Table 2 Dog and cat risk category definitions
Risk category | Dogs | Cats | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Description | EU ESCCAP recommended deworming frequencyb | Description | EU ESCCAP recommended deworming frequencyb | |
A | Older than 6 months, lives indoors only or goes outdoors but has no direct contact with parks, sandpits, playgrounds, (faeces from) other dogs, snails and slugs, raw meat or prey | 1–2 times per year | Cat lives indoors. Infection pressure with worm stages is low, eating rodents unlikely | 1–2 times per year |
B | Older than 6 months, goes outdoors and has direct contact with parks, sandpits, playgrounds, and (faeces from) other dogs and cats; but does not eat prey animals and/or snails and slugs and/or goes outdoors to hunt and does not eat raw meat | 4 times per year | Cat goes outdoor. Infection pressure with worm stages is high, eating rodents likely | 4 times a year |
Ca | Older than 6 months, goes outdoors and has direct contact with parks, sandpits, playgrounds, and (faeces from) other dogs and cats and eats prey animals and/or snails and slugs and/or goes outdoors to hunt and eats raw meat | > 4 times per year | Cat eats prey animals and/or goes outdoors to hunt and eats raw meat | more than 4 times per year |
Da | Are less than 6 month-old, or eats prey animals and/or goes outdoors to hunt, or lives indoors, eats raw meat and lives with children/elderly | 12 times per year | Are less than 6 months old, or cat is free to roam outdoors and shares home with young children or immunocompromised individuals | 12 times per year |