How to Tell if your cat has worms, and how to treat them

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By kaylakitty
User-Submitted Article

Article Rating: (11 Ratings)

Frankenstein had worms in his tummy :(

Having worms is a common occurance for cats. They can pick 'em up in alot of places, from being boarded, other pets, or just from being outside. If not treated, worms can kill your beloved pet! But thankfully they are very simple and inexpensive to get rid of.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

$15 - $20
Cat carrier (with a towel or blanket inside to make kitty comfy)

Step 1

Look in my WHAT?!

One way to determine if your cat is suffering from worms is, as gross as it sounds, to check their poo. You don't need to touch it, just look for small white strings. These 'strings' may be as small as thread, or quite a bit larger. The larger they are, the longer they have been living in your cat, and you need to treat them quickly.
Step 2

Another way to tell if your pet has worms is if it throws up alot - 5 to 20 times a day. Again, it's nasty, but you need to look in their vomit. At this point the worms will probably still be moving around and are easily identifiable.
Step 3

Happy, parasite-free kittens

Once you determine that your cat does indeed have worms, they can be treated by only one dose of medication. To obtain this medication you need to bring your kitty to the vet, or if you don't want to be charged for an office visit, Petco has cat clinics on alternate Saturdays (at least they do in CT). This cost me about $15 for one kitten-sized dose, and you don't need an appointment at Petco, just show up between 9 - 11 A.M.
Step 4

Don't worry if your cat hates shots. The medicine is a liquid administered orally from a syringe, so all they have to do is swallow it.
Step 5

Once your cat has been treated, change their litterbox immediately. Don't just scoop it. You need to dump the whole thing and spray it down with some disinfectant such as lysol. If you don't, the next time your cat uses it's litterbox with it's worm-infected feces in it, it will become infected all over again.

Comments

FrazzledNanny said

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on 2/21/2009 Thanks for the great article on caring for your cat. Worms are not pleasant for us to see but it's nothing to what our beloved cats are dealing with if they have worms. 5*

jbechtold said

on 2/18/2009 Well writen.5*

SuzanneP said

on 1/27/2009 Another thing to remember is to have them treated again in 30 days. That will kill any parasite larva that didn't get killed in the first round of meds.