My cat has some disgusting type of worm!!!

Well today I was sitting on a couch petting Mac, and I noticed a small white circular object on his fur. I didn't think anything of it. About 2 minutes later, I noticed that circular object was now long and in the shape of a worm! It was so nasty, I almost threw up. I immediately told my mom, and she said it was a segment of some type of parasite cats get from eating rodents and birds. It like lives in their stomachs.
Question is, how does this happen? We keep all the cats vaccinated and dewormed on regular intervals. Are there some types of worms that are immune to common antiworm medicine? And the big question, does this mean that I could have this disgusting thing in me too!!!!!??!?!
I hope to god no!

Peace,
Brandon

Besides being vaccinated, your cats need to be up on their flea treatments. Fleas can cause the tapeworms which is what you see, as well as eating small rodents, that can cause them as well. You need to call your vet and get some drontal to dose your cat and make sure you have advantage or frontline to stop fleas as well.

It does perhaps sound like a tapeworm. You see little white pieces that look like grains of rice around the butt. Hissy is right. The cats become infected after being bitten by an infected flea. The good news is that the treatment is one pill. Mac needs to see the vet.

Sounds like tapeworms to me also. We use frontline religiously from spring thru fall when fleas are present, and still manage to get tapeworms each year (fleas will still bite if present - Frontline doesn't prevent them, just kills them when they bite so they don't lay eggs and breed more). We live in the country and call it flea central.

When we see any of the cats with them, we wait until they are due for their frontline treatment, due a full clean of the house (vacuum everything in the house, change and bleach all litter boxes, wash all bedding & rugs), then 2-3 days later treat everyone in the house with Droncit. You will probably want to have a fecal done by the vet to see if there are any other parasites present.

Good luck!

Just some tapeworm education.

The segments you see on the fur, and usually around the rectum area, are only a part of a very long worm that is already hooked inside of your cat's system clinging to the wall of tissue. As the worm grows, so does the segments and at the reproductive stage, those segments drop off and are seen by us. They are actually the baby tapes, with mom still inside your critter.

Also, cats get tapeworms not from being bitten by fleas, but by ingesting an infected flea (which they do everytime they groom themselves and they have fleas) That's why it is important to flea-treat your cat with advantage or frontline but nothing over the counter! Also switch out your flea treatment every few months as the fleas grow resistant to the chemicals used to kill them. Feisty little buggers that they are!

Thanks for the info everyone. Well it looks like its the vet for Mac, good thing he doesn't mind going.
I hope it turns out ok for him, and the family. I don't really want to have a tapeworm right now

Thanks again!

Peace,
Brandon