Was that thing a tapeworm fragment??

I got a nasty shock tonight. My cat jumped on the desk, and rubbed
against my hands. After that I noticed a small cylindrical thing on my
finger...it was whitish, maybe 5 mm long, 1 mm wide, and it was moving
very slowly. A brief web search seems to suggest it was a tapeworm
segment. I will take her to the vet first thing in the morning, but I am
in a panic and would like to know NOW what to expect.

My cats are in and out all the time. They sleep with me.... Is it likely
that they're all infected? Is it likely that they have roundworm on top
of the tapeworm ? Is the treatment difficult and prolonged? And finally,
is it likely that I am infected?

Sorry for the many questions, but I'm quite shaken. Thanks!

"george" wrote in message
m...
I got a nasty shock tonight. My cat jumped on the desk, and rubbed against
my hands. After that I noticed a small cylindrical thing on my finger...it
was whitish, maybe 5 mm long, 1 mm wide, and it was moving very slowly. A
brief web search seems to suggest it was a tapeworm segment. I will take
her to the vet first thing in the morning, but I am in a panic and would
like to know NOW what to expect.

My cats are in and out all the time. They sleep with me.... Is it likely
that they're all infected? Is it likely that they have roundworm on top of
the tapeworm ? Is the treatment difficult and prolonged? And finally, is
it likely that I am infected?

Sorry for the many questions, but I'm quite shaken. Thanks!

Relax. Cats and dogs get worms. Getting rid of them is no big deal. Vet
will likely put a stool sample under a microscope and give the cat a pill.

(Note, if you are squeamish you might want the cat to be out for the rest of
the afternoon)

It is likely they are all infected and should all be wormed.

Even in the unlikely event you have acquired worms from them, the type of
worms they get can't reproduce in a human and will go away on their own in a
very short time. You might want to confirm that with your vet.

Jo

Thank you very much, Jo! Much appreciated. It's too cold to keep the
cats out, but they wont sleep with me anymore though.

We get this question a lot at the vet clinic.

It is possible that it was a tapeworm segment. That's how the
tapeworm deposits its eggs.

Tapeworms in a sense come from fleas. At some point a flea that had
ingested tapeworm eggs or jumped onto one of your cats. The cat then
in cleaning itself then accidentally ingested the flea. The flea dies
in the digestive tract, but the tapeworm grows. It then sheds its
eggs in the form of segments which look like tiny sesame seeds or rice
grains. Then when they fall off the cat like in your house, another
flea from another cat eats it and the whole cycle continues.

Treating tapeworms is two-fold.

1. Take your cat to the vet to be dewormed. Yes, there are a lot of
over the counter commercial products, but really the best way to kill
them is by taking them to the vet where the vet will give them a shot
or a pill. Some clinics will do a series of shots, like two, but
usually i've seen just one.

2a. Clean your household, especially where the pets hang out and
sleep. Vaccuum the heck out of the carpet, wash the bedding, etc. (I
say vaccum a lot because vibrations can encourage flea eggs to hatch)
You want to get rid of any fleas or shed tapeworm segments in your
household.

2b. Start putting your cats on monthly parasite control. Since the
tapeworms can only infect you cat by being in a flea that gets
swallowed by the cat, the flea is your target. I reccomend Advantage
at least.

Nowadays there are other multi-parasitic control products. My clinic
advertises Revolution, which controls fleas. ticks, tapeworms,
roundworms, hookworms, heartworms and even prevent mange and ear
mites. And now there's a product called Advantage-Multi, which claims
to do the same thing.

Bottom line is the cats should be on some form of flea control, even
if they are indoor cats. Mine are indoor and once i found 'rice
grains' on Imp's butt, meaning a flea must have hitched a ride on me
from work.

Can you be infected? Highly unlikely, since the tapeworm egg needs to
hatch and develop in another host prior to hanging out inside you. So
I wouldn't worry.

But get the cats dewormed, the house cleaned and get them on some form
of flea control.

hope this helps

Kristi

George My Spirit just got dewormed it was a pill done and over. He has
never been outside

"george" wrote in message
m...
Thank you very much, Jo! Much appreciated. It's too cold to keep the cats
out, but they wont sleep with me anymore though.

"george" wrote in message
m...
I got a nasty shock tonight. My cat jumped on the desk, and rubbed against
my hands. After that I noticed a small cylindrical thing on my finger...it
was whitish, maybe 5 mm long, 1 mm wide, and it was moving very slowly. A
brief web search seems to suggest it was a tapeworm segment. I will take
her to the vet first thing in the morning, but I am in a panic and would
like to know NOW what to expect.

My cats are in and out all the time. They sleep with me.... Is it likely
that they're all infected? Is it likely that they have roundworm on top of
the tapeworm ? Is the treatment difficult and prolonged? And finally, is
it likely that I am infected?

Sorry for the many questions, but I'm quite shaken. Thanks!

No worries. One Drontal pill will sort it out. Periodically 'worm' your cat
with a Drontal pill once every few months and problem sorted.

Thanks for your detailed replies!

I took the cats to the vet this morning, and they were given pills. I
will ask for the anti-flea liquid too.

On Sat, 17 Feb 2007 09:00:11 -0500, george wrote:

Thanks for your detailed replies!

I took the cats to the vet this morning, and they were given pills. I
will ask for the anti-flea liquid too.

I have fifteen cats - all get Frontline Plus every month so they don't
have fleas. Many of them do hunt and eat mice, and therefore also
mouse fleas, and they get tapeworms from time to time. When you
consider the number of cats involved, you can see that I have to find
the least costly way to keep them in Frontline and also to worm them.
I buy Frontline Plus from http://www.deadfleaz.com as several
six-packs of the largest dog size Frontline and meter the doses to the
cats with a syringe (even with shilling, this is the lowest cost per
dose I have found). I buy Valuecat all wormer paste from
http://pawshed.com/ - also in quantity. The cost of the wormer
comes out to less than $4 per cat (one package will do two standard
size cats - I also use a separate syringe to meter the doses).

--
T.E.D. ) Remove "gearbox.maem" to get real address - that one is dead

On Fri, 16 Feb 2007 22:34:08 -0500, george wrote:

I got a nasty shock tonight. My cat jumped on the desk, and rubbed
against my hands. After that I noticed a small cylindrical thing on my
finger...it was whitish, maybe 5 mm long, 1 mm wide, and it was moving
very slowly. A brief web search seems to suggest it was a tapeworm
segment. I will take her to the vet first thing in the morning, but I am
in a panic and would like to know NOW what to expect.

My cats are in and out all the time. They sleep with me.... Is it likely
that they're all infected? Is it likely that they have roundworm on top
of the tapeworm ? Is the treatment difficult and prolonged? And finally,
is it likely that I am infected?

Sorry for the many questions, but I'm quite shaken. Thanks!

I had the same experience when we got a new kitten... I thought it was
gross but it didn't seem to worry her at all! Feline tapeworms can NOT
live in humans so you're not going to catch it. You need to get her
some special tapeworm medicine - it's a one-pill treatment and it
dissolves the tapeworms' protective coating and then the cat simply
digests it away and it's gone. Totally painless once you get her to
swallow the pill!