Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Cat lungworm infection causing cough and breathing trouble in young
By Grandi, G et al.·Published in Veterinary parasitology·2005·Dipartimento di Produzioni Animali, Italy·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Aelurostrongylus abstrusus (cat lungworm) infection in five cats from Italy.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
Five young cats in Italy were diagnosed with a lungworm infection caused by Aelurostrongylus abstrusus, which is relatively rare. The cats showed symptoms like coughing, difficulty breathing, and weight loss, along with signs of pneumonia seen on X-rays. Tests confirmed the presence of lungworm larvae in their feces. While one treatment with ivermectin didn’t work for one cat, a dose of selamectin helped one cat, and a daily treatment of fenbendazole for 15 days was effective for all four remaining cats.
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Abstract
Infection by the cat lungworm Aelurostrongylus abstrusus is considered uncommon. Here, the authors report the clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic features of five infections recently observed in Italy. All cats were under 12 months of age. All except one cat had symptomatic infections, with cough, dyspnea, and weight loss with radiographic signs of broncopneumonia. All cats were eosinophilic. Larvae were present in fresh fecal smears and on flotation exam in all cats. Baermann larval recovery permitted definitive identification and, in one case, larvae per gram of feces (lpg) counts. One dose of ivermectin (400 microg/kg) was not effective in one cat, while one dose of selamectin (6 mg/kg) was effective in one of three cases and fenbendazole at 50 mg/kg given daily for 15 days was effective in four of four cases.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16076529/