Help! Is this worms?

I took my kittens to be bathed yesterday. The owner of the grooming place came out and told me that Luna has worms. She showed me Luna's behind where little white rice looking things were attached to her fur. Are those the worms?

Luna was just at the vets the day before. She didn't have them then.

Midnight has something wrong with his stomach where he's very gassy all the time. This is the 4th time he's been on a dewormer. Is this something he passed onto Luna?

We're getting a dewormer for her today.

Also what kind of worm is this? I know Lynxx has had tape worms in the past, but I never saw that white rice looking stuff on him before.

Yes, it's tapeworms. Those are the dessicated tapeworm segments.

The vet can give you an effective wormer. Don't buy one over the counter. Some of the new versions of Advantage or Revolution will also take care of most worms, but I think tapeworms may be the exception. Do a little checking.

The "gassy" kitty may have one of the 3 fairly common intestinal problems, giardia, coccidia, or tritrichomonas foetus. Testing may not show them, but all three can be treated successfully.

These are common problems in multi-cat households, especially if any of the cats go outside.

Tapeworms are passed by fleas so it's unlikely that the gassy cat gave the tapeworm to your other cats. Cats get tapeworms when they groom and swallow a flea that is infected with tapeworms. One of my kitties gets tapeworms more frequently than the others and I guess it's because he swallows the fleas more than they do, though with the advances in flea prevention, we haven't had a tapeworm around here in years.

Tapeworms are not generally noticed in a stool sample and they aren't taken care of with the dewormer for round & hookworms. A special pill is needed for tapeworms, but once taken AND you treat for fleas, then you probably won't need to worry about them again. Make sure you treat for fleas, too.