Black worms in feral cat's feces

Hi everyone, 

I live in Phoenix and we have three feral cats that I take care of; I feed them daily and make sure they have clean, fresh water. They are all fixed and very sweet but they just won't let me get close to them.

I was outside last night and noticed one of the cat's feces looked a little strange, kind of like an oblong ball of black string. I scraped it with my shoe to separate the "strings" and it looked like this (below). Are these worms? If so, what kind or worm? And if so, what can I do to help them get rid of the worms (considering I can't get within 20 feet of them)?

Your help is appreciated - thanks!

~David

Your best bet would be to email this picture to your vet and ask for guidance. If any of your ferals were seen by the vet within the past year, your vet can prescribe medication without having to examine the cat again. If this is not an option, you can purchase Drontal, a de-wormer, on the Internet at some sites without a prescription. Crush it up and put it in tuna fish, only one dose needed. But it would be better if you could share this pic with your vet to make sure Drontal is the best medicine for your cat and that it is in fact worms. Sometimes if a cat has a bad flea infection the dander excreted can look like worms.

I've seen round worms and tapeworms.They are white. Nothing like your picture. If you have a veterinarian or work with a shelter - scrape this stuff up, put it in a plastic baggie, then refrigerate until you can (reasonably promptly) show it to them. But my guess would be something the cat ate that - fortunately - he's passing in his stool.