Worms in Cats: Types, Symptoms and How Often to Worm

Something that looks like a grain of rice, moving, on your cat's bed.

That's a tapeworm segment, and it means two things: your cat has tapeworm, and your cat has almost certainly had fleas, because swallowing an infected flea while grooming is how cats get it.

That second part is why the tapeworm keeps coming back. A wormer clears what's there today, but if the fleas are still in the house, the segments are back within weeks, and it looks like the treatment failed.

I'll take you through what to look for, how often to worm a cat that lives the way yours does, and why the flea and the worm are the same job.

Look for weight loss, a dull coat or a pot belly rather than for worms, since most cats with worms pass a normal-looking stool.

The signs worth acting on:

• Weight loss despite a good appetite

• A dull, dry or unkempt-looking coat

• A swollen belly, particularly in a kitten

• Vomiting, sometimes with a worm in it

• Diarrhoea that keeps returning

• Pale gums, weakness or sleeping more than usual

• Scooting or excessive grooming under the tail

What you will actually see, and where

Tapeworm segments turn up in the fur around the tail and on bedding, not usually in the litter tray, which is why people find them on the couch rather than while scooping. Roundworms turn up in vomit. Hookworm you will never see.

So the absence of anything visible rules out very little. A cat can be carrying a meaningful burden and look and behave entirely normally.

If your cat is vomiting and you are trying to work out whether it matters, our guide to why cats vomit covers what each type points to.

A wormer clears the tapeworm your cat has today, and an untreated flea problem puts a new one there within weeks.

This is the part almost nobody explains, and it is the reason the same cat gets wormed three times in a year with segments back each time.

Here is the loop. Flea larvae in your carpet eat flea dirt, and in doing so they can swallow tapeworm eggs. That flea grows up carrying tapeworm. Your cat grooms, swallows the flea, and the tapeworm matures in her gut. You worm her, the tapeworm dies, and the next infected flea she swallows starts it again.

The wormer is not failing. It is doing exactly what it is meant to do, on a cat that keeps being re-exposed.

So the practical rule is that flea control and worming are one job rather than two. Clearing the fleas is what stops the tapeworm returning, and our guide to fleas on cats covers how to clear a household properly, including why treating the cat alone rarely works either.

Roundworm

The most common worm in Australian kittens and the one you are most likely to see. Adults look like pale spaghetti and turn up in vomit. A pot-bellied kitten with a dull coat that is not thriving is the classic picture.

Flea tapeworm

Dipylidium caninum, the one behind the rice-grain segments. Acquired from eating fleas, and covered in full above. It rarely makes a cat unwell, which is why it is treated as a nuisance rather than a danger, but it keeps returning until the fleas go.

Rodent tapeworm

Taenia taeniaeformis, picked up from hunting rather than from fleas. This matters more than it sounds, because a cat on excellent flea control can still get tapeworm this way. If your cat brings home mice or lizards, flea prevention alone will not cover her, and the segments look identical.

Hookworm

Small, invisible, and the one that does quiet damage. Hookworms feed on blood at the gut wall, and anaemia occasionally occurs as a result. You will not see them at any stage.

Lungworm also occurs in Australian cats and is less common. It is not an intestinal worm, though several combination products cover it alongside the others.

A wormer treats what is present on the day and leaves nothing behind, so the right interval depends on how your cat lives rather than on a single rule.

Kittens

The most intensive stage by a wide margin, because worms reach kittens through the milk before anything else gets a chance. Fortnightly to 12 weeks, then monthly to six months. Our kitten flea, tick and worm treatments range is filtered to products registered for the smallest weight bands, which is the thing that catches people out with kittens.

Hunters

A cat that hunts needs tapeworm cover at every worming, not just flea control. This is the gap that catches owners of good hunters who are diligent about fleas: the rodent route is completely independent of the flea route, and only a wormer closes it.

Multi-cat households

Worm all the cats on the same day. Staggering them means one cat is always shedding eggs into a shared litter tray while another has just been cleared.

Always check with your vet to get guidance on which cadence is right for your cat.

Indoor cats carry a lower worm risk than outdoor cats, and they still need worming, just less often.

This is a belief worth addressing directly, because it is reasonable and it is wrong. An indoor cat has genuinely lower exposure. It does not have none.

Worms reach an indoor cat several ways. A flea carried in on your clothes or on the dog brings tapeworm with it. Roundworm eggs come in on shoes. Cats hunt indoors too, and a house gecko, cockroach or mouse in the roof is a route. Kittens arrive already infected from their mother, indoors or not. And in a multi-pet home, a shared litter tray does the rest.

So the answer is a lighter schedule rather than no schedule. Every three to six months suits most indoor-only cats, and the reason to keep it up is that the routes above are invisible. You will not know a flea came in on the dog.

Heartworm in Cats

Heartworm is not an intestinal worm, most all-wormers do not prevent it, and in cats there is no approved treatment once it is established.

It is worth knowing about because the situation in cats is genuinely different from dogs. Heartworm is spread by mosquitoes, and infected mosquitoes come inside, so indoor and outdoor cats are both at risk.

The part that matters most: there is no approved drug therapy for heartworm infection in cats, and the drug used to treat dogs is not safe for them. 

In dogs, heartworm is treatable, difficult and expensive. In cats there is no equivalent, which makes prevention the only real option rather than the preferred one.

Can You Catch Worms From Your Cat?

Some cat worms do infect people, and children are the most at risk, through soil, sand and litter contact.

Worth understanding rather than worrying about. The risk is small in a household that worms on schedule and cleans the tray daily, and everything that reduces it is ordinary hygiene.

Roundworm. Eggs shed in faeces need time in the environment before they become infectious, so daily litter tray cleaning removes most of the risk before it exists. Swallowed by a person, the larvae migrate through tissue. Children are most affected, through hand-to-mouth contact and sandpits.

Hookworm. Larvae in warm damp soil penetrate skin directly, usually producing an itchy tracking rash on the feet. Bare feet on ground a cat toilets in is the exposure.

Some intestinal parasites of dogs and cats also infect people, and the practical version comes down to five things:

• Worm on a schedule that matches how your cat lives

• Scoop the litter tray daily, and wash hands afterwards

• Keep fleas under control, which closes the tapeworm route

• Cover sandpits when not in use

• Wash hands after gardening, and wear gloves in beds cats use

Tapeworm is the one people worry about most and it is the least transmissible of the three. A person would have to swallow an infected flea to catch it, which is rare and mostly happens to small children.

Where to Find Worming Treatments for Cats

Our cat worming treatments range covers all-wormers, tapeworm-specific products and kitten syrups, sorted by weight. For tapeworm you need praziquantel on the label, which is what Drontal contains.

If your cat has fleas as well as tapeworm, treating both at once is the thing that actually holds. 

• NexGard Spectra Spot-On covers fleas, ticks, heartworm and worms including tapeworm in one monthly dose.
• Felpreva covers the same ground on a 13-week interval.
• Advocate is the common monthly option that covers worms and heartworm but not tapeworm.

Our all-in-one cat parasite protection range is where those sit.

If you take one thing from this, make it the pairing. Worming and flea control are the same job in a cat, and doing one without the other is why tapeworm looks untreatable when it is not.

Our guide to worms in dogs covers the same ground for a dog in the same household; our parasite protection guide covers how worming fits alongside fleas and ticks.