How exactly should cats deworm?
Deworming is a problem that every parent of a cat owner faces, and it is also a long-term fixed expense in the cat family. However, due to the lack of understanding of parasites and the innate fear of parasites in humans, many parents feel at a loss when facing the problem of deworming, afraid that not enough to drive will make the cat infected with parasites, and if they are more expelled, they are afraid of affecting the cat's body, plus they also face the technical difficulty of feeding the cat internal repellent drugs, and many people are caught in a deep dilemma.
Again, all our fears come from the unknown of things.
When I first started raising cats, I took Boboa to the Agricultural University Animal Hospital (the best/expensive animal hospital) to deworm, and when the doctor told me that there was no one deworming drug that could drive away all the parasites, my heart was also flustered.
However, after a year of raising cats, I have a full understanding of parasites and cat life habits, and looking back at the insect repellent, I already have the answer in my heart about how to effectively deworm my cat.
Next, come with me to see how to choose the right method of insect repellent for your cat.
This article is about 5000 words and takes about 15 minutes to read.
Guide:
Classification of parasites and routes of infection (simple version)
Analysis of mainstream anthelmintic drugs on the market
How to choose the right deworming method for your cat
Examples of typical deworming schemes (those who don't want to see the process can directly pull to the bottom to see this section)
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >1 Classification and infection channels of parasites (simple version).</h1>
If you go to the hospital, the doctor will tell you that there is no one medicine that can drive away all the parasites, is this statement true?
Yes, because in a broad sense, there are too many types of parasites. Different regions, different environments, different parenting methods, will cause different parasitic infections.
However, for the vast majority of indoor cat families, the vast majority of parasites have nothing to do with you! You don't need to care about all the parasites, you just need to care about which parasites you might encounter.
The following parasite classification is based on the ordinary indoor family cat environment, combined with a little regional characteristics and environmental characteristics, to analyze the parasites we are most likely to encounter.
1.1.1 Fleas/lice
Fleas/lice are the most common parasites in cats, especially stray cats, which are almost all fleas. The influence of fleas on cats is definitely not just about biting the cat and sucking some blood to make the cat uncomfortable and infecting people. Fleas are likely to carry tapeworm eggs, and after cats swallow fleas (this is very easy to occur, such as accidentally swallowing them while licking their hair), they are likely to be infected with tapeworms in the body, which is the most common way for cats to infect tapeworms.
1.1.2 Ear mites
Ear mites are also a common parasite in cats, second only to fleas in commonness. Ear mites are mainly parasitic inside the cat's ears, which will make the cat feel that the ears are extremely itchy, the cat frantically shakes its head and scratches the ears, there is brown secretion in the ear canal, and it is highly contagious between cats, if you find ear mites, you must immediately deworm.
1.1.3 Ticks
Ticks are larger, blood-sucking parasites that attach to their skin and cannot tear off. Although it sounds terrible and the consequences are more serious, but ticks actually appear in the grass, in fact, mainly dogs are infected more, indoor-fed cats do not go out on the grass to do a lot of activities, there is almost no possibility of infection; even if you occasionally go to the grass to play for a while, the possibility of encountering ticks is not so large, so for the vast majority of families, there is less to worry about ticks.
1.2.1 Tapeworms
There are two main types of tapeworms that cats are susceptible to infection: taenia cats (echinococcal tapeworm) and Taenia melon (also known as canine ventral tapeworm). Tapeworms are characterized by the fact that white segments can be found in the feces, and the cat's anus may also be attached, and it will irritate the cat's skin. If your cat has an itchy ass, rubs its butt on the ground, or finds white flakes in the cat's feces (I won't put the disgusting picture), there is a good chance that it will be infected with tapeworms.
The two tapeworms have different routes of infection.
1.2.2 Roundworms
Cat roundworm is also a more common large body parasite, judging from the appearance of the cat is not as obvious as tapeworm, but the damage to the cat is relatively large, in addition to competing for nutrition in the cat's body, roundworms are also easy to swim in the internal organs, causing cat vomiting, intestinal wall bleeding, intestinal distortion and even perforation and other problems. If your cat eats a lot but is emaciated, has a large abdomen, and often vomits, blood in the stool, etc., you should consider whether it is infected with feline roundworms.
Although the damage of feline roundworms is relatively large, the infection route is relatively single, mainly through the mother cat to the kitten, and the cat preys on mice infected with roundworms. In terms of the possibility of infection, if your cat has already done roundworm repellent at the beginning, as long as you do not eat mice during the follow-up normal feeding process, the possibility of infection is not very likely.
1.2.3 Hookworms
Hookworms mainly parasitize the duodenum of cats, are small in size, about 5 to 10 mm, and mainly live by sucking blood from cats. Cats infected with hookworms usually develop anemia and tissue inflammation due to infection of blood-sucking wounds. Occurs mainly in the summer and is more likely to occur in narrow and wet cat houses.
1.2.4 Trematodes
Flukes have lung flukes and liver flukes, mainly in the cat body to grab nutrients, liver flukes mainly cause cat body wasting, anemia, diarrhea, systemic jaundice and other conditions, lung flukes mainly cause cat stubborn cough, coughing up blood, body wasting and other conditions.
1.2.5 Heartworms
The main parasitic location of heartworm is the heart and cardiovascular of the cat, the length of the worm body is very long, which has a great impact on the cat's body, and the cat that parasitizes the heartworm usually has symptoms such as unsmooth blood circulation, difficulty breathing, anemia, etc., which will lead to death.
Although the harm of heartworm is large, but in fact, there is no need to worry, the main host of heartworm is dogs, and the possibility of infection in cats is very low. The main route of transmission is mosquitoes (yes, mosquitoes), which are slightly more likely to be infected in the south, where mosquitoes are more numerous, and are difficult to encounter in relatively simple home feeding.
There are also some parasites such as coccidiosis, trichomoniasis, flagella, etc., which are less likely to be infected in domestically raised cats, or this method is not solvable by deworming and will not be discussed in this article.
The most famous toxoplasma gondii in the cat world actually has no symptoms for cats, and is an infection, lifelong immunity, so anthelmintic drugs will not consider the prevention of toxoplasma gondii, and will not be further discussed here.
Let's summarize the common parasites.
Analysis of common parasitic infection routes and risks in family cats
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >2 Analysis of mainstream anthelmintic drugs on the market</h1>
The mainstream anthelmintic drugs on the market are now divided into the following categories:
Pure external drive drug: Frein (imported from France)
Pure internal exorcism: Bai Pet Qing (Bayer), Remigao
Internal and external drive integrated medicine: Big Pet (imported from the United States, Pfizer), Iverk (Bayer, imported from Germany), Bollon (imported from France), Hai Le Miao
As shown in the following figure:
Common cat deworming drugs on the market
Each medicine has its own strengths and weaknesses, and the price and ease of use are also different, I roughly put together a table, as follows:
Analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of common deworming drugs in cats
To illustrate:
Frein and Braun are manufacturers, except that Frein is only responsible for external drive, and Bulrunn adds internal drive to Freine; the external drive function of the two drugs is the same, the main strength is fleas/lice, and it is the only of these drugs that are effective against ticks (although this means little to most cats), but it is ineffective against ear mites;
Bollon is able to cover the most common fleas, tapeworms and other internal parasites;
In the internal repellent, Remigao and Bai Petqing seem to be effective against the four common internal parasites, but in fact, Remigao does not have a good effect on the common melon tapeworm (that is, the kind caused by fleas), so the overall effect is greatly reduced;
In the medicine of internal and external integration, big pet, Brayn, Andwauk are drops, and Hai Lemiao is a tablet, from the perspective of difficulty of use, the drops are easier;
The effect range of effects of Big Pet and Love Walker is similar, the effect is good for common fleas, it is also effective for ear mites, it is effective for most parasites in the body, but it is ineffective for the more common tapeworms;
Hailemiao has a general effect on fleas, mainly to inhibit fleas eggs, but it is effective against ear mites and has a good effect on various internal parasites, including tapeworms.
Big Love, Love Walker, and Hai Le Miao are all effective against heartworms, but Braun can't do it;
Price-wise
Internal and external integration of insect repellent, basically more than 80 / time;
The price of the inner drive remy is very cheap, less than 10 yuan per time
The price of the externally driven Flaine is around 45 per time
The sea music that integrates inside and outside is 50 yuan a time, and the cost performance is relatively high, but the effect on fleas is not good
There are really different advantages and disadvantages, and none of them are completely suitable.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >3 How to choose the right deworming method for your cat</h1>
After understanding the common parasitic infection channels of cats and the advantages and disadvantages of each drug, it is necessary to choose a suitable deworming method for your cat according to your own situation.
All cats need to consider the problem of deworming fleas and tapeworms, this behavior is long-term, and the deworming cycle can be adjusted according to living habits and environment;
If ear mites are found, they should be dewormed immediately, especially in multi-cat families, usually if there is no new source of infection after the expulsion, they will not get it again;
If your cat often goes out and has more contact with grass and wet soil, then the frequency of deworming should be appropriately increased, and appropriate consideration should be given to the expulsion of ticks;
If your cat has the habit of drinking water in the sewers, toilets and other places, or has the opportunity to catch cockroaches and small bugs, then the frequency of internal driving should be appropriately increased;
If you have a small garden at home, and the cat often plays in the past and may swallow small animals such as snails, then the frequency of deworming should be appropriately increased;
If your cat has the opportunity to catch mice, wild birds, etc., the frequency of deworming needs to be appropriately increased;
If you are in the warm and humid weather in the south, and your cat may be exposed to a lot of mosquitoes, then consider the removal of heartworms;
If you are adopting a stray cat, consider the worst case scenario.
Cats with formal purchase channels, simple living environment and healthy physical condition can wait until three months to do the first deworming, and the first deworming is recommended to comprehensive internal drive + external drive;
Adopted stray cats need to be dewormed for the first time when they come home, must be fully internal and external, and if the cat is still young, sprays can be used;
After the first deworming is in place, according to the cat feeding habits and living environment, regular deworming is carried out; if your cat has good living habits, the living environment is clean and tidy, and basically does not go out, then the external deworming can be carried out once within 3 months, or even once every six months, but in daily life, it is necessary to pay attention to the observation of the body and feces; but it is not recommended to ignore it all the time, as if there is no deworming behavior;
If your cat often goes out to play on the grass, or may often be exposed to the standing water in the bathroom, or catch insects to eat, then the usual 3 months of deworming is the minimum, in the summer it is recommended to repel both internal and external;
If the deworming cycle catches up with winter, the number of deworming can be appropriately reduced;
After the cat reaches the age of one, the immune system has been relatively perfect, and the number of deworming can be appropriately reduced.
Maintaining a clean, ventilated, dry living environment, a clean diet and drinking water, and shoveling of feces in time are all necessary conditions to reduce the chance of parasitic infection and reduce the frequency of deworming;
Do not give cats to eat raw freshwater fish shrimp and crabs, a variety of actually, even marine fish are recommended to cats to eat cooked, freshwater organisms are large parasites, especially easy to let cats infected with a variety of parasites;
Do not give cats frogs, reptiles, screws and other strange food;
Do not give cats to eat meat from non-large-scale breeding environments such as mountain breeding and free-range farming (native chickens, native ducks, free-range rabbits, free-range pigs, cattle and sheep, etc.), the uncontrollable growth environment causes the possibility of parasite infection is greatly increased;
Cats with formal food channels and raw meat feeding according to the required process do not need to do special deworming.
Careful observation will find that the main ingredient of many internal repellents is praziquantel, which is a very famous over-the-counter internal exorcism veterinary drug, which is extremely effective against the most common tapeworms and trematodes, and is also effective against hookworms, roundworms and other internal parasites, which are not only used by pets, but also used in large quantities of pigs, cattle and sheep, but when it is specially made for pets, the value is greatly increased.
The most important thing when buying praziquantel is to pay attention to the dosage. There are specially sold to pets separately praziquantel tablets, the content of piroctone in each tablet is 100mg, for cats below 10 pounds, each time with 1/4 can be, kittens according to weight and then reduce the amount, do not feed more.
The use of praziquantel tablets as an internal drive drug for cats can control the cost of each internal drive to less than 1 yuan, which can be said to be extremely cost-effective.
6 pieces of price 20 or less free shipping price, once to adult cats to eat 1/4 is enough, do not give more
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >4 Examples of typical deworming schemes - the most cost-effective deworming method</h1>
The following lists several common cat breeding scenarios and supporting insect repellent schemes, and tries to find a cost-effective insect repellent method. (I don't want to collect it at this time, but when will I stay?) ）
Deworming protocol analysis:
This is one of the most common cat environments and the one with the lowest likelihood of contracting various parasites. In this case, do a good job of deworming for the first time, and keep up with the deworming state in time during the kitten period, it is enough to drive once every three months; after one year of age, you can deworm once every six months, and the overall cost is also the lowest of all cat breeding scenarios.
Simple healthy clean hygienic single cat home deworming program recommended
Stray cats living environment is complex, the possibility of parasites on the body is extremely large, the first thing to do home is to fully deworm, if you can not use drops on the spray; if there is a garden at home and the cat often goes to play, after the first deworming of a month, the follow-up every three months to deworm is the most basic, if it is summer, you can once a month or twice a month; after one year, because the living environment is slightly more complicated, continue to maintain the frequency of three months and one drive, and pay more attention to the daily observation of the cat's feces and physical condition.
Deworming recommendations for adopting a 2 month stray cat and having a small garden at home
The same scheme is also suitable for cats who love to go out, love to walk on the grass, may catch mice, and multi-cat families (not cat houses).
In this case, It is recommended that Borian follow a 2-3-6-12, followed by a deworming regimen every 6 months, in this case:
The cost of deworming in the first year is about 450 yuan, and the subsequent annual cost is about 180 yuan.
All of the above programs are only used for preventive deworming, and in daily life, we must always pay attention to observing the health and behavior of cats, pay attention to the stool of cats, and seek medical treatment in time if abnormalities are found.
I am a science and engineering woman who focuses on the cat diet, and continues to output dry goods articles with more than 80% meat content. If you are also interested in the nutritional knowledge of cats, the daily diet of cats, raw meat, cat rice making, etc., welcome to follow me!
bibliography:
Cat Disease, An Tiemu, Tan Jianhua, et al., China Agriculture Press, 2010.11
The Cat Disease of Dr. Cat, by Lin Zhengyi, China Agricultural University Press, 2015
"Canine and Cat Parasitic Disease", Shi Lijun, Yuan Weifeng, et al., Beijing Industrial Press, 2013
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