine and toxocara cati are the two most important cat health spoiling intestinal worms that affect the cat. These worms will be nearly four inches length. These worms will have tar or white color and will have tapering ends. As the population of these cat worms becomes more, the pet owner can see the presence of these worms in vomiting and the stools. In addition to vomiting and diarrhea, these worms can cause so many health complications such as pot belly, bloated look and if the numbers become these worms can block the intestine totally so that the stools cannot be passed at all.
Hookworms
Ancylostoma braziliense is the common cat health damaging intestinal hookworm. These worms can suck the blood from the cat thus making the cat anemic. These hookworms of the cats are not visible to the naked eye. As the cats grow older they develop immunity to these dangerous hookworms. The severity of the health complication depends on the number of the hookworms present in the intestine of the cat.
Tapeworms
T. taeniaeformis and Dipylidium caninum are important tape worms of the cat. The tapeworm fragments can be seen in the stool passed by the infected cat. These tape worms will be seen expanding near the rectum of the cat. If the broken fragments die, they will resemble sesame seeds or uncooked rice grains. These tape worms too feed on the cat thus making it weak and debilitated.
Treatment and prevention of the intestinal cat worms
Cat health needs to be protected from worms .The kittens are more prone for these intestinal worms. Hence the anthelmintic treatment needs to be started early i.e. in the first week of the cat`s life. The treatments needs to be repeated periodically till they become 6 months older. The queen cat needs treatment side by side. This will help the queen cat not to pass the worms through the feces. Once this happens the kittens will not pick up the infection from the queen cats.
The adult cats must be treated at least two to four times in a year. There are so many drugs that are available now, which can take care of all the types of the worms mentioned above. The best thing to do is consulting the veterinarian and use the medicine prescribed by him.
Glossary
Tapeworms - flat tape like intestinal parasites
Hookworms - parasites provided with hook like structure to attach with the intestinal wall.