After tons of looking up there is still NO clear answer. I get that they can be infected by being near or eating the feces on other infected animals, But a NEWBORN, and I mean brand new kitten is somehow still infected? They were born in the house, never been outside, and yet are still infected. What the hell are they? Some sort of parasite that floats through the air? It’s just so frustrating looking for a simple answer yet everything beats around the bush, so here I am, asking here. How do animals get infected with roundworms?
In: 8
Kittens can get them if mom has roundworms that aren’t treated via the placenta or by drinking mom’s milk.
Only plausible answer is mom has roundworms, probably from eating a rodent with roundworms.
If I recall correctly from school;
Some roundworms will “hibernate” in a way where they essentially become hidden in the adult dog/cat (called “encysting”) – in this form they do not do anything to the host and are hard if not impossible to treat for.
When the mama host becomes pregnant, the pregnancy hormones wake up the encysted roundworms, who then migrate to the mammary tissue. When the puppy/kitten nurses, they ingest the roundworm that way.
This is me remembering what I learned in LVT school a few years ago and may be a bit off on details.
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