Tapeworms, maybe

Hey all...

I have a kitten that's been with us for a couple of months now. She was 3 months old when I acquired her. She is active, eating/disposing properly but today I found something that made me want to puke... She lays on my belly and when she got up to stretch I looked over and saw something come out of her rear.. and slide back in!!! This was appauling and I squeeled.. Sorry to be so close minded but I don't do worms!! lol.. anyway to the point, I immediately called the vet but being after 5pm they can't see me until tomorrow morning at 8am. SO, from what I've been reading for the last hour, it *seems* to be tapeworms. Of course I have no idea but this is what it looked like and I read others' stories and they sound similar to mine.

I'm going to ask the vet these questions, but second/third/fourth opinions never hurt. Can tapeworms be transferred to humans? Do I need to get tested? I have an older cat (well, 4 years old) and they share a litter box, I'm 100% going to be giving him medication for it as well if it's safe/logical, etc. I've seen little pieces of this 'thing' around her tush... Can they effectively live outside her body very long? I also have rats, in another room, a room she has never stepped foot in, I wonder if they can get it?

I'm sorry.. I'm more or less just trying to vent after seeing this, I'm bummed.

edit- I wanted to mention what it looked like. I haven't seen a REAL picture on the internet of a tapeworm, only animations... The part I saw come out was about 1/2 inch long. It was white, maybe offwhite, skinny and long, and sort of flat if that makes sense. Like a flat cylinder shape. I managed to snag a piece off that was laying in her fur, and I put it in a plastic ziploc bag. It looks like a booger, like squishy... But not runny, it's solid until you squish it. Sorry to sound so gross!

My cat had a tapeworm when she was a kitten. The worm was in her feces and it looked like an onion. It was 11 years ago, so I don't remember exactly what the vet gave her, but I think it was a shot of some sort.

Also, the vet told me that the only way for a human to get it would be to have swollowed some of the cats feces. I would have your other cat checked out, or dewormed, just in case....especially if they share a litter box.

My cat never had a problem with tapeworms again after that, or if she did, I never saw one.

My understanding with tapeworms was #1 no humans didn't need to worry about them--cats get them from eating fleas and #2 they will not share them via the litter box--again a flea must be consumed, no the tapeworm segments.

My boys just dealt with this in late July--they both had fleas and Jack's tapeworms were very bad, he had lost some weight because of them (they are in the digestive tract). The tapeworm shot at our low cost clinic was $43 a piece (so two of those) plus 3 months of flea treatments for two cats which was about $110 So tapeworms and fleas cost us $200 here to treat.

Plus flea treatment of our home--which thank god was free because my dad is an exterminator--our home was flea free in 3 days.

Leslie

Probably round or tape worms. Tapeworms come from fleas. If your kittens doesn't have fleas or never has, then its probably round.

Take a sample to the vet. If you don't clean out the poop in the litter box every day, it can be passed from cat to cat. And only passed to humans if you don't wash your hands after scooping.

Thanks for the info. I took her in to the vet this morning, and she's on Drontal for the tape worms. I told the vet I don't have fleas in my house, in fact I've never seen a single flea in over 5 years. But I was told since she is so young it's possible she ingested a flea a while ago, since she was a stray for the first few weeks of her life. The time-line makes sense. Any way, she said the worms should be cleared up very soon, so I'm happy!

Hi, my cats on Drontal, don't worry it works mega quick! I saw what you saw and went to vet asap and gave al the tab and never saw another. It only cost me about £2.50, i think about $4. I worm mine every 3 months as he goes outside. I get them from the vet only!