Cat Worms -
Effective Control of Feline Parasites

What do cat worms typically look like?

Find out how to detect and identify common intestinal cat parasites and which cat dewormer to use best.

Cat worms can cause a range of cat symptoms, such as vomitting, a distended abdomen, feline diarrhea, struppy hair coat and weight loss.

Sometimes you will not see anything at all, but if your cat shows one or more of these signs, it is a good idea to let your vet examine her and take a fecal sample for a parasitic examination in the lab.

Common Cat Health Questions

• Appearance of Round worms
• Tape worms-How do they look like?
• Symptoms caused by different types of Feline Worms
• Which is the best dewormer for feline pets?
• OTC feline worm medicine?
• How to collect a fecal sample
• Which feline parasites are a public health concern and how can you protect yourself best?
• How effective are home remedies for fleas ? (Fleas are carriers of tape worm eggs.)

Round worms in Felines

Occasionally you will notice worms being passed in the stool or vomitted up.

Typically these are roundworms which are spaghetti-like in appearance, white colored, round shaped and long.

Cats of all ages can have them, but especially young kittens and indoor-outdoor or ferral felines are infested with them.

Tape worms in Cats

Another type of cat worms are tapeworms. Fleas carry tapeworm eggs and felines can ingest them easily during their daily grooming sessions, licking and cleaning their haircoat.

Tape worms are segmented, so, if they are passed with the faeces, you will rarely see them.

They are not as obvious in appearance as roundworms.

On a cat with a tapeworm infestation you usually see individual worm segments as a small,dried, rice grain shaped structure sticking to the fur around the anus and underneath the tail.

You hardly see the whole tape worm.

Only if it is killed off with dewormers and passed with the stool as a longer part or as a complete worm, you will be able to spot this kind of intestinal cat parasite.

Which is the best Cat Dewormer ?

First of all you need to think about prevention of infestation with internal cat parasites.

There are several broad spectrum products available for felines that come in oral form or now even more convenient, in form of topical drugs, like spot-ons.

Advantage cat, Advocate, Stronghold, Profender, Panacur, Milbemax are currently the most frequently used products. Read how to choose the right cat worm medicine for your feline pet and what happens, if you use the wrong product.

They need to be used regularly and in certain intervals throughout the year to prevent excessive worm burden.

If your pet shows clinical signs of cat worms, your vet will prescribe and treat your pet with specific deworming drugs, depending on which kind of instestinal parasite was diagnosed.

For round- and hookworms drugs named pyrantel, fenbendazole or selamectin are highly effective.

Tapeworms are best eliminated with prescription drugs that contain praziquantel.

Read more about specific cat spot-on products, how they are applied and how they work.

OTC Dewormer - Know this before you buy

Generally, there are over-the-counter (OTC) dewormer in pet supply stores and supermarkets available which are advertised as being natural or especially gentle.

Some of them seem to work, but in the long run they may not be as effective as prescription drugs and they may cause side effects of various kinds in cats.

Personally, I see often clients in consultations who have given OTC deworming drugs to their cats for a while and found they are simply not effective enough.

Prices might be significantly lower, but in the end it is usually wasted money:

Pets still need to be treated with more effective and safer prescription cat dewormer drugs. Secondary diseases and conditions caused by worms in cats will require further treatment.

How to collect a stool sample from a cat hygienically?

1. If your cat uses a litter box you simply collect the sample from a freshly passed stool with a plastic spoon.
2. A small, olive-sized amount of faeces is usually sufficient for a routine parasitologic lab test.
3. Put this sample plus the spoon, if you rather don't want to touch the spoon anymore, into a sealable plastic bag or freezer bag with a zip-lock.
4. Bring this bagged and sealed stool sample within 24 hours to your veterinary practice.

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Recommended further information about common cat health questions can be found here.

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