Roundworms

• Roundworms

• Hookworms

• Tapeworms

• Heartworms

Roundworms, also called ascarids, are very common worms of cats and the most common worms of dogs. The adult worms are found in the intestine and live on gut content. They resemble spaghetti-in the appearance, being 2-3 mm thick and up to several cm long.

 

How Roundworms are Transmitted

Almost all kittens acquire the infection immediately after birth, through their mother's milk. In addition, roundworms can be acquired from the environment, by accidentally ingesting the infective eggs in contaminated soil or by eating infected rodents.

 

Understanding the Life Cycle of the Roundworm: The Key to Elimination

Adult roundworms live in the small intestine of cats and dogs, where they lay up to 80,000 eggs per day. These eggs are shed in the environment through the feces and, within a few weeks, an infective larva develops inside.

When a cat picks up the infective eggs, they hatch in its stomach and the larvae penetrate the stomach wall and start migrating to several organs before coming back to the intestine and develop into adult, egg-laying worms. Some larvae do not go back to the gut: they remain encysted in the various organs until a stimulus such as pregnancy, reactivates them and leads them to restart migrating and develop to adult worms in the intestine.

 

Disease

Roundworms can be harmful to kittens, in which the migrating larvae can cause liver, lung and brain damage. The presence of the adult worms in the intestine leads to a gut inflammation, which affects digestion, development and growth. Common symptoms of heavy infections include vomiting, diarrhea, obstipation, colic, anemia, rachitic symptoms, poor growth and a "pot-bellied" appearance. A heavy accumulation of roundworms in a kitten can lead to death.

 

Treating Roundworm Infection

Because prenatal infection does not occur in kittens, fortnightly treatment can begin at 3 weeks of age, repeated at 5 and 7 weeks or according to data sheet recommendations, starting at 6 weeks of age. Nursing queens should be treated concurrently with their offspring since they may develop patent infections along with their young.

As the developing period for Toxocara spp (roundworm) is a little over four weeks, monthly treatment will minimise the risk of patent infections and can be recommended in risk scenarios such as the pet living in the family with small children and common use of a garden (or similar). Annual or twice annual treatments have been shown not to have a significant impact on preventing patent infection within a population, so a treatment frequency of at least 4 times per year is proposed as a general recommendation. Many drugs are provided for treatment and prevention. Some of them are also effective against all other common cat worms thus ensuring a complete protection of your pet.

Be sure to give to your pet the one that best satisfy his and your needs, in terms of ease of use, efficacy and safety (especially if very young animals are to be treated).