How To Know If Your Cat Has Worms?

But cats can contract worms in various ways, and some parasite types can be transmitted between different animal species.

Unfortunately, many symptoms of parasitic infection in cats are similar to other medical conditions, so unwanted guests may remain undetected for too long.

If you notice any signs of worm infestation in your cat, bring it to the vet immediately to create a treatment plan and prevent lasting health damage or death.

Gastroenteric Symptoms

The most apparent symptom of worm infestation in cats is gastroenteric upset, manifesting with vomiting, diarrhea, and flatulence. Vomit and feces may sometimes contain blood or worms.

Whether worms will be visible in the vomit and feces depends on the worm species. Roundworms are tiny and may not be visible to the naked eye.

In contrast, tapeworms are long, ribbon-like, and are noticeable in a cat’s feces, resembling rice grains.

Hookworms aren’t as common as tapeworms and roundworms but extremely dangerous. They aren’t noticeable in the vomit and feces, but they feed off the cat’s blood, so the cat’s stool may contain blood.

Gastroenteric upset makes a cat reluctant to eat or drink, quickly causing dehydration that further worsens its health. A cat may need to be administered intravenous fluids to fulfill the fluid levels.

Note that gastroenteric upset alone isn’t sufficient to diagnose a cat with a worm infestation. Vomiting and diarrhea may occur for various reasons, including food intolerance, allergy, irritable bowel syndrome, and cancer.

Furthermore, not all cat worm types cause gastroenteric symptoms. Some parasites, like lungworms, affect the respiratory system but do not affect the gastroenteric tract.

Weight Loss

Weight loss despite a normal or increased appetite always signals a problem with a cat’s health, and more often than not, the reason is worms.

Many worm types, including roundworms and tapeworms, feed off nutrients in a cat’s gastroenteric tract, preventing them from being absorbed into the body.

Like vomiting or diarrhea, weight loss alone doesn’t necessarily mean worm infestation. A cat may lose weight due to stress, diabetes, cancer, infectious peritonitis, organ failure, and hyperthyroidism.

Skin Lesions

When we hear about worms, most of us imagine intestinal parasites, but worms can also affect other organs, including the skin. For example, Dracunculus insignis is a worm species found in the connective tissue beneath a cat’s skin.

Usually, this type of roundworm affects the leg area. Dracunculus insignis aren’t common in cats, but they can affect animals that walk around small lakes and other shallow, stagnant water bodies.

Female Dracunculus insignis worms can reach 12 inches in length, nearly ten times longer than males. If left untreated for long, these worms cause severe skin swelling and hair loss.

Such worms can cause irritation and ulcers on the skin, making the cat scratch or groom itself excessively. As a result, ulcers turn into large lesions that may be bleeding.

Sometimes, owners may notice snake-like, swollen tracks created by larvae under their pet’s skin. Treatment of skin worms requires careful extraction of parasites from beneath the cat’s skin by a veterinarian.

Unfortunately, Dracunculus insignis infestation isn’t usually diagnosed until the worms grow to their full size and create visible tracks because ulcers, lesions, and hair loss can be caused by numerous other conditions.

Veterinarians try to rule out other potential causes of the symptoms first because this worm species in cats is rare.

Although hookworms live in feline intestines, their larvae can also penetrate the skin, causing lesions. Because these parasites feed off a cat’s blood, they can cause severe anemia and be fatal.

Dull Coat & Excessive Shedding

All worm species cause a cat’s coat to become dull and lifeless because they feed off a cat’s blood or nutrients in its intestines. Often, hair becomes fragile and thin.

Increased shedding is another symptom of worms in cats. However, poor coat condition is a common symptom of many other health conditions.

A cat’s fur may appear lifeless and shed excessively due to thyroid deficiency, poor diet, allergy, cancer, kidney diseases, and skin conditions. So, a dull coat isn’t sufficient to diagnose a cat with a worm infestation.

However, if dull coat and shedding are accompanied by gastroenteric symptoms, weakness, and weight loss, worms are the most likely cause.

Weakness

Weakness is a common sign of worm infestation in cats, but it may also signal a different health issue. In the case of parasite infestation, weakness may be caused by gastroenteric symptoms, decreased appetite, blood loss, and lack of nutrients.

Intestinal parasites that feed off nutrients in a cat’s gastroenteric tract prevent proteins, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, and minerals from being absorbed by the body, thus depriving a cat’s organs and muscles of vital elements.

As a result, a cat may spend most of its time sleeping, be reluctant to play, and even struggle to walk or jump on a couch. Some cats appear disoriented.

Blood-sucking worms, like hookworms and protozoan worms, can cause anemia. Anemia refers to a reduced number of red blood cells, hemoglobin cells, or both circulating through a cat’s bloodstream.

Anemia symptoms in cats include lethargy and pale gums. While a healthy cat’s gums should be pink, the gums of an anemic cay are typically whitish. Anemia is diagnosed with a complete blood cell count.

Respiratory Symptoms

As the name suggests, lungworms are worms affecting cat lungs. Lungworms are a name of a large parasite group including species such as Aelurostrongylus abstrusus, Eucoleus aerophilus, also called Capillaria aerophila, and Troglostrongylus brevoir.

Cats get lungworms when they drink infected water or eat prey infected with larvae. The larvae then migrate from a cat’s intestines into the bloodstream and respiratory organs.

The good news is that most cats easily handle lungworm infections because their immune system fights the larvae before it grows up. However, for senior cats, kittens, and cats with an overall poor health state, the infection can be fatal.

Symptoms of lungworms in cats include coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, sneezing, and discharge from the nose. Non-respiratory symptoms include rapid heart rate, lethargy, depression, anorexia, fever, and emaciation.

Unfortunately, the symptoms can be easily confused with other respiratory conditions, including allergy and pneumonia.

Diagnosis of lungworms in cats involves physical examination, chest X-ray, complete blood count, fecal examination for larvae, and analysis of lung fluid.

Bleeding

Hookworms are among the most harmful cat parasites because they feed off blood in a cat’s gastroenteric tract and can cause intestinal bleeding. Hookworm infestation in cats is often fatal, especially in kittens and senior cats.

A cat’s stool typically becomes dark, nearly black, because of blood content. Blood can also be found in the cat’s vomit and, sometimes, urine. In severe cases, a cat may bleed from behind.

Other causes of bleeding in cats include colon polyps, intestinal cancer, abscesses, anal gland infections, urinary tract infections, internal organ rupture, and a blood clotting disorder.

Hookworms are dangerous not solely to felines but also to canines and, in rare cases, can infect humans. The diagnosis of hookworms in cats includes a fecal test and complete blood cell count.

Other types of worms, for example, lungworms, may cause nasal bleeding due to severe anemia. As a result of blood loss, a cat may appear lethargic, be unwilling to play, have difficulty breathing, and lose weight.

Enlarged Abdomen

Worm infestation often causes enlarged abdomen in cats. This symptom is widespread in kittens.

Scientifically, this symptom is called abdominal distention and is typically accompanied by flatulence, diarrhea, weakness, lethargy, muscle mass loss, and frequent urination.

Abdominal distention in cats can also be caused by traumatic injuries, viral infections, pyometra in pregnant felines, kidney and liver diseases, heart failure, food intolerance, and many other conditions.

To diagnose the cause of an enlarged abdomen, a vet must conduct a fecal analysis, an X-ray, and a complete blood count.

Worms may cause bloating in cats because they multiply quickly, leaving less space in the cat’s gastroenteric tract and blocking the intestines. Furthermore, they may hinder fluid metabolism, making a cat appear swollen.

How Do Cats Get Worms?

Knowing how cats get worms is helpful for owners suspecting parasitic infections in their pets. Typically, cats contract worms when they come in contact with parasite eggs or infected feces of another animal.

When a cat eats infected prey or licks fecal particles off its coat, worm larvae get into its body. So, cats walking outdoors are at a much higher risk of contracting worms, but indoor cats aren’t perfectly safe either.

Worms quickly spread from one cat to another, but cats can also contract them from dogs. Even if a cat never walks outside but a dog living in the same household does, it may become infected with worms.

If a cat never leaves the house and is the only animal in the household, it is unlikely to contract worms, but the risk is still there because owners can bring them on the shoes, or the cat may eat infected meat.

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