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Owning your own furball makes you chief protector against all things nasty that your wild little adventurer could be prone to. For cats, one of the main challenges that can affect them are worms, and several types at that. These wrigglers (or parasites as they’re known in this biz) can be picked up a number of ways by your cat and can cause some problems, but protecting your cat against them is possible – no need to worry, you got this!
There are four main ways your cat can contract the nasties:
- Hunting – cats with a wild side are more at-risk when it comes to a case of the critters. The hand-delivered presents that arrive at the back door may look cute, but can carry fleas and worms. Simply going snout to snout is enough for a little jumper to make its way from one cutie to another, before accounting for any snacking your cat might make on their way home.
- Fleas – fleas and worms go hand in hand, and the most common way for our darling kittens to contract worms is by ingesting an infected flea carrying the eggs of the worms. Quite the combo, somewhat of a tag team operation, cats tend to ingest almost 50% of fleas bothering them during grooming sessions.
- Eating worm eggs – cats already infected with worms will pass teeny worm eggs in their poos. These eggs can survive for a surprising amount of time once out in the world, in your garden soil for example. If your cat goes searching for a snack and accidentally consumes any eggs, this can lead to a cyclical worm infection.
- Mumma cat’s milk – even in their very first few weeks of life, kittens can pick up a worm infection before they even leave for their forever home just by consuming their mum’s milk if she, too, is infected. Cats can pass on worm larvae via their milk and this can be particularly dangerous to kittens as they are so vulnerable at such a young age.
Although worms have their ways, lucky for us humans it’s super easy to equip our cats with the right tools and make sure they are protected. A simple monthly flea and worm treatment is all you need to keep your little one happy and healthy.
Never miss a month again by getting flea & wormer treatments to your door direct from the Republic here and keep your cat without the wrigglers.
