What are the types of worms that infest cats?
• Tapeworms Cats get tapeworms by eating infected fleas, often during grooming. They’re made of small flat segments, each the size of a grain of rice. Although you’ll generally only see single segments in your kitten’s feces around the tail or bottom, an entire tapeworm can have 90 segments, making it about 6 inches in size. • Hookworms Cats often give hookworms to their unborn kittens or pass them through breast milk. Other causes include: eating or drinking contaminated food or water, or eating hookworm eggs after another cat passes them in his stool. They are tiny and have teeth-like mouth parts that suck blood from the intestinal wall. • Roundworms This is the most common source of worms in kittens, usually passed through mother’s milk or by eggs in the environment. Roundworms are long and thin, like spaghetti noodles. A severe infestation can lead to death as the worm blocks the intestines. • Heartworm When a mosquito bites an infected animal and ingests some of the worm’s larvae,
