small white worms in stool - moving, roundworm???

This morning I found small worms sticking out of one of my cats feces immediately after she used the box.  They were white in color, appeared about half inch long,  and moving....actually looked like they were breathing in and out.  I was so grossed out I discarded the litter immediately and sanitized everything.

To give you a brief synopsis, my husband and I adopted 3 kitties from a no kill shelter about 2 months ago.  After many trips to the vet and much expense, a PCR test revealed they were all diagnosed with Giardia and Cryptosporidium.  This has been a challenge for us to say the least. They have been treated for the last month and are still ongoing treatment for the Crypto.  I am disheartened seeing this and think it may be yet another issue to contend with.  I know the giardia and crypto cannot be seen with the naked eye. 

Any thoughts.  Could this be roundworm? Or larvae?   I don't know how long (how many inches) they were because only the ends were sticking out of the feces.

Also, these cats are all treated with revolution for fleas.  I thought Revolution was supposed to kill roundworm and hookworm. 

They have been strictly indoors since they came to our home.  It seems our multitude of problems is still growing.  :-(

Any thoughts are welcome.

Sounds more like tapeworm to me. Easily taken care of - your vet will provide the medication.

Thank you!  I would imagine if we are just learning one has it, likely best to treat all 3 of the girls then.  tapeworm moves like that?

Catapault said:

 
Sounds more like tapeworm to me. Easily taken care of - your vet will provide the medication.

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Okay....I am sure you are right about the tapeworm.  I found a two dried rice like granules where she was sleeping.  My understanding is Panacur is one of the things that kills tapeworm.  How in the heavens does she have tapeworm since she has been treated with panacur 2 separate 5 day intervals for the Giardia.  Something has to give with these kitties and their infestations.  I am beginning to think this will never get under control...poor babies!  

As I understand it, there are two types of tapeworms that cats are susceptible to. One type is carried by fleas, and the other by mice or other rodents that the cat may catch and eat. Panacur is effective against one sort but not the other. The active ingredient is fenbendazole. You may need to try something containing praziquantel (Drontal is one example) instead. I strongly suggest that you get a stool sample to take to the vet for testing, and talk to them about how to proceed. Sadly, parasitic infestations of all types are very common in shelter cats, and it can take a while to get on top of them. [article="29716"][/article]

Good luck with all this. It's always horrible dealing with any kind of parasite, but it sounds as though you're doing everything you can, and being a wonderful mom to these little guys. They're lucky to have you :nod:

Mega that they're all fully healthy and parasite-free very soon

A cat gets tapeworms from ingesting fleas.  You can get Drontal over the counter from Amazon or you can get it from your vet.  I don't know if Panacur will kill tapeworms.

Thank you. I was not aware that Panacur only kills one type. I gather they got this from fleas, as they were infested with fleas when we got them. The Revolution seems to have alleviated the flea problem, however the tapeworms are a new finding. My husband and I just looked at each other and shook our heads. We adopted a shelter kitty 20 years ago that had tapeworm and it was pretty easily resolved. A bit disturbing though, we were thinking we are near having the crypto and giardia eradicated. [emoji]128542[/emoji]...just another day in the sick ward.

Hang in there. It sounds like you've made some wonderful progress with them already, and tapeworms really aren't a big deal to sort out. It's not at all surprising that they had a big worm burden if they were infested with fleas, and sometimes heavy burdens can take a few tries to completely eradicate. They're MUCH easier to deal with than giardia or crypto, so really aren't any cause for panic. I can totally understand your frustration though - it's so hard nursing cats through so many infestations at one time. At least it sounds like the end is very much in sight now :bigthumb: