Helminthiasis is a very dangerous and rather unpleasant disease. If you got yourself a fluffy pet, you should know about it, and take all measures to avoid getting infected. There are many varieties of these parasites - about 200 individuals. But there are the most common of them, which in our locality are found especially often. About what worms are in cats, and what you need to do to get rid of them, you need to know every pet lover.
How to identify worms in a cat?
In addition to the intestines, these parasites can affect the liver, muscles, and bronchi. There is a depletion of the body, the hair is dull, the animal loses weight, refuses to take food. There may be constipation or diarrhea. If there is a suspicion, then it is worth attributing the blood or feces of the pet to the laboratory for analysis. Worms come out in cats through feces and vomit. You need to inspect them when you feel that your cat may have been infected.
Types of worms in cats
- Ascarids (round worms). These vile creatures are found most often in cats. The greatest risk is for small kittens (from 25% to 75%). They live in the small intestine or bile ducts, near the pancreas. Toxocara cati is about 3-10 cm long, and Toxocara leonina is a bit bigger. Babies get infected from their parents through milk or through food. Within 20 days, the ascarids can give offspring. The intermediate host does not need such helminths.
- Tape worms . In contrast to the ascarids, they more often affect adults than kittens. These helminths can not do without an intermediate host, and infection in the cat occurs during meals. The carrier is rodents or beetles. They settle in the small intestine, where with the help of suction cups are attached to the walls of the intestine. When swallowing fleas, the danger of worms in animals increases. These insects in the intestine may have immature banded worms.
- Nematodes (ankylostomatosis carnivores). They are also round worms and in their structure they are close to roundworms, but they have their differences. They are small, threadlike, about 6-13 cm long. They stick to the walls of the intestines, they begin to feed on the blood of their poor host. It is very easy for a cat to get infected if it walks on soil contaminated with faeces. Through the light larvae enter the stomach, and after a couple of weeks in the feces of the cat it will be possible to detect their eggs. Small kittens infected with nematodes may even die as a result of prolonged diarrhea or anemia. In adult animals, the course of the disease proceeds secretly, and it is not so pronounced.
Worms in cats - symptoms and treatment
Preparations that help to remove helminths are a lot. The most famous are Dirofen, Drontal , Polyverkan, Kaniverm, Pirantel. They are released, both in the form of tablets, and in the form of various suspensions. Dosage for adults and for babies is very different. It is necessary to pay much attention to this. Well, if the cat is not weakened by the disease, because most of these drugs are very toxic. Such a complex treatment is desirable to be carried out under the supervision of a specialist. Often taking the drug causes a reaction in the body in the form of diarrhea, vomiting , weakness.
The most important thing is to determine exactly the type of helminths with which you will fight. After all, for each of them there are their own medications. Now you understand that this problem is very serious, and it is absolutely necessary to know to everyone how worms develop in cats to start a merciless struggle with them in time.