My old cat has worms, is thin, matted, and has a red butt. What's wrong?

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.

Intestinal parasites can be picked up from the environment. If this is a tapeworm you saw (looks similar to a grain of rice), fleas can transmit tapeworm to cats. I would recommend treating Venus with a product called Profender, which will treat intestinal parasites including tapeworm. I would also consider using a flea and tick preventative such as Revolution or Frontline. I would also consider bringing a stool sample to a veterinarian to help diagnose what kind of intestinal parasites these could be. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

The deworming pill and the symptoms you described have nothing to do with each other, if he is losing his fur and losing weight he is suffering from something serious. Sudden weight loss is always a very big warning light that should not be taken lightly, it's usually a sign of an internal disease that needs to be investigated, i strongly recommend taking him to the vet in order to get it checked, he will need to have a blood test done and possibly an xray as well in order to attempt to diagnose the reason for these symptoms.

Based on the photos, Ella appears to be a healthy weight - however, any unexplained weight loss is always worth investigating. Your friend is correct that worms can cause weight loss. Other possibilities include decreased appetite, vomiting, increased activity, or possibly something more serious. It would be ideal to establish care with a veterinarian so that you can start a log of her weight over time, to determine how much she is losing. Your veterinarian can check a fecal sample for parasites and perform any additional tests as needed.

Poor Garfield! Tapeworms do not usually cause any significant weight loss or other symptoms in cats, so I would be very concerned that Garfield has a more serious problem. I would recommend taking him to the vet for an exam when you are able to. He/she can do some diagnostic testing (blood work and x-rays) if needed to help determine what's wrong, and will get him started on appropriate treatment depending on what is found.

Jazzy could have a skin infection causing the itching and hair loss. You can try a medicated shampoo but with cats they usually need an antibiotic and possibly a steroid injection for their skin to clear up. Also depending on her age she may need blood work to make sure no underlying issues are causing her thin body condition (thyroid abnormality, kidney issues, parasites)

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I agree that a heavy worm burden can cause what you’re describing. In fact, it is the most likely reason. You can try an over the counter cat dewormer from a pet store. Follow the directions exactly in terms of amount and number of treatments. Hopefully, that’s all it takes to get her feeling better. Unfortunately, there are other (much less common) things that can cause large belly, weight loss, and lethargy including: FIP, heart failure, liver failure, cancer, protein problems, etc. So, if the dewormer doesn’t help, you may have to decide if you’d want to take her to the vet for further testing or if you’d like her humanely euthanized, etc. Best wishes and thank you so much for taking care of this stray!