How Do Cats Get Worms

They are usually found in stool or soil and can enter the cats body orally.

How do cats get worms. In fact the most common way for a cat to get tapeworms is by eating infected fleas carrying the larval form of the worm while grooming themselves or other cats. What do cat worms look like. There are two main types of worm that affect cats and kittens in the UK.

This highlights the importance of a regular worming schedule starting from two weeks of age. If a flea jumps onto your cat they could accidentally ingest the flea by grooming or scratching. White or cream spaghetti-like and long round bodies.

There are different species of tapeworms. Fleas are carriers for tapeworm eggs. Dipylidium caninum is a tapeworm found in an infected flea whereas Taenia and Echinococcus species use small rodents mice rats squirrels rabbits or large animals such as deer or sheep as their intermediate hosts.

Yes humans can get worms from cats. Cats are especially at risk for tapeworms because they are such good groomers. Cats can pick up worms from a variety of sources from their mothers milk as kittens from eating prey such as birds or mice from having fleas which carry worm larvae and in the case of lungworm from contact with slugs or snails.

Of course cats do not eat those but they do not need to eat those to get worms. Type of worms that cats can get. Kittens often pick up worms from the mother in her milk while adult cats pick up worms by accidentally eating worm eggs or eating vermin infested with worms.

Worms can also be contracted by hunting and eating rodents that are infected with worms. Even indoor cats can be infected with worms as you will see below roundworms are transmitted to kittens even before they are born indoor cats can get fleas which come inside on peoples clothing open doors or windows fleas transmit tapeworm. Cats can also catch these worms directly through the ingestion of eggs but also indirectly through the ingestion of infected rodent tissue.