worm segments or mucus in poop? (pic is semi graphic)

[liger]

Hello all!
So my cat was dewormed about a week ago.
Ever since then he has low energy and is either staring out the window or sleeping.
he's drinking water, but not eating much if at all, and his poop since the deworming has been very jelly / jello like.
I'm trying to figure out if these are worm segments still breaking down or mucus? and is this normal or a cause for concern?
After his treatment he was dropping these every few hours in larger amounts and the clusters were a lot thicker and stringier.
The past 2 days he's only been releasing 1 of these clusters.
He has a follow up in about a week at the vet.
Hopefully it's just all the worms coming out?

Thank you!

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi!
I don't know what that is in the photo, but your description of his behavior and the consistency of his poop is making me think you don't want to wait a week to get him back in to the vet.

Hang in there!

 

[Jcatbird]

It does seem that there is something in the poop but I can’t tell what it is. I agree with Furballsmom that it would be best to go ahead and get him seen. If it is worms then he may need a second treatment. Parasites can really run them down. I would ask the vet about bringing in a poop sample too. Please do keep us updated.

 

[liger]

Thanks for the replies!

The segments in the photos above are basically what I dug out of his poop and washed off (with a stick and 3 pairs of gloves of course!) TMI I know but I've been obsessed! They appear to be segments of digested adult worms.

I only found 1 similar jelly like poop related thread on all of the internet it seems, on this site! - Red jelly like substance in poop

His poop is identical to that photo and according to that OP the vet also diagnosed worms.

The vet prescribed my cat a fenbendazole / panacur 5 day once a day treatment which he recently finished up, and it appears to have wrecked his appetite as he was eating fine before. He seems to have a very heavy paraiste/worm load as he has a large pot belly, although it seems to have shrunken a bit. He was also hacking up rice like pieces of tapeworm which he's no longer doing.

He seems to be returning to normal little by little, still drinking water, still not eating, although he's more interested / sniffing around chicken/tuna/etc. now instead of totally ignoring it. I think he's getting there!

I'm thinking of holding off on another round of dewormer for now until the effects from this round wear off? or maybe going with a different one next time, although i'm not sure what? It's so scary reading reviews for stuff like revolution as it appears there's a good amount of people that swear by it and also a good amount of people that lost their pets to it, so i'm not sure what to recommend the vet give him for the next round.

they tried to push revolution on me before but it seems so risky and too extreme? i'm not sure, so I went with the pancurr instead.

Hopefully he's going to be OK!

 

[di and bob]

I give my cats Profender, a topical that works very well, even on tapeworms. And it is one treatment. it sounds like your cat has a VERY heavy infestation, especially since he was throwing them up. I would let your vet be aware of what is happening, but still take him in for that second treatment. The second treatment is to get any that have hatched since the first treatment, or any that were missed, so is important. Tapeworms come from eating the fleas from caught rodents, like mice or rabbits, or by grooming. Keeping him inside would help with that.

 

[liger]

Alright so here's a major update.

I'm SO super relived.

Last night I started doing a bunch of research and realized my cat's issues right now are NOT worms, but a coccidia infection.

The photos above I posted aren't worms, but intestinal lining shed, as a result of the coccidia parasite. This is often CONFUSED with worms because of the similar stringy / worm like look. 2 vets now have misdiagnosed my cat because of the similarities! Even I thought it was worms, so they aren't alone. No fecal samples were done, both vets figured it was worms by a simple look.

It's insane that after hours and hours of reading about everything you possibly can about worms in cats there was not 1 single mentionan anywhere at least that i've seen, that coccidia is often confused with worms.

A search for jelly jello mucus like poop (or something like that) in animals took me to multiple photos of chickens, dogs and other animals with the same exact stool / symptoms as my cat, and even discussions on message boards about it being coccidia and not worms!

This led me to research cats & coccidia, and bingo, cat has literally EVERY single symptom. I've also looked through hours and hours of poop pics (unfortunately). There's no other stool like that of one infected with coccidia, it's very distinct.

So i'm VERY relieved, as this would explain my cats lack of appetite, current stools, staring out the window aimlessly (depression) and so on. Like I said, every single symptom.

Perhaps my cat had worms as well, which the Fenbendazole treated. Either way he needed to be dewormed, so it was good he did 3 days of that (pancur). However, what he really needs now is a sulfa based medicine to treat the coccidia, like Albon.

So I took him to a nearby vet today that I didn't know existed until this morning, hoping to get a prescription for Albon or similar, however they need to send the stool sample away for testing first. I was a bit upset as the stool from coccidia is very distinct and there's no other stool like it, but whatever. Protocol is protocol. I have to now wait for the results.

Also was a huge turnoff as it felt like the vet was a total used car salesman, trying to get me to put him on a vet based diet (all food with corn as the 1st or 2nd ingredient, yeah no thanks), all sorts of different testing, xrays, steroid shots, wanting to prescribe this and that, literally everything but what my cat needs right now, which is to be free of coccidia and get his appetite and energy back.

Vet said the cat looks great, checked his gums, no lumps or anything, did all the normal stuff. Said he looks a bit malnourished (which he is) has a 102 degree temperature which indicates a viral infection (duh) then proceeded to a host of sales pitches but wouldn't prescribe sulfadimethoxine to kill the infection.

So now I wait for the results from the fecal test.

 

[di and bob]

We all learned something new now, thank you! IU hope your sweet boy is now on his way to recovery, as soon as he gets the proper medication!