Can kittens be born with fleas and worms?

In short, kittens cannot be born with fleas but they can get them from their bedding or their mother very quickly. For me this means that anyone who's involved in breeding their cat (which should not happen by the way unless they are a breeder registered with a cat association) needs to ensure that the queen's nest is spotless in terms of fleas. No fleas in the mother's den would seem to be common sense. Or on the mother. And around the home generally.

Cat flea. Image: MikeB

I am sure though that in homes where cats are breeding informally there are piles of fleas because the owner is behaving irresponsibly. I can visual that scenario quite easily. Many kittens will have a flea infestation at an early age and it will be a treat to their life.

Resistance to fleas is age related: old and young are more vulnerable. They have less resistance and they will be debilitated and some will probably die.

Worms

Neither can kittens be born with worms but they can be infected through nursing so if the mother has worms so will her kittens.

Once again this points to the standard of caregiving in taking proactive steps before the queen becomes pregnant. Is she in good health? And worm-free?

Mother cat and her newborn kittens. Pixabay.

The problem with kittens being infected with worms is the same as stated for fleas above. How good are the proactive steps in preventing both endoparasites (worms) and ectoparasites (fleas) taking up residence in and on kittens before the mother becomes pregnant?

It is pretty obvious that in most non-cat breeder homes proactive steps are rarely taken. Kittens will have a tough start to life and some will die.

List of the kind of parasites inside stray cats in the Middle East

It may interest cat owners to understand better the kind of endoparasites (parasites living inside an animal) that inhabit stray cats in the Middle East. It concerns and interest me. I'm interested in the health of stray and feral cats. How healthy are they when left entirely alone? We know that feral cats cared for by TNR volunteers can live quite good lives; even better than domestic cat sometimes. But what about stray and feral cats living without any human intervention? The cats at the bottom of the list in terms of health and welfare.

There are some studies about these sorts of cats and one such study took place in Iran (Gastrointestinal parasites of stray cats in Kashan, Iran by Mohsen Arbabi and Hossein Hooshyar of the Department of Medical Parasitology, Kashan University of Medical Sciences and Health Services, Kashan-Iran). It was published in 2008. The scientists looked at the species i.e. type of gastrointestinal parasites inside stray cats in Kashan, Iran.

Feeding stray cats in Iran. Not all stray cats are so lucky but these animals are infested with endoparasites. Photograph in the public domain and on Pinterest.

The first point to make is that, perhaps as expected, 95.6% of the 108 cats checked were infested with endoparasites inside the gastrointestinal tract. The second point to note, and a side point, is that all these cats were killed and necropsied. In other words they were cut open and their organs: kidney, heart, liver, lungs, gastrointestinal tract checked for parasites. That is disturbing.

RELATED: 95% of stray cats have worms and 57% scavenge potentially life-threatening refuse.

About two thirds of the cats were male and the remainder were female. They found 15 species of endoparasites including helminths and protozoa. Helminths are parasitic worms i.e. nematodes. Protozoa are single-cells microscopic creatures and parasitic as well in this instance.

RELATED: How do I know if my cat has worms?

Here is the list of parasites found inside these unfortunate cats including the percentage of cats infested:

Nematodea (worms):

• Toxocara cati 13.3%;
• Physaloptera preputialis 39.8%,;
• Rictularia 52.2%;
• Uncinaria stenocephala 1.8%;
• Cestodea (tapeworm):
• Mesocestoides lineatus 7.1%;
• Taenia taeniaformis 15%;
• Diplopylidium nolleri 64.6%;
• Dipylidium caninum 68.1%;
• Joyeuxiella echinorhyncoides 85% (small worm: maximum length of 9 cm , and often being only 2 to 3 cm in length)

Sporozea (a protozoan with a cyst-forming stage in their life cycle):

• Isospora rivolta 5.3%;
• Isospora felis 5.3%;
• Sarcocystis spp 8%,;
• Blastocystis spp 16.8%.

Zoomastigophorea (another species of protozoan which are flagellates):

• Giardia felis 0.9%;
• Trichomonas spp 1.8%.

They decided that the contamination rate for zoonotic parasites i.e. parasites that can be transmitted between animals and people, was greater than expected in this region of Iran. They suggested, therefore, their control measures should be taken to protect people.

What is the point of this article? Answer: to remind ourselves and to highlight the fact that human carelessness leads to animal suffering. It leads to ill health in animals. And let's not brush the problem under the carpet. Let's take responsibility. These cats are in their predicament because we put them there. This is a humankind problem. It is carelessness and thoughtlessness. And to compound the problem these cats are often persecuted as pest and vermin by ignorant people. It's a double whammy of ignorance and inevitably it is animals who face the consequences primarily.

If your cat has fleas he is also likely to have a tapeworm

The cat flea is part of the tapeworm life-cycle. When a cat ingests a flea while grooming, he might also ingest a tapeworm egg which is inside the flea.

The egg got inside the flea because larval fleas hatching in the area consume tapeworm eggs. These eggs have been deposited on the ground from a segment of tapeworm which has exited a host such as a cat via the anus.

And so you can see how the lives of the two organisms are connected to each other. It probably pays to both de-worm a cat and use a spot-on treatment to de-flea the cat at the same time.

How do cats get worms?

I'll tell you how cats get tapeworms. It is a cycle as shown in the image below. Tapeworms are the most common internal parasite in adult cats. They live in the cat's intestine and body segments are passed in feces. You might see them around your cat's bottom.

Both types of tapeworm are transmitted by an intermediate host. One intermediate host is the flea. It has the immature tapeworm, Dipylidium caninum in its intestines. They are ingested by the flea when eating tapeworm eggs. The cat bites or swallows the flea and becomes infested that way.

The other type of tapeworm Taenia taeniaformis is ingested when eating rodents, uncooked meat, raw freshwater fish, and sometimes discarded animal parts.

Life cycle of Dipylidium caninim - diagram copyright Michael at PoC

Selected associated pages:

• Cat flea life cycle
• Tapeworms in felines

Photo of flea: by Armed Forces Pest Management Board