Everything You Need To Know About Intestinal Parasites and Deworming Your Cat
What are feline intestinal parasites?
There are two different things we're referring to when we think about intestinal parasites. We think about intestinal worms and then what I categorize as intestinal parasites. Intestinal worms in cats would consist of roundworms, hookworms, and tapeworms. We have two different single-celled organisms. One is called Giardia, and one is called Coccidia. I referred to those intestinal parasites because they're not worms. They're actually just single-celled organisms that can live in and wreak havoc in the intestinal tract. I would lump all the rounds, hooks, tapeworms, coccidia, and Giardia as intestinal parasites.
What type of worms do cats get?
It's very similar to dogs. We see things like roundworms, hookworms, tapeworms, and heartworms, which we'll talk about more in another video. They work a little differently in the body than the other ones we're going to discuss right now. There are a lot of different ones out there.
How do cats get worms?
Interestingly enough, most cats actually get them from their mothers when they're first born. Throughout their life, the mother might get exposed to some worms. Her own immune system does a good job of fighting them off. But sometimes the worms lay hidden or dormant in the body, getting shelled off. When the mother is going through the stress of pregnancy, her body goes through changes, and during labor and pregnancy, those worms can be released back into her body. They can be passed directly through the womb into the fetus or through the milk after birth. So, kittens are often born with these worms. That's why, when kittens come in, we typically give each one deworming medication during their first vaccine appointments, ensuring we cover some of those worms.
What are some possible signs you might see from your cat if they have intestinal worms?
At first, you may not see much at all. There might just be a few worms, not enough to cause an issue. But as they increase, issues start to pop up. These worms need nutrition, so they're stealing your cat's nutrition from their GI tract.
Your cat may appear a little unthrifty, their coat may look dull, they may not gain weight as expected, or they might lose weight. The worms can cause GI upset, leading to vomiting or diarrhea. A telltale sign is sometimes seeing the worms in their feces. Tapeworms look like little grains of rice, and roundworms can appear like big spaghetti strands. It's unpleasant, but they look just like spaghetti and rice in there, unfortunately.
How do you deworm a cat? How often should you deworm your cat?
With kittens, when they come in, I give them a dose, repeat it in two weeks, and maybe a month later, ensuring the whole life cycle of the worm is taken care of. As adults, as part of a preventative care plan, some cats may be on a monthly deworming medication.
If they're on a product that covers heartworms, intestinal parasites, fleas, and ear mites, there is deworming medication within it that helps monthly, preventing buildup in the body before it causes a problem. We can either preventively remove these worms before they become adults and cause issues, or, unfortunately, wait until there's a problem, requiring more deworming treatments.
Can intestinal worms infect other pets or even people?
Unfortunately, they can. It's not very common for them to infect people, but they can release eggs through feces. We clean their litter box, and if we don't wash our hands thoroughly, we might ingest something and get an intestinal parasite. While it's not very common, certain worms can infect people. There are unsettling videos and pictures of worms in people's eyes or skin. It's something I find creepy, so I'd rather control it and not worry.
Do indoor cats need deworming?
Some people think indoor cats don't need a deworming plan. However, consider what happens with indoor cats. Even if they don't go outside, a flea could hop on me, come inside, and jump on my dog or cat. One flea can lay hundreds of eggs in the house. Without a good preventative, this can become a problem.
If I walk outside and pick up microscopic eggs on my shoes, I can bring them inside. My cat might encounter those areas and, through grooming, ingest them. Indoor cats should still be dewormed. Outdoor cats are more likely to get intestinal parasites, but I worry about indoor cats as well.
How Long Does Dewormer Take To Work in Cats?
How long it takes for a cat dewormer to work depends on the type of worm and the medication used. Generally, many effective dewormers start working within 24 hours, but it may take a few days to completely eliminate the worms.
It's important to note that a single treatment may not be enough. Your veterinarian might recommend a series of treatments to ensure all worms and their larvae are eliminated from your cat. In general, a topical deworming liquid is recommended for roundworms, hookworms, and tapeworms, and tends to be effective after a single application. Intestinal parasites like giardia and coccidia require different deworming medications, but are still relatively easy to get rid of with the proper treatment plan.
For the most accurate information about your cat's specific deworming treatment, it's best to consult with your veterinarian. They can provide a tailored treatment plan and timeline for your furry friend.
How do intestinal parasites impact the health and wellbeing of your cat?
Significantly. In many cases, particularly with kittens or older cats, they can also have a big impact on adult cats. Virtually every kitten and puppy is born with hookworms and roundworms, and they get those through the placenta of a mama cat or mama dog because larva migrates into the body and then gets into the milk supply. That's how puppies and kittens typically get the rounds and hooks. They can have a huge impact on the quality of a kitten's vitality because, especially with the hookworms, they're voracious bloodsuckers. Unfortunately, they can be such an issue where, in extreme situations, because they're bloodsuckers, they can cause extreme anemia or blood loss and be fatal for both puppies and kittens.
Roundworms are not likely going to be fatal, but they can cause these big pot bellies, and kittens just don't feel good, and it can affect their bowel movements. We see intestinal parasites, such as coccidia and giardia, can call blowout rocket diarrhea, so those can really be messy to deal with. Fortunately, they're relatively easy to get rid of. Still, they can cause dehydration because they have so much water loss from diarrhea. Tapeworms can also make them feel pretty bad. Depending on the volume of the tapeworms that they have, because the tapeworms compete for the nutrients within the intestinal tract, it can make them not only feel bad but also look poorly.
What preventative measures can be taken to ensure that my cat doesn't get worms?
I'm going to refer to both prevention and treatment because although they're not the same, they kind of work hand in hand. So if we get a kitten or puppy come in, we always want to deworm them because we know that virtually all of them will have roundworms and hookworms. Most people have been conditioned to know that their puppies and kittens must be dewormed. They may not know what for, but it's for roundworms and hookworms. That's treatment, not prevention.
We can't prevent the fact that mama cat is actually passing it on to her kittens. Tapeworm prevention involves a couple of things. If they stay inside, they're not going to be hunting small animals because eating small animals or mammals is one way they can get tapeworms. The other way they get tapeworms is by ingesting fleas. So if we provide appropriate and effective, and let me emphasize 'effective,' flea control, we should be able to prevent issues with tapeworms. The coccidia and the giardia are environmental issues, things that they're going to pick up from the environment or in unclean conditions.
Sometimes sadly, we'll see it in puppy mills or kitten mills or kitten breeding facilities where they have very poor hygienic practices, and they can be a horrible source for coccidia and giardia. So again, clean conditions also greatly impact trying to prevent the problem in the first place.
Can you see worms in your cat's stool?
Giardia and coccidia are microscopic. You can't see those, and they're not worms anyway. You can see tapeworms. They look like grains of rice. Sometimes you'll see them on the poop when they have a bowel movement, or sometimes you'll see the little segments that look like rice wiggle out of your cat's or dog's rectum. Roundworms can be seen as well. Again, that's primarily a kitten issue. They look like skinny pieces of spaghetti. If you see them pass a bunch of them, they'll look almost like a bunch of rubber bands. Sometimes they'll even spit them up as well. You're not able to see hookworms.
What are some possible conditions caused by intestinal parasites in cats, and what are the treatments?
Some of the things we already talked about. They don't feel good, and they don't look good. Those are going to be the main conditions we're going to see with adult cats. Kittens can feel so poorly, or if they have hookworms that are sucking a lot of blood, they become anemic, and so then they lose a lot of their vitality, and in extreme cases, it can be fatal.
But here's the good news—we can treat each of these conditions caused by these different parasites. We use the same medication for hookworms and roundworms. They're easy to get rid of. Tapeworms are also easy to treat, but it requires a different type of medication. We have a topical liquid, so people don't have to struggle to try to poke a pill down their cat's throat and get into a catfight. You can use a topical liquid, but it will take care of the roundworms, hookworms, and tapeworms with one application.
The intestinal parasites, giardia and coccidia, there are two different medications. Each one has its own unique treatment. So again, they're also pretty easy to get rid of, but first, we need to identify if they have them in the first place.
How will a veterinarian diagnose intestinal parasites in your cat?
Sometimes, the pet parent can make the diagnosis for us. They come in and say, "Oh my God, I saw this nasty, disgusting worm that looks like spaghetti coming out," and they had a kitten, so we know that kitten's got roundworms. The other type of worm is tapeworms, which can be seen as well. Tapeworms look like little grains of rice. There are different types of tapeworms, from the one they ingest from the flea to the one they get when they eat a small mammal, but they're easy to see. The other way we diagnose is by doing a fecal or stool sample. In a fecal or stool sample, we will look for the eggs of the intestinal worms, the roundworms and the hookworms.
We can easily look under the microscope and see if they have hookworms or roundworms. Unfortunately, the eggs of tapeworms are in that little rice-like segment, so we're not really expecting to find evidence of the tapeworms in the intestinal tract because the eggs pass out the body in that little rice-like segment. For that reason, it's very unusual for us to ever be able to diagnose or find evidence of tapeworms in a stool sample.
We also take a stool sample for the coccidia and the giardia, the two intestinal parasites. We take a little bit of your pet's poop, but no more than a little thimble full of poop is all we need. Then we do something special with that. We put it in a special solution and then look under a microscope for the intestinal worm eggs or for these intestinal parasites.
When should my cat see a veterinarian for deworming?
Right away. If we have no idea how long your pet would've had intestinal worms, you can imagine how uncomfortable they must feel. Not painful, but uncomfortable and just lousy. So if there's any indication, like if you're seeing any evidence of intestinal worms, let us know. We can get the medication for you and take care of them immediately. That'll certainly improve the quality of their life.
Are worms painful to cats?
I wouldn't say causing sharp binding pain, but they can make them un-thrifty, so they can affect their overall health and wellbeing. I wouldn't call it pain, but it would definitely impact their overall health.
Are worms visible in my cat's stool? What do they look like?
Of the worms that we see, roundworms and hookworms can be seen in kittens. Roundworms are the ones that look like skinny pieces of spaghetti. They can be several inches long, but usually, you'll see several of them. You might see a little cluster of them. They look like rubber bands being passed out sometimes. You're not able to see hookworms. So you could say, Well, I do not see any worms in my kitten or Mm puppy, so they don't have worms. They very likely could have hookworms. You're just not going to be able to see them. Tapeworms, again, are the ones they get from ingesting a flea or eating a small mammal, and you can see those as well.
They typically look like little grains of rice. Those little grains of rice will either be passed along with the poop, or they can crawl out of the rectum. So sometimes people will see their catlike laying on the bed, and all of a sudden, they'll see this little rice-like worm crawling out of the rectum. I will mention a couple of things about tapeworms.
As I mentioned, pets can only get them from ingesting a flea or eating a small mammal. However, when they have the tapeworms, it doesn't mean they're going to pass them regularly. Depending on the tapeworm, it can get to be about two feet long, and they're made up of dozens and dozens of those individual segments. But it doesn't mean they're going to be continually passing those segments out where you would see them. They could pass some today, and it could be weeks before they pass them again. You could look around their rear end every day to see if you see those little segments. It could be weeks before they pass more of those little segments. Those little segments would break off from the long chain. But again, it's not something you'll necessarily see regularly. Typically, with the roundworms, once they start passing them, you'll see them frequently until they get rid of them.
How common are worms in cats?
Worms are very common in kittens. In fact, most kittens and puppies have intestinal worms, roundworms, and/or hookworms. That's very common in household cats. At least, once we get rid of the roundworms and hookworms, if you've got an exclusively inside cat, there's virtually no chance they would get them again because, as an adult, they can only get roundworms and hookworms from going outside and grazing and getting it from the grass. The larva lives around the grass in the dirt. As for tapeworms, they can get them from ingesting a flea, so if you should have any risk of exposure or getting fleas, or you've got other pets that come in the house and expose your indoor cat to fleas, they can absolutely get tapeworms.
But again, they're not going to get the tapeworms from eating a small mammal unless you've got mice running around the house. If they consume a mouse, they can pick up the tapeworms that way, but if they're not going outside to hunt or catch chipmunks and mice and bowls and such, they're not going to get it any other way. Indoor cats can get intestinal worms, but it would only be the tapeworms as an adult.
How long can worms last inside my cat?
If we check a pet's stool sample, we're not looking for the worm. We're actually looking for the eggs of the worms. A cat or dog can have roundworms or hookworms, and I will mention whipworms because that can show up in dogs too, but it is very rare in cats. I personally, in a 40-year career, have never seen whipworms in a cat. Can it happen? Yes, but it would be extremely unusual. But if they get those worms, they live in the intestinal tract. They lay their eggs and keep the cycle going. However, it's easy to get rid of intestinal worms. We shouldn't have any problem getting rid of it. Just know that your cats can have it, and yes, they can keep them alive.
It's virtually the same situation with a tapeworm since they get them from ingesting a flea. They get them from eating a small mammal, but they don't lay the eggs in the intestinal tract. Those little rice-like segments that I described pass out into the environment, and the eggs are in those segments. We're not going to find the eggs in the intestinal tract, which is why if your veterinarian does a fecal sample and checks for intestinal worms, they'll almost never see evidence of tapeworms simply because the eggs are not laid in the intestinal tract. That's what we're looking for. We generally rely on the owners to see the tapeworms pass in their own pets' poop. If we know that your pet has a flea problem or if they're a hunter, then yes, they will likely have tapeworms.
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