Best cat dewormer is case specific. Worms are common intestinal parasites for cats. Whether your cat stays indoors or outdoors, you’re likely to encounter worms sometimes in their life. However, the most frequently plagued cats are those that mostly stay outdoors, eat live prey, have fleas, or cats exposed to pets that carry worms.
There are various forms of parasitic worms, with some that are significantly more harmful than others. However, cats in the US suffer most from roundworms, hookworms, and tapeworms. These worm infestations come with symptoms and health implications, but these varies depending on the type of worm.
Delayed treatment commonly escalates into more severe complications and result in gastrointestinal disorder, anemic conditions, and pale looking skin and coat. Whatever is the type of worm menacing your cat; it is essential you manage your cat condition very quickly and effectively.
Thankfully, management of parasitic worms in cats is easy when you pick a proper best cat dewormer. You can get an over-the-counter product to treat mild infestation at home. You may need a prescription from your vet if you have to deal with more severe complications.
The aim of this article is not to rule out the significance of a veterinary doctor prescription and advice in your pets care but to help you quickly choose the best OTC cat dewormer for your cat.
Now, let’s quickly begin!
Best cat dewormer is case specific. Worms are common intestinal parasites for cats. Whether your cat stays indoors or outdoors, you’re likely to encounter worms sometimes in their life. However, the most frequently plagued cats are those that mostly stay outdoors, eat live prey, have fleas, or cats exposed to pets that carry worms.
There are various forms of parasitic worms, with some that are significantly more harmful than others. However, cats in the US suffer most from roundworms, hookworms, and tapeworms. These worm infestations come with symptoms and health implications, but these varies depending on the type of worm.
Delayed treatment commonly escalates into more severe complications and result in gastrointestinal disorder, anemic conditions, and pale looking skin and coat. Whatever is the type of worm menacing your cat; it is essential you manage your cat condition very quickly and effectively.
Thankfully, management of parasitic worms in cats is easy when you pick a proper best cat dewormer. You can get an over-the-counter product to treat mild infestation at home. You may need a prescription from your vet if you have to deal with more severe complications.
The aim of this article is not to rule out the significance of a veterinary doctor prescription and advice in your pets care but to help you quickly choose the best OTC cat dewormer for your cat.
Now, let’s quickly begin!
Cat Dewormer Buyer’s Guide
Data from the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine show that forty-five percent of cats suffer from a gastrointestinal parasite. The most common one among them is the parasitic worms that commonly infest your cat’s digestive tract. Given the numerous choice of available treatment, deciding on the right choice can be a bit tasking. However, this buying guide and our top ten picks of best cat dewormers will provide you with essential information that will help you choose the right best cat dewormer. Now, let’s quickly, get down to it!
Determining What Type Of Worms Infesting Your Cat
Sometimes, it is difficult to know the precise worm type that is plaguing your cat. The common types of cat worms are tapeworms, roundworms, and hookworms. Some broad-spectrum medications treat the three types of worm while other types of medication treat only one worm type. Broad spectrum medications are best cat dewormer for all worms. They may be handy, but they frequently come with a few side effects. Your best bet is to consult your vet to check the type of worm afflicting your cat and choose medication accordingly.
Tapeworms
Tapeworm commonly infests cats when they swallow fleas carrying eggs of tapeworm. Fleas are also common tapeworm carriers. They can even get it by coming in contact with an animal that is infested by a worm. For this reason, cats that spend more time outdoors are more vulnerable.
Roundworms
Cats frequently suffer from roundworms. It is essential to manage them as early as possible. Your kitty friend can get roundworms by eating an animal carrier of roundworm or by ingesting roundworm eggs. A mother cat can also transfer it to her baby cat in the uterus or via breast milk.
Hookworms
Hookworms commonly attach to the intestinal walls of cat and suck their blood. Hookworm infestation is a dangerous situation. Cats often get hookworms by eating hookworm eggs. They can as well get it through contact with hookworm infested soil. Cat can as well contact hookworms when they eat hookworm carrier or if the worm bores into their skin.
How to Choose the Right Dewormer
Cats that spend most times outdoors frequently suffer from worm infestations. But the outbreak is easy to handle when you get the right best cat dewormer. Majorities of best cat dewormers in the market don’t come with any serious side effect; they are easy to feed the cat and effectively eliminate these parasites.
However, this is true when you can detect the problem early enough. When the infestation lingers for an extended period, it results in grave consequences including anemia, starvation, and the worst scenario is death. A huge concern about cat’s worm infestations is their potential to transfer to humans. Given this, it’s very important that you spot and treat worm infestations the moment they manifest.
For proper eradication of worms in your cat, it is essential you pick the right medication for the type off worm plaguing your cat. Best cat dewormers are case-specific. What this means is that a drug that efficiently eliminates roundworms out of your cat may not be as effective in treating tapeworms or hookworms. Therefore, you need diagnoses from your vet first before trying any treatment. The following part of the guide provides essential information that you need for making the right choice of the best cat dewormer.
Choosing a suitable Treatment
There are two types of treatments available when you are treating your cat for worms. They are chemical and natural treatments. Best cat dewormers are available both over-the-counter and by prescription. They may be oral or topical. Oral medications come in tablets, liquids, and pastes so that you can effectively administer the drug in the manner most comfortable for your cat.
The different types of best cat dewormers work through different technique. We’ll go over a few active ingredients regularly used in dewormers for cats, so you know how they function!
Chemical Dewormers
Cat dewormers that use chemical active-ingredients make use of the ingredients below. Chemical dewormers are available both as OTC and prescription medication. Some of the best over the counter cat dewormers are as effective as best prescription cat dewormers.
Your choice of chemical treatment commonly depends on the worm type you are treating. Below are the most common chemicals used to eliminate cat worms:
Pyrantel pamoate
This chemical is best for treating roundworms and hookworms. It does so by paralyzing the worms and makes them lose their grip on the cat’s intestinal wall. They, thus, fall out and eliminated out of the cat's body through the poop.
Praziquantel
This chemical treats tapeworms. It works by preventing the capacity of the tapeworm to digest nutrients. This way it keeps your cat from malnutrition. Besides, it deprives the worm of their source of food and finally eliminates them through starvation.
Piperazine
This chemical paralyzes roundworms and eliminates them out of your cat’s body. However, it is not great for managing hookworms. Using higher doses outside recommended prescription come with side effects like nausea, vomiting, and muscle trembles.
Natural Dewormers
There are a lot of natural and best herbal dewormers that you can choose if you’d prefer alternative medications. These treatments serve as alternatives to standard best cat dewormer. However, despite how appealing they are, they are commonly less effective compared to chemical treatments. However, it is not a bad idea to give them a try!
Diatomaceous Earth
If you want to go the natural route, the best active ingredient option is Diatomaceous earth. It commonly dehydrates the worm. Besides, it serves as fleas’ treatment.
Herbal Dewormer Blends
There are also a few best natural cat dewormers that merge herbs and other ingredients which are thought to make the cat’s intestinal wall non-conducive for worm growth. These herbal blends commonly include clove, wormwood, and black walnut.
Cucurbitin
Cucurbitin is another best natural cat dewormer particularly when you steep the cat into its solution. It is an amino acid obtained from pumpkin seeds that work by paralyzing the worm.
What Factors Determine The Best Cat Dewormer?
There are a few factors that help you to determine which the best cat dewormer is for you and your cat. We made our top picks of best cat dewormer based on these factors. These are:
How safe, how tasty, how quickly it can be administered and above all how effective it is.
Preventing Worms
The best part of cat worm management is to prevent infestation in the first place. The following are what you can do to avoid worm attacks on your feline friends.
• Keep them indoors or monitor their activities if possible. This way you prevent them from eating rodents, birds, and rabbits which are common worm carriers.
• Test their poops once or two times annually for parasites to spot infestation early
• Regular fleas’ treatment is essential because fleas are common carriers of roundworm.
• Keep your kitty friend surroundings including litter boxes, beddings, dishes, and toys always clean.
• Feed proper cat diet to maintain the health of your kitty friend.
The Best Cat Dewormers review: Our Top 10 picks
Many cat owners wonder, how effective are over the counter cat dewormers? Nevertheless, a lot of best OTC cat dewormers contain the same type of active ingredients with prescription products. But what you need for the infection to clear up quickly is to pick the best cat dewormer that suits your cats need and the type of worm infestation you are treating.
Despite the cost of vet visits, it is best to consult with your veterinary doctor for proper diagnosis and prescription if your kitty friend is suffering from a severe infestation. But for mild worm attacks, you'd be fine with the best OTC cat dewormers.
Let’s quickly review the best cat dewormers for treating mild worm attack and discuss the type of worms that they effectively manage.
1. Bayer Drontal Broad Spectrum Dewormer, 50 Tablets
Bayer Drontal is a broad spectrum cat dewormer and best cat dewormer for all worms. It is suitable for treating tapeworms, roundworms, and hookworms. Praziquantel and pyrantel pamoate are the two active ingredients in the product. It effectively treats worms in cats and kittens over one month old and those weighing more than 1.5 pounds. The tablets are large and unpleasant tasting, but you can break it into four to make administration easier. It comes 50 pills in a bottle. It is a trusted product with an excellent reputation for safety and effectiveness.
Pros
• Safe and reliable
• Minimal and rare side effects
• Effective against all types of worms
• Used by vets
Cons
• Large pills that are challenging to mix in food
• Not suitable for a worm-specific treatment
• Unpleasant taste
2. NHV Dewormer for Dogs, Cats, Puppies, Kittens
NHV cat-Dewormer efficiently treats Dogs, Cats, Puppies and Kittens. It is vet approved and a safe product. NHV Dewormer is an easy to administer all-natural herbal broad-spectrum blend that eliminates worms and manages intestinal bleeding. It also fixes any damage from parasitic infections. NHV Inulin-PK dewormer serves both as a curative and preventative treatment. It's easy to use and safely treats roundworms, tapeworms, hookworms, whipworms.
• Fast action
• Effective broad spectrum best cat dewormer
• Safe and easy to use
• No dangerous side effects
• It is vet formulated and approved
• Enhances the immune system
• Natural blend and chemical free
Cons
• Bad taste and don’t easily mix with dry food
• Minimize symptoms for some without eliminating it
3. Naturpet D Wormer
Naturpet D Wormer is an effective treatment for tapeworms and roundworms. It contains natural blends of herbs that effectively eliminates parasites, and heals the digestive tract. The pack comes with a dropper for easy dosing. It is 100 percent safe and effective. The active ingredients include herbs like wormwood aerial parts, black walnut green hull, black seed, or papaya leaf. For efficiency, you must use as directed. It efficiently manages worms in both cats and dogs and can be mixed with food or administered straight into the mouth.
Pros
• Enhances healthy digestion
• Mixes well into the cat's food
• Effective all-natural blend
• Treats tapeworms and roundworms
• Improves digestion
• Maintains the digestive tract
Cons
• The efficiency does not favorably compare with chemically formulated products.
4. Homeopet Feline Wrm Clear Drops (Pack of 3)
HomeoPet Feline Wrm Clear is a best liquid cat dewormer and a homeopathic blend made entirely from natural blends. It makes a good and safe dewormer for pregnant and lactating cats. This product effectively eliminates roundworms, tapeworms, and hookworm in cats and kittens.
HomeoPet Feline Wrm Clear is all natural worm treatment that you can administer directly into the mouth or mixed with water. You can feed it with food. It doesn't require an empty stomach. Besides, it is gentle on your kitty’s tummy.
Pros
• Gentle on the tummy
• No stomach upset.
• Easy to feed the cat
• Cost-effective
• No harmful chemicals
• Very safe
Cons
• Not effective for some users
5. Excel Roundworm Feline De-Wormer
Excel Roundworm best Cat De-Wormer effectively removes Roundworms in cats and kittens over six weeks of age. This easy to feed and tasty liquid can be spewed directly into the cat's mouth or added to food for easy administration. Excel best cat dewormer is one of the best cat dewormers for roundworms out there. It safely and effectively removes roundworms in cats. It is the best over-the-counter cat dewormer for roundworm. This product offers enough value for the price. The taste makes it easy to administer to cats opposed to squirting down their throat.
Pros
• Easy to feed
• Tasty liquid
• Direct administration or mixed with food
• It is very effective
• It is cost-effective
Cons
• Hassle spewing the liquid into the cats’ mouth but worth the effort
6. Bayer Tapeworm Dewormer– Best Tapeworm Dewormer
The Bayer Tapeworm Dewormer is suitable for Cats 6 weeks and older and currently the best cat and kitten dewormer for tapeworms. It eliminates common tapeworms like Dipylidium caninum and Taenia taeniaeformis.
Each tablet contains 23 mg of praziquantel active ingredient which paralyzes the worm, effectively starves and kills tapeworms. For cats less than 4 pounds, give half tablet and one and a half tablets for cats up to 5 pounds.
You can directly feed the tablet whole or crush it and mix it up in your pet's food. Apart from treating tapeworms, this product is safe for cat’s who don’t have tapeworms. These tablets are affordable and come as a practical, handy way to eliminate tapeworms.
Pros
• An efficient treatment for tapeworms
• Safe for cats
• Side effects are minimal and rare
• No prescription required.
• Easily dissolves in water.
• Great value for the price
• Safely removes common tapeworms, dipylidium caninum, and taenia pisiformis tapeworms.
• Safe for home treatment
• Easily mixed with food.
Cons
• Sporadic instances of Salivation or diarrhea
7. CatNDog Cat Wormers - Cats Dewormer Round and Tapewormer Tablets for Cats
CatNDog Cat Wormers Cats Dewormers are great useful tablets for eliminating roundworm and tapeworm in cats. It is fed to the cat according to their body weight. One tablet dose is suitable for cats weighing 8.8 lbs while cats that are 4.4 lbs take half the tablet. Cats that are weighing nine to thirteen pounds take one and a half tablets. For cats that stay indoors, give them these tablets every three months. But for outdoor cats, administer it every month to eliminate worms. It comes in a taste that is appealing to cats.
Pros
• Easy to administer
• Mixes well with the food
• Great for cats that don’t easily take liquids
• Fast action
• No side effects
Cons
Feeding a half tablet dose can be tasking
8. Pro-Sense Liquid De-Wormer for Cats
ProSense Liquid Dewormer is a flavored liquid medication for removing large roundworms in cats. The active ingredient in this best OTC dewormer is Piperazine Citrate which is also present in prescription medication. It is excellent for preventing re-infestation of Toxocara Canis and Toxacaris leonina.
It is suitable for kittens more than six weeks old. Each teaspoon contains 250mg piperazine, which paralyzes roundworms and eliminates them from the body of your cat. The great thing about this best liquid dewormer is the sweet taste. You can mix it with food or administer it directly with a syringe.
Caution: Overdose result in undesirable side effects.
Pros
• Easy administration
• Tasty liquid
• Affordable
• Great value for the price
• Very effective against roundworms
• Safe with minimal and uncommon side effects
Cons
• Colored with caramel and a bit undesirable
• Overdose results in nausea, sickness, and muscle tremors
9. Durvet WormEze Liquid Canine & Feline Antihelmintic, 8 oz
Durvet WormEze effectively removes large roundworms. The liquid is suitable for cats, kittens, and puppies over six weeks old. It is a cost-effective medication for the eradication of large roundworms in dogs and cats of any age. It is easy to administer; can be added to the water or food of your feline friend.
It contains piperazine active ingredients and is an excellent dewormer for ascarids, Toxocara Canis, Toxocara cati, and Toxascaris leonine large roundworms.
Pros
· Small size capsule for easy dosing
• Small size capsule for easy dosing
• Effective treatment for roundworms
• A safe product;
• Minimal and rare side effects
• Very affordable
• The liquid mixes easily with water or food
• It serves both preventive and treatment purpose
Cons
· Some cats dislike the taste
10. HomeoPet Wrm Clear
HomeoPet Wrm Clear is an effective best natural cat dewormer for the eradication of Hookworm, round and tapeworms. It is devoid of all chemical additives and contains only the purest, naturally grown raw materials. This best cat dewormer doesn't kill the worms as most related products. It makes the tummy of cat a non-conducive environment for harboring the worm and eliminates it out of the body.
Apart from eliminating the infested roundworm, it prevents further infestations. It can treat dogs, cats, birds, rabbits, hamsters, ferrets and pot-bellied pigs.
Pros
• Great pricing
• It treats tapeworms, roundworms, hookworms, and whipworms.
• It is entirely natural and non-poisonous.
• Safe to feed pregnant and lactating cats.
Cons
· It takes two weeks long to clear up worms
What is the best cat dewormer?
There is no single best cat dewormer. The best cat dewormer for you and your cat depends on several factors including the type of worm your cat has, your dog preference with regards to taste, your budget, how safe it is, the efficiency and whether you prefer natural medication or chemically formulated product. If you are having a hard time figuring out the type of worm your cat is suffering from, it may be best to consult with your vet for proper advice. Best Cat dewormer is commonly worm-specific.
Conclusion
Worm attacks in cats can result in a few severe health complications if left untreated. There are many ways your cat can contract worms. But here is the good news for you. There are many best cat dewormers available. However, the best cat dewormer is case-specific and adapted to the type of worm and your cat's condition.
In some instances, you'll need more than one active ingredient to clear up the worms completely. Let’s quickly give you this tip before we conclude. The best cat dewormer is not essentially a prescription product. There are plentiful best over-the-counter products you can easily purchase out there.
To be successful, though, you must be able to tell what worm that is tormenting your cat. Once you know that, with a right amount of research, you'll find a suitable solution. Each of the best cat dewormer we recommended here is efficient in its way. But, remember, the most useful treatment is case specific. Check what is the best cat dewormer choice for your cat is, and do not forget to consult with your vet when in doubt!
