Cat Lungworms – Facts to Know from Symptoms to Prevention

There are lot more parasites in the environment, which can play havoc on your pets. However, it is crucial to know about some harmful worms especially lungworms that can badly deform the health of cats. Here, let us understand lungworms and the different facts about them related to a cat’s health.

What are cat lungworms?

Lungworms are a type of parasite that resides in the airways and small arteries of the lungs. These worms attack the vital parts and sustain feeding on the blood. Adult lungworms’ life span in lungs is up to 2 years. They produce larvae that can be diagnosed in feces. When measured the female lungworm is about 9 mm long and the male lungworm is about 4-7 mm long.

Why lungworms are dangerous?

Cats are more prone to lungworm disease. Lungworm larvae put cat’s health in danger. It can expose cats to multiple diseases due to weakened immunity. These worms can cause severe congestion, heart attack, or respiratory problems in a long run.

How do cats get infected by lungworms?

Any cat can get infected when they prey on any infected animal with lungworm larvae, such as a rat, mouse, snail, frog, lizard, or bird. Once into the gastrointestinal tract, these larvae make their way to the lungs. In the lungs, a further life cycle starts where larvae mature to adult worms, and the worms lay eggs that again hatch to larvae.  Further, they can be coughed out, swallowed, or excreted in the feces of the cat.

Risk of lungworms in Cats

Lungworms badly hammer the immune system of cats. The weakened immune system makes the cat vulnerable to many illnesses and leads to chronic diseases.

Signs of lungworm infection in dogs

Shortness of breath

Wheezing, sneezing

Persistent cough, often with bouts of intense coughing

Nasal discharge

Open-mouthed abdominal breathing

Weight loss

Lethargy

Depression

Prevention

Ensure that your cat does not hunt animals, and in case if he does, then restrict it to eat that stuff. To prevent hunting behavior in your cat, you can provide rich nutritious food, ensure mental stimulation with a lot of play games, fit a bell in his collar to ensure where it is, and keep your cat indoors especially during dusk and dawn.

Properly cleaning up cat feces from the litter box or from the yard reduces the chances of infection to various small animals.

Also, you can use preventive products like an advocate, sentinel to avoid worm infections. Rather than taking risks, it is always advisable to protect your cat from harmful lungworm infections.