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My cat has been losing a lot of weight recently, even though her diet hasn't changed. What might be the problem?

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My cat has been losing a lot of weight recently, even though her diet hasn't changed. What might be the problem?

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Has your cat been shedding more pounds than hair lately? Is her rich fur coat looking dull? These could be signs of roundworm.

Roundworms are spaghetti-like parasites around three to five inches long that may appear in Fluffy’s feces. These uninvited guests take out a temporary lease on your cat’s intestine, where they steal some of kitty’s chow before it is digested.

Roundworms are sneaky little pests because they don’t always cause symptoms until their host is very infected. They can also penetrate a female cat’s mammary glands and even her placenta, making it possible for a kitten to be born with a roundworm infection. So make sure to have your cat dewormed before breeding – and deworm the kittens too!

-Dr. Larry McDaniel, DVM for the "Purina® Animal Instincts" Podcast Series

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