Roundworms in Cat:

Cat roundworms are a common problem which plagues cat pet owners everywhere.



These are essentially parasitic worms known as Ascarids which affect many species of cats and can be found in the intestines. A roundworm in cats would look a lot like common spaghetti and can grow to be about 4 inches in length. Note that both the Toxocara cati as well as the other species, Toxascaris leonine, can affect your pet.



At the same time it is the former which is most likely to be the culprit in cats. What these intestinal parasitic worms effectively do is that they gorge on the contents of your cat’s intestines where they reside. As a result, these roundworms are effectively competing with the cat or depriving your pet of food.



Roundworm symptoms in cats mean things like diarrhea and vomiting which are common symptoms of many cat diseases. However, if your cat is experiencing a really bad problem with roundworms you will probably have some roundworms actually visible in the vomit. Your cat might look rather pot bellied and his or her coat might be in rather poor condition. Later on, roundworm in cats could cause more alarming complications such as intestinal obstruction. At this stage feline pneumonia is also another possible symptom. However, such parasitic worms should be a diagnosis for your vet as it could be another case of worms or another problem altogether that your cat is facing. What your cat’s veterinarian will probably do is to look for signs of such an infestation in the feces. Usually it is the roundworm eggs that your vet will look for.

Causes of the same revolve around consumption of roundworm eggs. If this is not your cat’s first case of roundworms, then it is possible that this is simply due to larvae which have been laid from a previous case of roundworms and are still encysted in the cat’s tissues. Remember that it is possible that your cat may pass on roundworms when feeding its kittens. This is because pregnancy can serve to re-active larvae which have gone on to different tissues in the cat’s body. Your vet will help you out with a variety of medication which is specially formulated for cat roundworm treatment. It has hard to guard against these intestinal parasitic worms because your pet can easily pick up roundworms from the environment, such as through the soil.