Fierce Critter, Heeellp!

[pomba gira]

So I went to change bed linens and when I picked up the cat towel (for them to lie on so fur isn't absolutely everywhere), I noticed all these little thingies fell onto the featherbed! Like tiny brownish grains of rice. Are these WORMS?!?! Eeeyeeewww!!! I can't bring myself to lift any tails & look for more... I mean, I know I have to but it will take a day or so to work up to it. Kitties all seem healthy & happy (well, except for pouting 'cos I won't make it be warm enough for them to stay outside all day). Haven't noticed anything unusual in the litter box but then I don't really look that closely. I guess I need to though... Eeeyewww again!!

Any advice would be appreciated... if I gotta take 'em in to the vet I will, but would just as soon not rack up a big vet bill if I don't have to.

Horrible thought, if these are worms, can I get 'em? Do I need to sterilize the whole featherbed? I'm gonna wash the duvet cover right now but the featherbed is a bit more problematic. Gawd, maybe I'll just sleep on the couch tonight... a third time, EEEYYEEEWWW!!!

[Burrich1]

Not to frighten you, but if they are some types of roundworms or hookworms, people can get them too. You might want to take a few to the vet when you go to be sure.

[freydis]

yeah.

examine one closely, and make sure it isnt *moving*.

when we first got our rescue cat, we had to take her to the vet to get a de-wormer.

it was *soooo gross*.

finding the worms, not the killing them part.

theyll need a few fresh cat poops at the vet, and they can tell you immediately what worms they are, and give em meds to get rid of em. They go away pretty quick, usually. I'd get em in soon, though. Luckily, ours didnt have the communicable kind. Mostly (the communicable kind) is communicable by accidental ingestion or inhalation. So as long as you clean stuff and wash your hands, you should be ok. Just get em in soon.

[FarrIL]

Better yet, dont let them outside at all.

Outdoor cats mean fleas and worms. My cat KC got worms just by us letting him stand on pavement. We had to de-worm him and the other 5 cats, just to be safe.

Lift their tails and check for squirmy things. Check the litter box. Vet visits too.

[Steven]

that over the counter de-wormers dont really work well either.....yep, its a trip to the vet.....wormsd and fleas go hand in hand.....nasty but normal but you have to get on top of it....

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

If thats what I think it is, get you cats a vet now. There is a type of worms... cant rememver what they are called though... but when they drop segmants full of eggs.. it looks like rice. Normal worm meds wont kill them. I had a dog that caught them... Flea larva eats the eggs segmants... flea grows up and jumps on cat... cat eats flea.. eggs hatch in cat and cat has worms... damnit, I cant remember what they are called but I remememberr the meds to kill them was about $100.

[Homicidalheathen]

They are worm eggs. Get them to the vet and make them indoor kitties from now on.

[pomba gira]

OK, I'll call Ailurophile & make an appointment... but they're not gonna become indoor kitties. I can't imagine what a nightmare that would be. I am well aware of all the arguments for keeping cats indoors... but I wouldn't want to live my whole life indoors, so I'm not gonna make the Pussy Posse do it. At this stage in their lives (6-7 yrs old) they wouldn't tolerate it anyway.

[Destroit]

OK, I'll call Ailurophile & make an appointment... but they're not gonna become indoor kitties. I can't imagine what a nightmare that would be. I am well aware of all the arguments for keeping cats indoors... but I wouldn't want to live my whole life indoors, so I'm not gonna make the Pussy Posse do it. At this stage in their lives (6-7 yrs old) they wouldn't tolerate it anyway.

I hear ya! I live in townhouses and I'm not supposed to let a cat outside without a leash, but that sure as hell doesn't stop me. It's so cruel when people keep their cats inside, that's like having a five year old and saying "no you can't EVER leave this house, not even ONCE! You can't have friends, see the world, play like you should, you have to stay in here until you finally go craaaaazy..." Trust me, I don't think that would fly with child services, why would you do the same thing to a kitteh? I now have mad respect (not that I didn't before) for teh Pomba for being sucha caring pet (yes...little do you know yer kittehs actually own you. Pretty startling, yeash?)

Of course you'll have to have to keep the kittehs inside for the de-worming process and give them a bath first to make sure no little eggies are under their toes or stuck on their fur. Uhmmm....good luck Also give their potty boxes a good scrubbing with like bleach or something.

[Fierce Critter]

Sorry. Connection has been completely down for days.

Those are tapeworm eggs. And no need to be alarmed. We had a flea infestation a couple years ago, and fleas carry tapeworm. Some facts:

Cats in decent health will do fine while they have tapeworm. it's not a GREAT idea to put off taking care of this, but it's not generally something that will kill them. From what I've heard, fleas can make them sicker than tapeworm.

You cannot get tapeworm from these eggs. Because neither can cats. The only way tapeworm can be passed on is through the flea. I have double checked this with more than one vet. Once you have gotten rid of the fleas, then you can treat the tapeworm. Don't do it the other way around, or the tapeworm will return.

Tractor Supply Company stores sell a tablet form of tapeworm treatment - and IT WORKS. I have 12 cats, right? And at least 6 of them had tapeworm from the aforementioned flea infestation. I couldn't afford vet treatment at the time, and found this stuff. It's $12.00 a bottle, 3 tablets in each, and it goes by weight. So you can treat from 1 to 2 and possibly 3 cats, depending on their weight, with a single bottle. And it only took ONE TREATMENT for them to be CURED.

Good luck!

[Fierce Critter]

Quick addendum:

Tapeworm eggs when they are fresh look like pulsating grains of rice. When they dry, they look exactly like sesame seeds.

If yours are long, brownish and ricelike, I'm not 100% positive they are tapeworm. But if they're as I describe, that's what they are.

A couple of mine had it bad enough you could see the gross things coming outta their butts. It's unmistakeable.

[Winter Steele]

Tape worms sounds like to me too Better to spend a vet bill then find out you have'm too EWWW

Adult worms absorb food predigested by the host, so the worms have no need for a digestive tract or a mouth. Large tapeworms are made almost entirely of reproductive structures with a small "head" for attachment. Symptoms vary widely, depending on the species causing the infestation. (Wikipedia quote)

[pomba gira]

Sorry. Connection has been completely down for days.

Those are tapeworm eggs. And no need to be alarmed. We had a flea infestation a couple years ago, and fleas carry tapeworm. Some facts:

Cats in decent health will do fine while they have tapeworm. it's not a GREAT idea to put off taking care of this, but it's not generally something that will kill them. From what I've heard, fleas can make them sicker than tapeworm.

You cannot get tapeworm from these eggs. Because neither can cats. The only way tapeworm can be passed on is through the flea. I have double checked this with more than one vet. Once you have gotten rid of the fleas, then you can treat the tapeworm. Don't do it the other way around, or the tapeworm will return.

Tractor Supply Company stores sell a tablet form of tapeworm treatment - and IT WORKS. I have 12 cats, right? And at least 6 of them had tapeworm from the aforementioned flea infestation. I couldn't afford vet treatment at the time, and found this stuff. It's $12.00 a bottle, 3 tablets in each, and it goes by weight. So you can treat from 1 to 2 and possibly 3 cats, depending on their weight, with a single bottle. And it only took ONE TREATMENT for them to be CURED.

Good luck!

Thanks so much FC. Sesame seed is actually more what these look like, & we did indeed have a major flea-festation a couple months ago (thank all the gods for large-dog size vials of Frontline available cheap on eBay!!!) so that fits. There is a Tractor Supply right near here (in what I refer to as the Redneck Mall- Tractor Supply, Walmart, Cracker Barrel, etc.) so I'll grab the pills today, then take them to the vet after the first of the year when I have a bit more loot. They need shots anyway... I'm gonna buy vaccines from Drs. Foster & Smith but the rabies has to be done at the vet. Gawd these are some expensive beasties!

And, Chernobyl, that's exactly how I feel. MAYBE if they'd been indoors all their lives... but they have been outside kitties since they were just cubs. They are serious hunters and greatly prefer to poop outside... they would be really unhappy if I suddenly imprisoned them in the house. And they would find all manner of ingenious ways to make their displeasure known to me! Nah, the Pussy Posse definitely win on this one.

[Destroit]

Sorry. Connection has been completely down for days.

Those are tapeworm eggs. And no need to be alarmed. We had a flea infestation a couple years ago, and fleas carry tapeworm. Some facts:

Cats in decent health will do fine while they have tapeworm. it's not a GREAT idea to put off taking care of this, but it's not generally something that will kill them. From what I've heard, fleas can make them sicker than tapeworm.

You cannot get tapeworm from these eggs. Because neither can cats. The only way tapeworm can be passed on is through the flea. I have double checked this with more than one vet. Once you have gotten rid of the fleas, then you can treat the tapeworm. Don't do it the other way around, or the tapeworm will return.

Tractor Supply Company stores sell a tablet form of tapeworm treatment - and IT WORKS. I have 12 cats, right? And at least 6 of them had tapeworm from the aforementioned flea infestation. I couldn't afford vet treatment at the time, and found this stuff. It's $12.00 a bottle, 3 tablets in each, and it goes by weight. So you can treat from 1 to 2 and possibly 3 cats, depending on their weight, with a single bottle. And it only took ONE TREATMENT for them to be CURED.

Good luck!

Yeah, Gitzie had tapeworm last year and I'm so confused as to WHY. She never had fleas, not even to this day, I sat there and combed through her fur for hours looking for any signs of bugs, eggs, or bites. Searched the house for fleas, cleaned everything (we have no carpet anywhere, so it was easy) and never spotted one to this day.

So basically what I did is I ordered some stuff online, there were three pills like you said FC. I took Gitzie, scrubbed her whole fuzzy body down (it was AMAZING. She's long haired, so it looked H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!), for which she still hasn't forgiven me over to this day, bleached the litter box, scrubbed the concrete around it (her potty is in the basement), and gave her just ONE pill. Haven't seen any little moving grains of rice in her doody since!

She still has yet to gain back alot of her weight, she's not UNDER weight, but she's skinny. I'm not sure though if that's even necessarily due to the worms she had, I was wondering that myself, but she's always been a tiny little squeaker so that may just be her. I'm used to my mom's cat being a huge fat beheamoth so that's probably why I always think Gitzie is underweight

Tape worms sounds like to me too Better to spend a vet bill then find out you have'm too EWWW

Adult worms absorb food predigested by the host, so the worms have no need for a digestive tract or a mouth. Large tapeworms are made almost entirely of reproductive structures with a small "head" for attachment. Symptoms vary widely, depending on the species causing the infestation. (Wikipedia quote)

Rest easy, Winter Steele, people can't get kitteh tapeworms, just the same way they can't get our lice and we can't get their fleas. I mean sure, we may be bitten by them, but they generally move on after tasting our blood and realizing we're not cat.

[freydis]

You cant get cat tapeworms, but certain types of roundworms are *definately* communicable to humans, and kind of dangerous. Look it up.... theres plenty of stuff out there.

[Destroit]

You cant get cat tapeworms, but certain types of roundworms are *definately* communicable to humans, and kind of dangerous. Look it up.... theres plenty of stuff out there.

Roundworms creep me out because they're like the only pathogen that can actually penetrate through your skin too. Like if you're outside walking around barefoot and step in some roundworm eggs, the eggs will actually burrow into your skin and make their way throughout your body. You can even get them in your brain, and since your brains are good, that situation would be not so good.

[Fierce Critter]

I took Gitzie, scrubbed her whole fuzzy body down (it was AMAZING. She's long haired, so it looked H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S!), for which she still hasn't forgiven me over to this day

Heh. Try washing 6 cats for 15 minutes at a time, three times a week.

When we brought Fletcher in as a tiny kitten, we didn't know he was bringing ringworm with him. Ended up getting all the cats, and at that time we numbered 6.

We got pictures of all of them, too.

[pomba gira]

Roundworms creep me out because they're like the only pathogen that can actually penetrate through your skin too. Like if you're outside walking around barefoot and step in some roundworm eggs, the eggs will actually burrow into your skin and make their way throughout your body. You can even get them in your brain, and since your brains are good, that situation would be not so good.

Who says my brains are good?

[Destroit]

Who says my brains are good?

Now now...I can't say for sure but your brains seem pretty kosher. I wouldn't sweat it :

How are your kittehs btw?

[Winter Steele]

Sorry, I was thinking of round worm Got it from My poodle cuddles once when I was small.

[Destroit]

Sorry, I was thinking of round worm Got it from My poodle cuddles once when I was small.

Yeeeap. Told ya it was scary. Species to species transmission (fairly rare) AND the ability to crawl THROUGH your skin to boot. Uhhhhggghhhh *shudder*

[pomba gira]

Now now...I can't say for sure but your brains seem pretty kosher. I wouldn't sweat it :

How are your kittehs btw?

The Pussy Posse are all fine, thanks. They all seem perfectly healthy, just want to make sure they stay that way!

[Kit Kat P]

My cats are mostly outdoor as well, but living w/ other cats and helping father-in-law to care for neighborhood strays we keep a black sheet over our bed so we know immediately if theres a problem.

Who says my brains are good?