Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Hidden intestinal worm infections common in cats
By Little, Susan et al.·Published in Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association·2015·From the Department of Veterinary Pathobiology·View original on PubMed →
PetCaseFinder translated the abstract of this peer-reviewed paper into plain English so pet owners can read it. We do not publish original research — every detail traces back to the citation above. How we work →
Original publication title: High Prevalence of Covert Infection With Gastrointestinal Helminths in Cats.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 116 adult cats from an animal shelter in Oklahoma were found to have high rates of hidden infections with intestinal worms, specifically Toxocara cati and Dipylidium caninum. Fecal tests, which are commonly used to check for these infections, missed many cases, especially for certain types of worms. In fact, while 67% of the cats had worms, the tests only detected a fraction of them. This highlights the importance of thorough examinations and possibly using more sensitive testing methods to identify worm infections in cats.
People also search for: cat intestinal worms symptoms · why is my cat losing weight · cat worm treatment options
Abstract
Fecal flotation is routinely used to identify feline helminth infections in clinical practice, but it is known to have limitations of sensitivity, particularly for cestodes. To determine the prevalence of helminths in a contemporary population of cats and evaluate the ability of fecal flotation to detect these infections, helminths were recovered from intestinal tracts removed from 116 adult cats humanely euthanized by an animal control shelter in northeastern Oklahoma. Results were compared to those of fecal flotation performed using both passive and centrifugal techniques. Helminths were identified in 78/116 (67.2%) cats, including Toxocara cati (48/116; 41.4%), Ancylostoma tubaeforme (8/116; 6.9%), Dipylidium caninum (40/116; 34.5%), and Taenia taeniaeformis (30/116; 25.9%). Cats with T. cati were significantly more likely to harbor T. taeniaeformis (P = .001) than cats without ascarids. Centrifugal fecal flotation with sugar solution identified 37/48 (77.1%) T. cati infections, 8/30 (26.7%) T. taeniaeformis infections, and no D. caninum infections. Proglottids were detected on external examination in 19.0% (12/63) of cats with cestodes. Cestodes were present in over half of the cats examined in this study, but the majority of these infections were not evident by the detection of external proglottids or recovery of characteristic stages on fecal flotation.
Find similar cases for your pet
PetCaseFinder finds other peer-reviewed reports of pets with the same symptoms, plus a plain-English summary of what was tried across them.
Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26535453/