Can Worms Cause Death in Cats?
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Intestinal worms
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There are three types of common intestinal worms that can infect a cat: roundworms, hookworms and tapeworms. All worms will reproduce within the body, which can eventually cause death for different reasons. Roundworms are usually passed through the feces or from a mother dog to her babies through milk. They grow to 3 to 5 inches long and become life threatening if the numbers grown so large that they block the intestines. Hookworms are relatively small, only measuring about half an inch, and find their way into the intestines either through ingestion or by burrowing into an animal's skin. They attach themselves to the intestinal wall and steal blood from the cat. This blood loss can cause anemia and eventually death. Tapeworms are spread through ingestion of fleas, usually when a cat bites at the pests. Although generally not deadly on their own, tapeworms do rob the cat of many of the nutrients it needs to live a full life, and put its body at a weakened state that can make it more susceptible to other diseases.
Heartworms
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Unlike intestinal worms, heartworms infect the bloodstream. The disease is spread to other animals through mosquitoes who have picked up the young, called microfilariae, from biting an infected animal. The mosquito bites a new animal who receives some of the microfilariae through the bite wound. The young parasites grow until the adult females release their young into the blood of the unsuspecting cat and the process begins again. Symptoms include wheezing, gagging, lethargy and weight loss, among others.
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Treatment
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Any type of worm infection that is left completely untreated can be fatal for a cat. Worms grow and reproduce within the body and can cause damage to a variety of body functions.
The good news is that intestinal worms can all be cured with a proper regiment of drugs prescribed by your vet. As long as the disease is found and treated, your cat should recover well. While it is always a possibility, death from worms is extremely rare when the worms are treated.
Once infected, there is no known treatment for heartworm, but cats are much more resistant to the worms than dogs. In most cases, a cat will be such a poor host that the worms will die spontaneously long before they reach the adult stage. Expelling the dead worms can prove difficult for a cat, and it is recommended to keep it under veterinary care while the disease runs its course. Only about two percent of cats die as a result of mature heartworms.
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References
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