How to properly worm a cat at home

Before treating your pet, let's figure out what helminths are and how to recognize the disease in time?

Helminthiasis is a disease caused by parasitism in the host body, namely in the small intestine, by helminths (worms). Both adults and small puppies and kittens are susceptible to helminthiasis.

Today, helminthiasis is widespread, since even those animals that do not go outside can easily become infected. How? Every day, several hundred parasite eggs are released into the environment, therefore, it is very easy to bring them into an apartment with shoes.

There are a huge number of helminths, they are divided into 3 groups: tapeworms, flukes, roundworms.

The presence of helminths in your pet's body can cause:

• - allergic reactions;
• toxic phenomena;
• blockage of the intestines or excretory ducts;
• anemia;
• hypovitaminosis.

Diseases can often be detected when parasites are detected in the feces of adult individuals, this is only the case when there are a huge number of parasites in the body. Helminthiasis poses a threat to human health, as it is a zoonotic disease that affects both animals and humans. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out timely treatment of the disease and preventive deworming once every three months. Over this period of time, quite a lot of helminths (worms) accumulate in the body of the infected animal, which must be destroyed, since there is a danger for all members of the family in which the animal lives.

Common symptoms

To prevent your pet from suffering from terrible pain, you must immediately react to the following external signs that occur if worms live in the cat’s body :

• the mucous membrane turns pale or yellow;
• weight drops sharply;
• the appearance of shortness of breath, cough;
• the coat is dull and tousled;
• decreased appetite or refuses to eat at all;
• Meows very often, and suddenly.

If your cat has a massive infestation of parasites, then just look at your pet's feces and see these worms. If you do not rid the animal of worms in time, it may die.

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How to deworm pregnant cats and kittens

The need to deworm a pregnant cat arises if the owners were irresponsible about preventive deworming, which led to the development of helminthic infestation. Almost all drug manufacturers do not recommend the use of anthelmintics at this time. Either the drug is known to be toxic to embryos, or studies have not been conducted to determine this effect. Therefore, when it is necessary to save the life of a cat, neglecting the fate of the kittens, deworming is carried out under the supervision of a veterinarian.

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Most anthelmintic drugs pass into milk; their effect on kittens younger than three weeks of age has not been studied. Therefore, lactating cats are not dewormed during this period. Deworming of kittens up to 6 weeks of age is carried out strictly according to indications, and only approved drugs are taken.

The first deworming is carried out 10 days before vaccination of eight-week-old cubs.

Toxocara feline

Treating cats at home

All anthelmintics can be divided into the following two types:

• broad-spectrum drugs;
• a single-component drug that is aimed at one action.

Preparations for worms of the second type destroy only a specific type of parasite. A wide range of medications are used to combat mixed type invasion. Only veterinarians can prescribe the correct medicine for parasites. Before you start treating worms at home, you still need to take your kitten to the clinic.

Types of parasites

There are three most common types of worms, namely:

• Cestodoses - these include flatworms that cause diseases (dipilidiosis and alveonoccosis);
• Nematoses, representatives of which are roundworms. The diseases they cause have the following names: toxascadia and hookworm;
• Trimatoses are parasites, which include lung worms, flukes and liver worms. Particularly dangerous, since deworming with tablets alone is not effective. The veterinarian attributes complex treatment.

What actions can you use to deworm with a tablet?

This type of pet, unlike dogs, is quite capricious. Although they write on the forums that they were given anthelmintic, they added the pill to raw meat or fish and the pet willingly ate the food along with the medicine. In order to deworm a cat using tablets, there are still several ways.

General rules for the use of anthelmintic drugs

The drug is given to the cat in the recommended dosage, usually in the morning - you do not need to tie the use of the drug to meals, but to reduce the likelihood of side effects, it is better to give the drug before meals . Almost all modern medications are given to the animal once; repeated administration is necessary after 10-12 days. After the procedure, it is advisable to take tests and show your pet to a doctor to make sure that the parasites are destroyed.

Along with the use of anthelmintic therapy, it is necessary to observe the rules of hygiene - wash the tray immediately after the cat goes to the toilet, thoroughly clean the places where it sleeps and eats, and also treat them with disinfectants.

Video - How to worm a cat

How to give a cat medicine

Most likely, it will not be possible to persuade a cat to take medicine, so the owner of the animal needs to choose one of the options - to act by force or by cunning.

Method number 1 . The medicine should be mixed with the pet’s favorite treat (the tablets should be crushed into powder beforehand) and the pet should be given a “cunning” dish to eat. Canned foods are best suited for these purposes: pates, mousses and other products that have a puree-like consistency. The disadvantage of this method is that the cat will never eat the treat if it smells foreign impurities in it.

The best canned food for cats

Method number 2 . Use a special device called a piller or a regular syringe without a needle to take the medicine. The drug should be taken into a syringe (crush the tablets and mix with a small amount of liquid) or fix the tablet in a piller, then place it on the root of the animal’s tongue, squeeze the jaws and stimulate swallowing by stroking it along the throat. It is better to carry out this procedure together with an assistant, the downside is the likelihood of revenge on the part of the offended pet (in retaliation for violence, some cats may tear clothes or furniture, urinate in shoes, etc.).

Special device - peeler

Important! When deworming, minor side effects are allowed in the form of salivation or gastrointestinal disorders, which go away on their own within 1-2 days. If your cat has a fever, lethargy, pain or other alarming symptoms, you need to show her to the veterinarian, and in the future, choose a different anthelmintic drug.

Video - How to give a cat a pill

Folk remedies for worms in cats

Traditional recipes for the treatment of helminthic infestations in cats are considered safer for health than pharmaceutical drugs, but in reality this is not the case. They can also cause side effects and negatively affect the health of the pet, and, in addition, their effectiveness is several times lower than that of medications.

• Pumpkin seeds. Take 5 g of peeled pumpkin seeds, chop, mix with the same amount of lard or vegetable oil, and then feed the mixture to the cat. Repeat the procedure for 5 days in a row, and a new portion of the medicine must be prepared daily.

Pumpkin seeds

• Onion. Divide an ordinary onion into parts, pour a glass of well-boiled water, and let stand for half an hour. Give the resulting liquid to the animal on an empty stomach, 1-2 tablespoons for a week.
• Garlic. Grind one clove of garlic and mix it into cat food, feed the cat one clove of garlic once a day for 7 days.

Onions and garlic have anthelmintic properties

• Tansy. Take a tablespoon of the dried plant, pour a glass of boiling water, leave for an hour, then filter and give the cat the infusion 2-3 times a day on an empty stomach. You should feed your pet no earlier than an hour after taking the medicine.
• Carrot. Carrot juice for deworming cats is used as an enema - inject 20 ml of freshly squeezed juice into the cat's anus every day, for a course of 7 days.

carrot juice

Attention! If helminths have caused intestinal blockage or any other serious complications, you cannot carry out treatment on your own - in such cases you should immediately contact a veterinary clinic.

Common deworming tablets

The best remedy for anthelmintic against tape and round parasites, as well as for prevention, is a drug called “Drontal”. The dosage of one tablet is designed for an animal weighing four or slightly more kilograms . If you want to deworm a pet that weighs less, you need to divide the tablet in appropriate proportions. It is important to remember that parasites cannot be removed from kittens using this product.

Drontal

Even no less effective is "Kaniquantel" . One pill of this medication can deworm an animal weighing ten kilograms. This drug, like Drontal, cannot be used to prevent worms in pregnant cats and kittens.

anthelmintic "Febtal" is also in demand among a large number of buyers. One tablet is designed for a three-kilogram pet. It has a specific taste, so it is better to deworm it using one of the previously described methods.

As a result, if you want to deworm an animal using tablets, then it is best to buy one of the proven drugs, namely:

• "Drontal";
• "Kaniquantel";
• "Febtal."

How to determine whether you need to deworm

The question of whether a pet needs to be dewormed or not is not worth it. Deworming is necessary both when there are clinical symptoms of infection and to prevent helminthic diseases.

It is important to determine when a cat needs to be wormed immediately and in which situation the procedure should be postponed. The fact is that any anthelmintic is toxic to the parasite and, to a lesser extent, to the cat. Therefore, it should not be abused.

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When to worm a cat for prevention?

It is impossible to completely get rid of worms. It is likely that the body needs parasites in small quantities. Therefore, quarterly deworming helps keep the population at optimal sizes. To prevent helminthic infestation in kittens, cats are dewormed a month before the intended mating, regardless of the timing of previous treatments.

When to worm a cat before vaccination?

To form antibodies to pathogens, the immune system resorts to mobilizing all the forces of the body. If the animal is weakened by helminth toxins, insufficient absorption of vitamins and amino acids from the intestines, the formation of immune bodies slows down or their concentration does not reach protective values. Conditions called breakdown of immunity occur. The animal is struck by an infection against which it was vaccinated.

Therefore, 10 days before the first vaccination, kittens are dewormed.

Before deworming, you should study the instructions and make sure that the drug can be used for kittens younger than 8 weeks. Anthelmintics can cause a negative reaction in an animal not because they are toxic, but because they are highly infested. When mass death occurs, parasites release toxic waste products. Therefore, the kitten’s body should be given the opportunity to recover from the effects of the anthelmintic drug.

The result of immunization is confirmed 2-4 weeks after the first vaccination, depending on the instructions developed by the manufacturer. Therefore, there is no need to carry out separate deworming before the second immunization. Manufacturers of biological products recommend additional deworming of adult cats 10 days before annual vaccination.

New deworming remedy "Polivercan"

Some owners begin to deworm cats with a drug such as Polyvercan. This medicine has recently appeared on the consumer market and is beginning to be in demand. The peculiarity is that it is in the form of sugar cubes. Dogs love to eat it, so it is quite easy to deworm them with this drug.

Poliverkan