different ways, such as by contact with the eggs or larvae of worms (which can be present in the ground, in the faeces of affected animals, and sometimes in other bodily secretions too). Worms are also usually rife within wildlife such as rats and mice, and so if your cat is a hunter and eats mice and rats, worms can be ingested inadvertently with your cat’s live snack.
While you may notice the worms themselves in a cat with a high worm count (such as within their faeces or even protruding from the back end) often, there are no visible cues present. Cats that suffer from digestive upsets such as vomiting and diarrhoea, appear to be losing weight and condition, are dehydrated or appear to be in discomfort or unwilling or unable to eat may all be suffering from worm infestation, even if you have not seen any actual worms.
As standard, you should worm your cat against the two main types of intestinal worms; tapeworms and roundworms. These two types of worms are the most commonly found cat worms, and the chances of your cat contracting various other types of worms such as lungworm is much lower. Treatment for other types of worms is usually only performed if there is evidence or good reason to suspect their presence, and not as a standard measure.
Wormers work as an anti-parasitic agent to kill any worms ad worm eggs or larvae present within the body of the cat, and cause the dead worms to be passed out of their bodies naturally along with the faeces. Wormers are reactive, and will only work to kill and eliminate worms that are actually present; they are not a form of vaccination, and do not stop your cat from re-contracting worms again in the future.
The normal guideline as to how often cats should be wormed is every three months. This is the timescale given because studies have concluded that should a cat immediately re-contract worms shortly after a worming dosage, it will take not less than three months for the worm count (the amount of worms within the body) to grow and reproduce to a point that it becomes a problem and will potentially affect the cat’s health.
If your cat is a prolific hunter and so, will be exposed t o the potential of contracting worms on a very regular basis, your vet may recommend worming every two months, or with a different degree of regularity to account for this.
The most common format for intestinal wormers is a pill that can either be given directly to the cat, or placed in food or a treat. Spot-on wormers, that work in the same way as flea treatments by application to the back of the neck are another option, and can be a good choice for cats that are difficult give a pill. Wormers can also be bought in paste or granule formats, although these are usually much harder to administer to a cat than a pill or a spot-on treatment is!
You can often find worming pills for sale in the supermarket among the pet food section, and these easy to find and low priced wormers may seem like the obvious solution. However, veterinary surgeons and feline experts are unanimous in their opinion that these wormers are not fit for purpose; they do not contain the appropriate active ingredients to adequately eradicate the strains of worms that cats can contract, and will often lead to digestive upset and sickness due to their manner of action.
Deciding upon the appropriate wormer for your cat should be done in consultation with your vet; good quality professional wormers such as Drontal, Profender and Milbemax to treat intestinal worms are available, as are several other brands. These can be bought from your vet directly, ordered online with a veterinary prescription, or in the case of Drontal, ordered online or bought over the counter in some pharmacies without a veterinary prescription required.
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