Symptoms Of Worms In Cats - Methods And Methods Of Treatment

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Symptoms Of Worms In Cats - Methods And Methods Of Treatment
Symptoms Of Worms In Cats - Methods And Methods Of Treatment

Video: Symptoms Of Worms In Cats - Methods And Methods Of Treatment

Video: Symptoms Of Worms In Cats - Methods And Methods Of Treatment
Video: Intestinal Worm Symptoms in Cats 2024, March
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Symptoms of worms in cats are usually lethargic, poor appetite, fever, and stool disorders. Worm infestation must be treated with special drugs, for example, Drontal, Albendazole, Dirafen, Pirantel, etc.

The content of the article:

  • 1 Worms in cats
  • 2 Types of helminths parasitizing in cats
  • 3 Common signs of worms in cats
  • 4 Signs of severe cases of helminthic infestation in cats
  • 5 Diagnosis of helminthic invasions in cats
  • 6 How to know that a cat has worms if their eggs are not found in the feces
  • 7 Worm infestation (worms) in cats

    • 7.1 Ascariasis or toxocariasis in cats
    • 7.2 Ankylostomiasis of cats
    • 7.3 Feline dirofilariasis
    • 7.4 Opisthorchiasis of cats
    • 7.5 Feline alariasis
    • 7.6 Feline diphyllobothriasis
    • 7.7 Feline dipylidiosis
  • 8 Things to Consider When Treating a Cat for Worm Infestation
  • 9 What harm do helminths to the body of cats
  • 10 Preventive measures to combat helminthic invasions

Worms in cats

Signs of worm infestation in cats
Signs of worm infestation in cats

Pet owners should clearly understand that helminthic diseases can occur even if your pets did not leave your apartment. They can become infected with existing parasitic worms through eggs of various helminthiases brought from the street on the soles of their shoes.

Cats during walks, in close contact with the environment, expose themselves to the danger of becoming infected with helminth eggs, which are in large numbers on a variety of objects.

A particularly great danger in this respect is the direct contact of your cat with other stray, stray animals.

Being essentially predators, cats never refuse raw fish or meat offered to them, which in our time of market relations can be infected with helminthic infestation.

Some types of worms cause characteristic pronounced symptoms of a worm disease, other worms, for a long period of time, hiding in the muscles or liver of a cat do not show themselves in any way. Considering the above, cat owners need to carry out preventive deworming, anthelmintic drugs.

Types of helminths parasitizing in cats

Signs of worm infestation in cats
Signs of worm infestation in cats

Symptoms of worms in cats. The most common helminthiasis in domestic cats, caused by long (up to 10 cm in length) ascaris worms is ascariasis. Kittens become infected from a mother cat with milk, while adult animals become infected by ingesting an infected rodent or feces from another cat.

Other nematodes parasitizing cats include hookworms. These worms are smaller and parasitize in the small intestine. The main danger to an infected cat is that hookworms feed on blood, which can cause, especially in kittens, severe anemia - anemia. The larvae enter the host's body not only with mother's milk or when ingested, but also through the skin. More often, however, hookworm infection occurs not in cats, but in dogs.

In addition to intestinal parasites, cats can become infected with other worms: dirofillaria - heartworms; capillaria and Aelurostrongylus abstrusus - pulmonary helminths; Telasia - eye worms.

Flatworms, or cestodes: Tapeworms are segmented in appearance and consist of segments. They have a huge length - from 10 cm to a meter. A cat becomes infected with cestodes through an intermediate host - more often by swallowing infected fleas. In the feces of sick cats, with the naked eye, you can see segments-segments of the worm, similar to rice grains.

The same "grains" are on the cat's fur near the tail. Although dipylidiosis can be transmitted to humans, it can only become infected by swallowing an intermediate host (i.e. a flea). The segments of the worm are not dangerous to humans.

These parasites are less common, but when infected, they cause very serious conditions. If these diseases are suspected, an accurate diagnosis and strictly defined therapy should be carried out.

Common signs of worms in cats

Symptoms of worms in cats. The clinical manifestation of helminthiasis in cats is quite diverse. Depending on the place of localization of the worms, signs can be obvious or specific, for example, with pulmonary or ocular invasions. As a rule, the intestinal form of parasitism has indirect symptoms of the disease and is difficult to diagnose upon external examination.

Of the common signs characteristic of many types of worms, the following can be distinguished:

  • depression of the general condition of the cat; poor appetite or lack of it;
  • the coat fades, sometimes falls out; dried crusts accumulate in the corners of the eyes;
  • perverted appetite; violation of digestive processes;
  • symptoms of intestinal obstruction; progressive emaciation;
  • the stomach takes on a barrel shape; constipation appears, followed by diarrhea;
  • blood is mixed with feces; vomiting;
  • decreased immunity; signs of anemia, manifested by pallor of the mucous membranes;
  • kittens lag behind in growth and development;
  • seizures as a result of general intoxication with the decay products of helminths and the secrets of their metabolism;
  • with severe damage in the feces, mature worms or their scraps can be seen.

Signs of severe cases of helminthic infestation in cats

Signs of worm infestation in cats
Signs of worm infestation in cats

Symptoms of worms in cats. In severe cases, signs of infection with helminthic invasions can be as follows:

  • round belly, vomiting and diarrhea, which are accompanied by the release of whole helminths or parts thereof;
  • loss of appetite and drastic weight loss;
  • kittens may have constipation, anemia, growth and developmental delays;
  • a sharp increase in appetite: the cat cannot eat enough;
  • small rash around the anus of the animal;
  • the cat rolls its booty on the floor;
  • the presence of larvae of worms in the feces of an animal;
  • purulent discharge from the eyes.

Diagnostics of the helminthic invasions in cats

Despite the huge number of helminthiasis in cats, almost all of them have the same properties during the life cycle:

  • eggs, in oviparous species, are always released into the external environment, in search of intermediate or permanent hosts, with animal excrement;
  • waste products of parasites have a strong allergic effect in the body;
  • large species parasitizing in the intestine have a tendency to roll into balls.

Such factors make it possible to carry out vital diagnostics for this or that type of parasites with confident accuracy.

Symptoms of worms in cats. For these purposes, most often they use a laboratory study of feces, in some cases - an X-ray image. Allergy is always accompanied by a change in the blood picture - an increase in the number of some leukocytes (more often - eosinophils) and a decrease in the level of erythrocytes (with anemia).

How to tell if a cat has worms if their eggs are not found in feces

Pulmonary worms are manifested by coughing, but coughing can be a symptom of other illnesses. Based on this, the only real way to protect an animal is to prevent helminthic invasion.

Signs of worm infestation in cats
Signs of worm infestation in cats

This procedure is absolutely painless, moreover, now there are tablets that are taken once and not necessarily on an empty stomach. Fleas are carriers of some types of worms, so if you find fleas in your cat, there is a high probability that worms are present.

Symptoms of worms in cats. To rid a cat of parasites, you need to know what type of worms the animal is infected with. For example, the drug can be effective against roundworms and harmless to tapeworms.

It is advisable to take drugs with a wide spectrum of action under the supervision of a veterinarian.

Worm infestation (worms) in cats

There are two phases of the disease - acute and chronic. Most often, cat owners are faced with a chronic course of the disease. Not only kittens are susceptible to helminthiasis. Adult cats are also at risk, and a domestic cat that does not leave the apartment is not immune to worms.

Symptoms of worms in cats. Determining whether a cat is infected can be difficult due to the similarity of symptoms with the manifestations characteristic of many other diseases, including infectious ones. An unambiguous answer can only be given by analysis of feces.

Worm infestation is dangerous for cats, since against the background of this disease, the course of other diseases, for example, infectious ones, is more severe.

The disease is easily transmitted from animal to animal, some types of worms are dangerous to humans. A cat does not need to go outside to become infected with worms. She can become infected with them through food, from other animals, from people and even hunting flies, since flies are carriers of worms.

The presence of helminths can cause anemia and degeneration of internal organs. In some cases, helminthiasis (helminthic invasion) can result in intestinal obstruction and even death. Diseases of cats caused by worms are not divided into several types, depending on the type of parasites.

Ascariasis or toxocariasis in cats

Signs of worm infestation in cats
Signs of worm infestation in cats

One of the most common types of roundworms in cats are roundworms. Due to its widespread prevalence, roundworms were given a common name - "worms", under which all other types of parasites fell.

Externally, roundworms are round, without a pronounced front and back. Adults parasitize in the small intestine, often getting tangled up.

With a strong concentration in the body, roundworms cause significant harm to the host, damaging the intestinal mucosa, causing allergic reactions with toxic waste products, forming intestinal blockages.

Symptoms of worms in cats. Infection of cats occurs with the ingestion of ascaris eggs in the food, in contact with sick animals, with mother's milk. Possible infection of the fetus through the umbilical cord on the 42nd day of pregnancy.

Sexually mature individuals are characterized by active egg production. Ascaris eggs leave with animal feces into the external environment, heavily seeding it. Ascariasis belongs to a group of diseases that are dangerous to humans.

Ankylostomiasis of cats

Signs of worm infestation in cats
Signs of worm infestation in cats

Hookworms are small round helminths (about 1-2 cm in length) with characteristic formations in the front of the body, resembling a fish hook.

Hookworms parasitize in the small intestine, biting into its wall in the area of large blood vessels and feeding on blood. This type of nutrition causes serious harm to the health of the animal - intraintestinal bleeding, and with severe infestations - anemia.

Infection of cats occurs with the ingestion of eggs or penetration through the skin of larvae, which, getting under the skin, are introduced into the lumen of a blood vessel and, with blood flow, penetrate into the lungs, causing inflammation and a cough effect.

Coughing contributes to the expectoration of larvae, which, with subsequent swallowing, enter the intestines, where they reach puberty. Hookworms that parasitize cats are not infectious to humans - a separate species parasitizes in humans.

Dirofilariasis of cats

Symptoms of worms in cats. Dirofilariae belong to the group of cardionematodes - adults parasitize directly in the heart and large blood vessels of the host - the right ventricle and atrium, the pulmonary artery.

Signs of worm infestation in cats
Signs of worm infestation in cats

A feature of the species is live birth - live larvae are born, bypassing the egg stage. Animals become infected through the bites of blood-sucking insects, which are intermediate hosts of dirofilaria.

The main symptoms of dirofilariasis are cough, difficulty breathing, heart failure. The animal is often depressed, breathing heavily and frequently. Death occurs from cardiac arrest due to physical exertion. The type of dirofilariae parasitizing in cats is also capable of infecting humans.

Opisthorchiasis of cats

Symptoms of worms in cats. The causative agent of opistochiasis is also called "cat fluke" - a trematode with a wedge-shaped body, tapering from the back to the front of the body. Opisthorchis parasites in the bile ducts and gallbladder of cats.

Animals become infected by eating fresh river fish, which is their intermediate host.

The main clinical picture in opisthorchiasis is yellowness of the mucous membranes, allergic manifestations, liquid feces, often light yellow. The death of the animal occurs as a result of severe invasion, the result of which is blockage of the bile ducts and hepatitis. A person can get sick with opisthorchiasis when eating poorly cooked fish.

Alariosis of cats

Helminth of a flat shape, parasitizing in cats in the small intestine.

Signs of worm infestation in cats
Signs of worm infestation in cats

Alaria is small - no more than 5 mm in length, the front part of the body is flat, the back is cylindrical. A specific external feature of the species is the presence of "ears" around the oral sucker.

Cats become infected with alarias by eating frogs and tadpoles or mice infected with alaria larvae.

Parasites cause significant harm to the host, injuring the intestinal mucosa. Similar to hookworms, alaria can cycle through the lungs, causing pneumonia. Alariosis also affects humans.

Diphyllobothriasis of cats

Signs of worm infestation in cats
Signs of worm infestation in cats

Symptoms of worms in cats. The causative agent is a tapeworm about 1.5 meters long, the adult form of which parasitizes in the small intestine of cats. Infection occurs through eating raw fish.

A distinctive sign of lesion in diphyllobothriasis is the squeezing of the spleen through the intestinal wall with a strong concentration of cestodes in the lumen of the small intestine, which causes acute anemia. A person is also susceptible to infection with diphyllobothriasis.

Feline dipylidiosis

Dipilaria or "cucumber tapeworm" is a tapeworm parasitizing in the small intestine of cats, exerting a strong traumatic effect on its mucous membrane, which inevitably causes inflammation and obstruction.

Often the death of an animal occurs from a ruptured intestine. The intermediate hosts of dipilaria are fleas and lice, when they are swallowed and infection occurs. A person can also be sick with dipilariasis.

What you need to consider when treating a cat for helminthic invasion

Symptoms of worms in cats. Only healthy cats should be treated. When treating worms, cats need to additionally administer Gamavit. After giving the medication, the cat must be given an adsorbent drug (activated carbon, enterosgel).

Signs of worm infestation in cats
Signs of worm infestation in cats

After using anthelmintic, you will need to carefully monitor his toilet. It is necessary for the cat to go about its business, otherwise the intoxication of the body will come. If this does not happen during the first 3-4 hours, then the cat will need to give a laxative syrup or a little petroleum jelly.

Repeated deworming should be done after 2 weeks. If you are doing prophylactic treatment rather than treatment, then once is sufficient.

Do not deworm a nursing and pregnant cat (as an exception, it can be carried out in urgent need). Kittens infected in the womb of a cat can be worm driven no earlier than 3 weeks after birth.

Before being vaccinated against this or that infectious disease, a cat must be treated for worms. Medicines intended for humans should not be used on cats.

What harm do helminths do to cats

Signs of worm infestation in cats
Signs of worm infestation in cats

Worms render mechanical damage by means of their fixing devices (hooks, thorns, teeth), chitinous arms of the outer shell. During the migration of worms, there is a violation of the integrity of the organs where they are localized (intestinal walls, blood vessels, hepatic passages, etc.).

Blockages are a common companion of helminthiasis. A typical example of such a pathology is the obstruction of the lumen of the gastrointestinal tract with tangles of parasitic worms.

Symptoms of worms in cats. During their life, helminths secrete secretions that cause intoxication of the cat's body. The negative toxic effect of metabolic products is manifested by lysis (decay) of nearby tissues and toxic changes in them.

The decomposition of the parasite as a result of its natural death or under the influence of drug therapy has no less effect on the process of general poisoning, as a result of which secondary or concomitant symptoms of invasion arise.

Helminthiasis largely determines the course of bacterial or viral infections, usually complicating the disease-causing process. Often, parasites are the impetus for the manifestation of a disease that is in a dormant state. The tissues injured by helminths become the "gateway" for the penetration of microbes into the cat's body and serve as the beginning of the development of the infectious process.

Preventive measures to combat helminthic invasions

Symptoms of worms in cats. In order for your cat to be healthy and could not infect your kids constantly revolving around a common pet, it is necessary to timely prevent the appearance of worms in a cat.

In order to prevent helminthiasis in a cat, you need to fight fleas.

Helminths most often affect street animals, but domestic cats are not immune from helminthiasis.

To prevent the reproduction of worms and minimize the risk of invasion, you need to adhere to simple rules for caring for pets:

  • do not let the animal go for a walk down the street. This will avoid contact with sick relatives, mice, fleas and feces left by other animals;
  • shoes are best kept out of reach of cats. The mat near the front door must be kept clean at all times;
  • exclude raw fish and meat from the animal's diet, which very often contain helminth larvae;
  • be sure to wash your hands when coming from the street before stroking your pet;
  • check the animal's fur for fleas that are carriers of tapeworms;
  • cleaning the litter box frequently;
  • do not neglect preventive deworming;
  • drugs for worms need to be bought only in specialized pharmacies. Anthelmintic preparations for kittens should be used only in accordance with the dosage recommended by the veterinarian.

Find out more:

  • Tablets for worms for cats - description of drugs
  • Worms in Kittens: Symptoms, Signs and Treatment with Pills
  • Worms in a cat: symptoms, diagnosis, medications

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