How do Indoor Cats Get Worms? And Can They Get Worms from Eating Flies?
That is a great question from one of our readers.
I have 3 indoor cats and live on the 8tth floor of a high rise. Do I worry about them getting worms? I take the proper precautions to make sure that they do not get parasites. They are currently on a monthly topical preventative. However, Indoor cats can get parasites from insects. The insects can run across their food or the cats can eat them. These insects can have the parasite eggs on their legs. Some insects or other animals such as snails can be vectors for parasites. In other words, the parasites live part of their life cycle in these animals.
I have a very responsible client who has a cat that got lungworms in suburban Virginia. He responded beautifully from deworming. He came to us coughing and looking like he was going was on death’s door. He had lost 2 pounds. His radiographs looked like either asthma or cancer. It was terrible. Fortunately, he responded beautifully to 10 days of Panacur, deworming. He is normal with no coughing after treatment.
Parasites have developed great survival strategies. Over millions of years they have worked on these sneaky mechanisms of survival. The Companion Parasites Animal Council (CAPC) has great recommendations on how to protect yourself and your family. They recommend twice yearly deworming for indoor only cats.
These parasites could potentially infect your children, BUT with proper easy deworming this can be easily prevented. A relationship with your veterinarian is your first defense. As veterinarians we are here to help you tailor your cat’s medical needs to you and your cat’s lifestyle.
Help me, There’s a Ringing in my Ears!
A recent report out of Georgia where participants hooked up cameras around the necks of 60 cats and permitted them to roam showed that 44% (around 27) of them hunted. Now this is not especially surprising since that’s normal cat behavior, and we know that even the best-intended families can have their felines occasionally take a “walk on the wild side.” But this report underscores that it’s even more important to keep your cat healthy! Besides the deadly rabies virus found across the US (including a rabid bat on my front steps…), there are other diseases and problems which your cat could bring home in addition to the creatures which included lizards, snakes and frogs (41% of the hunters’ prey), chipmunks and vols (25 %), insects and worms (20 %) and, less frequently, birds (which represented only 12 % of the prey of the hunting cats).
What can you do?
- Keep your cat’s indoor environment enriched with cat trees, perches, interactive toys and food puzzles.
- If you do allow your cat outdoors, ensure that it’s supervised on a harness and lead or in an enclosure.
- Make sure your cat has complete identification including a collar with ID tags (and a bell if you think it may warn prey) AND permanent ID in the form of a microchip. Think your cat won’t keep a collar on? Scientific reports show that most cats will.
- For the health of your pets and your family, make sure your cat is on year-round parasite prevention. Even if your cat NEVER escapes, pesky parasites like fleas and ticks and the diseases they transmit can hitch a ride indoors on (or inside) other pets, people or a variety of critters. Flies, worms and crickets could be the secret passageway for parasitic or other problems. And remember, over-the-counter topical medications do not treat or prevent heartworms, hookworms and roundworms, and the latter two can cause devastating human illness! Visit the Companion Animal Parasite Council for more information, including a map of parasite disease incidence.
- Celebrate Take Your Cat to the Veterinarian Week with Petfinders.com and tips from CAT Stanley of the CATalyst Council and call your veterinarian today to make an appointment for your cats! Your veterinarian will tell you what’s the best food for your cat (and how much!), what vaccinations are needed for your cat’s lifestyle, and tailor a parasite prevention program specific for your cat to help keep it -and your family- healthy and safe. And while your cat may not have ringing in its ears, ear infections are common as are other often unrecognized problems like dental disease, diabetes or kidney disease. By taking your cat to your veterinarian regularly for preventive health care, other conditions can be detected earlier to help with better outcomes.
If you need help finding a feline veterinarian in your area, visit the American Association of Feline Practitioners’ web site at www.catvets.com.
Vomiting in Cats: How Much is Normal?
What cat owner doesn’t occasionally come home to a surprise pile of vomit, usually on their best chair or Persian rug?
It is not unusual to see a hairball every so often even when we think we are being diligent about brushing and grooming our cats. Cats shed their hair based upon both increasing daylight hours and warmer temperatures so consequently, indoor cats may shed all year round. For long-haired cats that tend to shed and form mats in their coats, clipping hair from the underside and backside (sanitary clip) can cut down on unpleasant grooming at home. Lion shaves are also recommended to reduce hairballs in long haired cats.
Stress such as a move to a new household, introduction of a new pet, construction or seeing outdoor cats through a window can increase shedding. Most importantly, internal or external parasites (worms or fleas), skin disorders or any illness can cause your cat to excessively lick or groom themselves or to lose more hair than usual. If your cat is vomiting hairballs more frequently than usual, a visit to the vet is important!
For long-haired cats that tend to shed and form mats in their coats, clipping hair from the underside and backside (sanitary clip) can cut down on unpleasant grooming at home. Lion shaves are also recommended to reduce hairballs.
Vomiting dry food eaten too quickly is a common problem because a cat has a very sensitive gag reflex. Try feeding multiple small meals and separating cats that eat quickly in an effort to compete for food.
Vomiting food, brown liquid (bile) or foamy clear fluid (saliva) more than once a week is not normal. A thorough physical exam followed by blood and urine tests will help us detect diseases such as diabetes, kidney disease or hyperthyroidism that could be causing vomiting. Dehydration itself may be life threatening so subcutaneous or intravenous fluids and injections to stop vomiting might be required right away to get a cat through a vomiting crisis. Once the patient is stable, further testing can be done to establish an underlying cause. A feeding trial may be suggested to determine if a food hypersensitivity or allergy is contributing to the problem. X-rays are used to determine whether a foreign object, tumor or obstruction is affecting the stomach or intestines.
If these baseline diagnostic tests don’t lead to a diagnosis and the vomiting persists, ultrasound of the abdomen may give clues as to diseases and samples can sometimes by collected with a tiny needle under ultrasound guidance. A pathologist can then review slides containing the collected cells for diagnostic clues.
Endoscopy is a non-invasive technique for collecting biopsy samples from the stomach and intestinal linings. These tiny tissue samples allow differentiation between an inflammatory process and cancer. A long flexible tube containing fiberoptic bundles is passed into the cats’ mouth under anesthesia and is slowly advanced through the esophagus, stomach and upper small intestine. A flexible tool is passed through a channel in the scope that snips out tiny pieces of tissue while the scope operator is visualizing the site.
At times, the best and most direct way to diagnose a disease of the digestive tract is by doing an exploratory surgery of the abdomen. The advantage is direct visualization of organs and masses as well as a means of collecting good tissue samples for biopsy.
Please schedule an exam if your cat is suffering from vomiting.
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