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Worms are everywhere—and very likely they’re in your kitten. Kittens can pick up internal parasites from other cats, and from the outdoors where they come in contact with stagnant water, garden dirt, and rodents. If your kitten or its mom has been spending time outdoors, your veterinarian is likely to prescribe a kitten dewormer immediately.
The Basics About Worms and Kitten Dewormers
The term “worms” includes several types of parasites that can affect the gut, heart and other organs of cats at any life stage. Kittens are particularly vulnerable.
“Infection with roundworms is very common, approaching 100 percent of all kittens in the U.S.,” says Michael Stone, a clinical professor of small animal medicine at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.
If there is any sign that your kitten has worms, your vet will recommend treatment. The treatment may be a broad-spectrum kitten dewormer to rid your kitten of several types of parasites. But your vet may also want to test your kitten to make sure that the medication they prescribe is the right one for your kitten’s specific parasite issues.
If your kitten needs a dewormer, it may be pills, oral liquid medication, or an injection. Most dewormers kill worms, not worm eggs, so some of these medications are administered in a series of treatments over several weeks.
Why You Should Worry About Worms
No kitten parent wants to think of their little furball as a host for wiggling parasites. But it’s important to keep an eye out for any sign of infection. A worm infestation can range from minor to life-threatening. This depends first on the type of worms involved, but also on your kitten’s baseline health. If you have a rescue kitten that is already experiencing illness, stress, and malnutrition, worms can be very dangerous and you’ll need a dewormer.
Here’s a quick guide to the most common parasites likely to be found in kittens.
- Roundworms are very common in cats. Usually the kitten gets them from their mother, or from eating animals they’ve caught outdoors. A cat with a roundworm infection may have a swollen stomach, a cough, or diarrhea—and you may be able to see large worms in their feces in the litter box. Roundworms can be transmitted to people.
- Tapeworms are carried by fleas, and take up residence in your kitten’s intestines. If your kitten has fleas, check for the signs of tapeworms: white, rice-grain size segments of the tapeworm on the kitten’s anus or in their feces.
- Your kitten can pick up hookworm larvae from licking its feet or coat after walking through dirt outside. The hookworms then attach to the inside of the kitten’s intestines. Hookworms can also infect people who have been in contact with soil with the larvae.
- Cats can get heartworms from infected dogs as well as from mosquitos that have bitten an infected dog. Because the parasite damages the heart, heartworms can be fatal. There are no treatments for heartworms in cats, but there are preventive medications. Currently, many flea treatments for cats also prevent heartworms—but be aware that many flea medicines are not designed for kittens. Consult your veterinarian to determine the best medications to prevent heartworms and when your kitten can begin taking them.
Because worms are so common in kittens, many experts recommend broad-spectrum dewormers for kittens starting at two weeks of age and repeating every two weeks until eight weeks of age, followed by monthly treatments as a preventive. Check with your veterinarian for their recommendations based on your cat’s health.
For more detailed information, consult the excellent online resources at the Companion Animal Parasite Council. They have maps showing how common each type of parasite is, county by county, in the United States. Keep in mind that if you have adopted a kitten from another part of the country, they may carry parasites common to that area. Be sure to tell your vet if this is the case.
Many types of kitten and cat parasites can be transmitted to humans, so you really do want to have your cat checked and treated with a kitten dewormer if needed.
Finding a Kitten Dewormer
While many over-the-counter dewormers target the types of worms found in dogs, most varieties of dewormers for cats and kittens require your veterinarian’s prescription. Never give your cat a dewormer formulated for dogs. Talk with your vet if your kitten, or its mother, has been exposed to the outdoors, has fleas, or has other indicators of a possible parasite infection.
Bayer Tapeworm Kitten Dewormer
If you are sure your kitten’s worm problem is limited to tapeworms, Bayer’s praziquantel may be the answer. It is one of the very few kitten dewormers available without a prescription. It’s effective against tapeworms (dipylidium caninum and taenia piriformis) in cats over 6 weeks of age. The bottle contains three pills. One pill, which can be crushed and sprinkled over your kitten’s food, should be enough to rid your kitten of tapeworms.
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