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Worms in cat?

N64

Hi guys, my cat was sitting up on my desk and I noticed something dangling out of his... well you know what I am talking about

It eventually dropped onto the surface of my desk and upon further examination of it, it was still moving :eek: My cat appears fine himself and is not getting sick and is eating normally.

Does anybody have any idea what this is?

http://imgur.com/a/IeQEE

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boomerang

It's a tapeworm segment. Very common, especially in cats that hunt mice. She just needs a good wormer, like Milbemax, every three months. Unlike roundworms, cats and dogs aren't really affected by tapeworms, but boy are they yok when they crawl out of their bottom! :eek:

N64

Yeah, thats exactly what happened

I bet than these can spread to humans as well?

boomerang

Yep, but only when that segment dries out and the eggs burst out. And if I remember rightly, it takes a few weeks for the eggs to reach the infective stage. You'd have to ingest the eggs to become infected yourself.

ETA: Oh, and I forgot, there is one species of tapeworm that requires a flea as part of its lifecycle. Part her fur and check very carefully for fleas. They are very small. If she has fleas you won't be able to stop the tapeworm lifecycle without also giving her a flea treatment.

N64

Thanks for your help. We took the cat to the vet on Saturday and the vet did indeed confirm your diagnosis of tapeworm (I showed her the picture)

The vet did actually examine the cat for evidence of fleas (because as you did mention, the tapeworm and flea cycle are interlinked) but she couldn't find any fleas nor flea droppings (she commented that my cats fur was actually really clean!) although we did apply the anti flea treatment a few days before the appointment.