cream

When we recently adopted the newest kitty to our family we were telling the lady at the humane shelter that we think our cat from about three years ago had passed due to heart worms and she told us cats do not get these, is this true?

puppylove

I'm not sure if cats can get heartworms or not (my gut says no since the heartworm meds are always dog specific) but there are dozens of different types of worms and many can live in the environment for years after you rid your pet of them. They can also kill their host in conjunction with the medication (which poisons the worms and not your pet if used correctly) if the pet is weak or the infestation is really bad.

Siamese

Yes, they can! They didn't used to think cats got them, but studies in the last few years have shown that although it's more common in dogs, cats can indeed get heart worms, too, and unfortunately, they're often more deadly and more difficult to treat according to one article I just pulled up. My doctor warned me about them in my inside kitty a couple years ago and I had absolutely no idea it was even possible, so I read up on them at the time. Here a couple pages I pulled up with info about it (there's some great info about heart worms, in general, too, so they're worth looking at):

http://www.sniksnak.com/cathealth/heartworms.html
http://www.purdue.edu/UNS/html4ever/...on.feline.html
http://www.dr-dan.com/heartwor1.htm

cream

Thank you for the references. The cat we had was maybe 2 1/2 - 3 when she passed. It was the hardest animal death ever since I was pregnant when it happened and it seems no one had believed us that we knew it was something with her heart or maybe worms.

Pet'sBestFriend

Those were really informative articles. I would surely tell this to my girlfriend for she loves her cats very much (as I love my dogs). I hope my girlfriend's cats will not suffer this fate because as from the article, if they acquire this parasite, their end is surely sealed.