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An outdoor cat that I’ve been feeding for the last ten years is not eating as much and today there was a worm on the Matt she sleeps on. She said s skittish too. What should I do?

An outdoor cat that I’ve been feeding for the last ten years is not eating as much and today there was a worm on the Matt she sleeps on. She said s skittish too. What should I do?

Updated On September 14th, 2020

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 11 lbs

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

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Poor Maluda. How lovely of you to look out for her. That may be a tapeworm in the pictures, and having those could cause her to have a loss of appetite and not feel well. She needs to see a vet for this, and the vet can confirm if she has tapeworms or not. If she does, she needs a deworming treatment like Drontal to kill them and a flea treatment as well since fleas carry and give tapeworms to cats. She is an older cat, so eating less can be due to something serious like dental problems or illnesses like diabetes, kidney failure, and even cancer. I would also recommend getting her a geriatric blood panel and urinalysis to make sure she is overall healthy. I hope this helps.

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