A wormer treatment for cats is advisable for two reasons: On the one hand, you want to spare the animal the parasite infestation and the associated problems. On the other hand, it also serves to maintain your own health. Because many worms can also be transmitted from cats to humans and are sometimes dangerous, these include roundworms and tapeworms. If you share the living space with a house tiger, you should pay attention to good parasite prophylaxis. This is particularly important for households with children, the elderly, pregnant women, and other people who have a weakened immune system. But how often does your cat really need to be dewormed? When can you save yourself worming?
Recognize worm infestation
It is not easy to tell if your cats have parasites. Because only in sporadic and most serious cases are worms excreted with the feces. And some are so small that you would hardly see them with the naked eye. Infected cats regularly shed parasite eggs, but we cannot detect even them without a microscope. However, there are certain indications of a possible worm infestation. This includes recurring diarrhea, weight loss, and a bloated stomach. Very important: Affected cats can show these symptoms but don’t have to! Often one notices the animals absolutely nothing, and yet they are worried. This fact justifies regular fecal examinations and deworming. Even with cats without complaints.
ALSO READ: Vacation with a cat
Worming treatment or fecal examination?
Many owners are worried that wormer treatments will unnecessarily burden their cat’s organism. In addition, unnecessary deworming should be avoided so that the parasite population does not become resistant to the helping drugs. Therefore, regular fecal examinations are recommended. To do this, you’ll need to collect a small amount of cat poop. You can then give them to your vet. There it is examined under the microscope or passed on to a specialized laboratory. If worm eggs are found in the feces, your cat is sure to have worms. So you should dewormer them with a suitable agent. Unfortunately, if no eggs are found during the examination, this is no guarantee that your cat is not infected. Many parasites don’t lay eggs all the time. It is, therefore, possible that your cat does not shed any eggs in the meantime but is still wormed. There is a simple way to increase the safety of the examination: the feces should be collected over 3 days. In this way, parasites that only rarely lay eggs are more likely to be recorded.
Due to the small uncertainty factor when examining the feces, it can also make sense in certain cases to deworm directly. It would help if you made this decision together with the treating veterinarian. After worming, it is advisable to have a follow-up examination of the feces carried out. In this way, you can check the success of the measure.
Worming the cat: when and how often?
That has to be decided individually. For example, whether your cat outdoors plays an important role. Because then it is more likely to eat an infected mouse. We must also take the age and diet of the animal into account. If she has contact with many conspecifics (e.g., in a cat boarding house ), this also increases the risk. In contrast, a pure indoor cat is less at risk. It is also relevant which people have contact with your cat. If people with weak immune systems, families with children, the elderly, and pregnant women live with cats, they must be cautious. Correspondingly, dewormed or examined more frequently here.
Depending on the risk, we should set the intervals for deworming or excrement sample testing differently. It is sufficient for cats with the lowest risk to have them examined 1-2 times a year and dewormed with a suitable agent. However, if the risk is high, a fecal sample should be examined every 4 weeks or dewormed. At first, that seems like a lot. Unfortunately, there are currently no preparations that reliably prevent worm infestation. The only option left is rapid treatment. After the worming cure, the cat is free from worms. However, it can be re-infected immediately afterward. And from ingesting infectious eggs or larvae, it only takes 4 weeks for the cat to have adult worms again. This short cycle occurs, for example, in species of worms, which are dangerous for humans. In extreme cases, your four-legged friend will excrete infectious eggs less than a month after the last worming treatment. This explains why very short intervals can actually make sense for “risk patients.”
Of course, every cat owner has to decide for himself what risk he can and would like to expose himself to. If you are unsure, your vet can advise you.
Where can you get wormer cures?
Deworming agents are prescription drugs in Germany and are therefore only available from the veterinarian. They are available, for example, as a tablet, paste, or spot-on. Again and again, various other options for deworming with home remedies are shown. The effectiveness of such methods has not been scientifically proven and is therefore questionable. There are certainly some good ways to strengthen your cat’s intestinal health and thus your cat’s resistance to parasite infections.
Protect your health
You can do several things to protect your own health in addition to the preventive measures listed above. Maintain good hygiene. If you keep your pet’s litter box and the sleeping area thoroughly clean, a lot has already been done. Regular hand-washing also reduces the risk of infection. Young children, in particular, are still lacking hygiene awareness. This is not the only reason why you should keep an eye on them when dealing with the animals and, if possible, prevent them from sticking their fingers in their mouths after intensive contact with animals.
Essentials for worming in cats
When it comes to worming, you can follow a simple phrase: as much as necessary and as little as possible. We should prevent unnecessary deworming. Nevertheless, we must check the feces fecesrly and, if necessary, dewormed to ensure the cat’s health. This protects the house tiger from a more serious illness and also your own health. Based on the individual risk, the veterinarian can determine the intervals within which the feces should be examined or dewormed.
READ ALSO: Kitten food: this is how you feed your kitten properly
READ ALSO: Mixed feeding for cats
Discussion about this post