Worms are fairly common. Tapeworms are the most common worms we see in cats. Kittens are the most affected, but adult cats are more prone to getting tapeworms from flea ingestion.

There can be many different signs. Normally, there will be loose stool, potential vomiting or not eating very well. You will also see the worms in your cat's stool or around the back end. Weight loss or their hair coat not looking as great as it once did are also signs.

Many times they can be. Roundworms and hookworms look like long pieces of spaghetti, for a lack of better description. You'll also have tapeworms, which will be shorter and look like little grains of rice. Those usually get stuck around your cat's fur on the back end.

They can definitely become uncomfortable. Some of them do have GI upset accompanied by nausea and diarrhea among other symptoms. Especially if they have a pretty heavy burden.

The most common way in cats is from ingestion of fleas. Fleas can carry tapeworm eggs, and those tapeworm eggs can be ingested by the cat whenever they're grooming and they pick up a flea. Into the intestinal tract it goes, hatches out, and there you have tapeworms. Ingestion of fleas is one way, along with ingesting or having worms present in their environment if they're around other cats that have it in their litter boxes.

Intestinal parasites are commonly known as worms. They are types of parasites that can get into your cat's intestinal tract and do some harm by either affecting the intestinal tract itself or by feeding on some of the nutrients that your cat ingests before passing out in the stool.

It can. There are certain diseases that can be life threatening, especially things like heartworm disease.

Often, it is. I would much rather prevent diseases in dogs than have to treat them. It won’t have nearly as big of an impact on your dog's body and it's usually easier on your pocketbook.

For puppies, you have flea, tick and heartworm preventions and vaccines preventing diseases. Similar preventions are used for adult dogs . You have preventative care of fleas, ticks and heartworms. You should be consistent on that and make sure their vaccines stay up to date whenever they're around other dogs at the dog park. In your senior dogs, you want to have preventative care by checking out some blood work levels and making sure that you're not having any issues regarding their organs as those can start to get some diseases over time.

It's going to do its best possible job. You still need to watch over your dog, especially if you're going out on any hikes or they're in fields where they could potentially have increased exposure. Also make sure that you are giving your dog preventative care routinely to make sure it is still effective.