Small White Worms in Cats' Feces

It's not uncommon to see small white worms in cats' feces at virtually any stage in your pet's life. Worms are an example of parasites. Parasites are small organisms that live within or on your pet's body and survive by gleaning the nutrients that your pet ingests. They run the gamut from being mild and hardly noticeable to severely limiting your pet's function, happiness, mobility and overall health.

In the case of worms, it's important that you deal with them relatively quickly upon your discovery, as they can cause your cat a number of relatively major health issues if left untreated.

Types of Worms in Cats

If you see small white worms or eggs in your pet's feces, it's likely that they belong to worms of one of three different types. These are:

Of these, the most common in young cats tends to be tapeworms. However, each of the three types may affect any cat at any age. They are all very similar in terms of function, but they differ in a few important ways. Tapeworms, for instance, tend to be the longest in size. They will likely be somewhere between the size of a grain of rice and a spaghetti noodle when you see them. Round worms and hook worms both tend to follow the shapes that their names suggest.

What Worms Mean for Your Cat

Each of these three types of worms will live inside of your cat's digestive system. There, they latch onto his body and leach nutrients out of the foods that he eats in order to survive. Obviously, when worms are eating the nutrients up from the food that your pet eats, your cat is, in turn, not able to get sufficient nutritional benefits from that food. Therefore, if you see white worms in your pet's feces, you should also watch out for increased appetite, loss of weight, diarrhea and other signs that your pet isn't getting the vital nutrients that he needs from his food.

Treating Worms in Cats

There are a number of ways that you can treat worms. The easiest way to do this is to take your pet in to the vet along with a list of the symptoms that you've noticed. Your vet will analyze your cat for signs of worms and may even take a stool sample to confirm his suspicions. When you've concluded that your pet does have worms, a simple form of medicine will help to remove them and keep them out of his system.

It's crucial that you use the medicine as it is designed and meant to be used, however, because a single treatment will only kill the living worms; if eggs still remain in your pet's system, they can hatch and lead to another infestation.

When dealing with a cat with worms, it's important that you exercise caution and care. Worms can be transmitted to humans through direct contact in some cases.

 

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