What Causes Feline Intestinal Worms?

Felines are very susceptible to intestinal worms. Cornell University reports that 45 percent of cats will suffer from intestinal worms at some point in their lives. These worms latch onto a cat's intestinal wall, robbing it of precious nutrients and blood. Symptoms of intestinal worms include appetite loss, bloody stools, coughing, diarrhea and vomiting. The worms and resulting symptoms can severely weaken the animal, causing further infection and disease. The cause of the worms depends on the type of worm the feline has.

  1. Hookworm Causes

    • Three different types of hookworms can infect a feline: A. tubaeforme, A. braziliense and U. stenocephala. Hookworms attach themselves to the small intestine of the cat and feed off its blood. They lay eggs in the intestine that collect and are eventually removed in the feces. Once the eggs hatch, the hookworm larvae lives outside of the original host until another host picks it up. Felines pick up the larvae through their skin, by drinking water or eating prey infested with larvae, or from mother to kitten if the mother cat is already infected with hookworms.

    Roundworm Causes

    • Roundworm eggs are also passed through fecal matter; millions of eggs daily, in fact, making roundworms a highly contagious parasite. The two types of roundworms that live in the small intestine and feed off of cats are Toxascaris leonina and Toxocara cati. Cats become hosts to roundworms when they either eat something that is infected with the fecal matter housing the eggs, or a rodent hosting roundworms. The Toxocara cati roundworm may also be passed from mother to kitten just like hookworms.

    Tapeworm Causes

    • Five different types of tapeworms live in a feline's intestinal wall and they are Dipylidium caninum, T. taeniaeformis, E. multiocularis, Diphyllobothrium latum and Spirometra mansonoides. Fleas or lice host the Dipylidium caninum tapeworm; rodents host T. taeniaeformis and E. multiocularis tapeworms; minnows and larger fish host Diphyllobothrium latum tapeworm; and amphibians, birds, reptiles, rodents or snakes host the Spirometra mansonoides tapeworm. Eating any one of these "intermediate hosts," according to PetEducation.com, causes tapeworm infestation in cats.

    Whipworm Causes

    • Whipworms, or Trichuris serrata, are a very rare intestinal worm in felines. These worms take residence in the cat's large intestine and the area between the large and small intestine called the cecum. As with other worms, whipworm eggs are hatched in the intestine and passed through the feces when exiting the body. Should the feline drink water or eat food that is infected with whipworm eggs, the eggs will hatch and mature into adult whipworms inside the large intestine within three months.