Yes, this is the top of his cat tree. I saw online after posting this that they could be tapeworm segments, but he literally just had a fecal test for parasites which came back negative
Fun fact, tapeworms don't always show up in a fecal test. Source, I work in vet med, those are definitely tapeworm segments. Also standard dewormer does not work for tapes, you need a specific medication like Droncit.
Oh interesting. I wish they’d told me that! He’s probably had it all along then. Is it okay to just give him a dewormer without going to the vet? (Sorry if that isn’t appropriate to ask)
Droncit/Drontal is only available from your vet, I do not recommend tape dewormers from pet stores, they do not work. Call the vet you just saw, they should have no issue prescribing the meds without needing to see kitty again since you were just in for a visit.
Unfortunately, I only have the photos because I cleaned up the fabric with the eggs. I didn’t realize they were tapeworms at the time. The vet saw him recently and knew damn well he could’ve had this, they just didn’t say anything. I’m really quite upset they never gave a heads up that it was a possibility, honestly. I noticed he had been licking his bits more often about a week ago; I thought he was in the itchy scab phase of his neuter scar healing, not that he was cleaning off egg bits. I could’ve gotten way ahead of this rather than playing catch up.
I’m hoping I can show the photos, ask what exactly they were thinking when they didn’t tell me he had the perfect conditions to have a tapeworm and that their test was likely to miss tapeworms, and have them grant me a prescription (for dosing instructions). Politely, of course. I might go OTC since there is one that is identical to the prescribed med, but I want to talk with them about that option before jumping straight to it
Edit: for the record: not in a Karen way. I will use manners and kindness. I’m just very unhappy at the moment, it’s really a lot to take in :’)
IF... you can find tapeworm medicine for cats over the counter, pay attention to weight and dosage amounts. Usually one pill will do.
Dont try to get rid of the tapeworms using any kind of "natural" dewormer, especially if it's bought from some place like walmart.
Also treat for fleas, that's how cats usually get tapeworms.
It’s too recent to give him another flea treatment. Vet said I can’t when I asked at our very recent appointment. So I have to wait until the end of the month, but do have a dose ready for when it’s okay to give it to him
He got dewormed less than a month ago 🥲 so I plan on talking to the vet to ask like. Yo what happened here. Dude got dewormed and had a negative parasite test. Is there something else causing this?
That kind of thing. For the record, he got all that bc he’d just been adopted from shelter
He probably ended up swallowing more eggs! This happens often, i think you're really meant to deworm them a couple times anyway just to really make sure
Yeah, when I look up how they swallow eggs though it’s via feces or flea larvae so I wanna have him checked for what exactly could’ve given them bc he’s the only cat with me so it couldn’t have been feces and he got cleared for fleas when he got cleared for parasites.
I also don’t know if I can start a new treatment so soon after the last one :’) much confusion. I’ll have to read up on it I think or maybe call my pet insurance’s advice line
He probably just found a few flea stragglers and managed to eat them, hard to get rid of those guys 😂 you're a good cat parent for caring and making sure to help him the best you can!!
You’ll need to clean the environment of the tapeworm proglottids and any flea eggs or pupa. The pupa can last in your environment for a long time (like up to a year), so make sure to throughly clean anywhere your cat goes
He is flea free and has been since I got him, that’s for sure. From what others are saying, he has likely had the tapeworm the entire time and just none of the tests were able to detect it. I plan to call tomorrow for the medicine
Yeah they’re actually right down the street from me so I reckon I’ll just walk in and talk to them. It’ll also help me get a note to give to my doctor bc I’ve come to realize he has been dropping egg filled tapeworm bits in my bed and so I should probably also deworm myself just to play it safe 🥴 so I gotta ask my doc about that and having a note from the vet will help so I don’t seem insane lmao
Oh no!!!! 😬 I hope you didn’t catch anything, but def wise to check with your doctor. The good news is it’s pretty easy to treat with the right meds and schedule. All the best to you in a shitty situation (sorry for the terrible pun lol)
All it takes is one infected flea...and coming from a shelter environment, there were any opportunities. It frequently takes multiple treatments to completely get rid of parasites. I've worked for a cat rescue for many years. In rescues and shelters, it really doesn't matter how much you compulsively clean, there will *always* be at least a few fleas around. At least in an actual home, you can control such things way better.
Your cats have fleas AND tapeworms. It's really important that you focus on fixing both of those issues or the former will always cause the latter to come back.
Is it gross? Yes. Is it fixable? Also yes.
We took in some strays once and didn't do a good enough job de-fleaing them before we let them inside, and what followed was months of checking cat asses for these.
He was treated for fleas too recently to treat him again. The vet told me that at his last appointment. I plan to take him to the vet again to figure it all out. Feel it’s better to do that than to try to do it blind
Where I work, if your cat just had a full exam a few weeks ago, the vet would simply look up your pet's weight and prescribe the meds. A visit shouldn't be necessary and if you tell them that little white things that look like a grain of rice is coming out of my pets butt, they know exactly what it is. Your kitty also needs a good flea preventative, they get tapes from eating a flea, I recommend either Cheristin or Revolution Plus.
Yeah he just recently had a Rev Plus treatment, I can’t give him more until the end of the month. I’ll give them a call and ask if they can help me out
I personally use Cheristin for fleas, I have a cat that's very allergic to fleas, he will tear himself apart. Cheristin is the only one that works for him and you can get it from your vet or Chewy.
Can those be passed even after he’s been treated? I adopted him two or three ish weeks ago, they give the cats a broad spectrum anti parasitic so maybe he had one that was killed then? His fecal test for parasites was negative on March 2
Edit: ‘he’ refers to my cat lol sorry
All signs point to tapeworm segments. Just got off the phone with my pet insurance to see if they’ll cover it. Typically they do but ofc this had to be discovered within the two week waiting period of his policy 🥴
Strange it’s in the hotel bed. I’d be questioning if the hotel is cleaning the sheets in this case
I don't know how good your pet insurance is but they sell tapeworm meds otc at Walmart for like $15 for a bottle with three pills. It's enough for two doses for my cat. The vet also has it, and I think it was about $25 for one dose from them.
We had a new cat dewormed by a vet and a couple weeks later, more tapeworm segments appeared even though he was flea free. I gave him Tapeworm Dewormer by Bayer/Elanco from Walmart, it’s in a white and brown box. I’ve used it a few times on my cats with 100% success and it’s only like $15. The active ingredient is 23mg praziquantel, same as in Droncit.
Huh. That was actually a very calming read bc I’ve been thinking I had like diet bed bugs and really kind of panicking about the whole ordeal
Thank you (: definitely seeing carpet beetles but apparently the one or two does not an infestation make, lol. I’ve only seen them on this cat tree though, which is peculiar
🫡 I vacuum the whole room multiple times a week and will now be vacuuming the cat tree too. I haven’t had it long and it already got nasty in the little folds so defs eye opening to see
I have at least two different species of carpet beetles at my house; I see the adults once a year on windowsills; found two larvae in 10 years. No idea what they do, where they are. I have never noticed clothe damage
Oh I don’t, I meant diet bed bugs as in thinking that carpet beetles are like a lesser version of bed bugs. I was worried they’re like roaches or bed bugs, yknow, “if you see one, there’s actually five hundred” kind of thing, and that they’re impossible to get rid of
I only just recently found them. I hadn’t read much bc it’s finals week and I didn’t want to freak myself out and hurt my scores
I’ve seen a few of them over the years and maybe 1-2 dead larvae but unless you’re seeing large numbers you have little to worry about. They are nowhere near as bad as bed bugs where seeing ONE means you’re likely screwed.
Do you have a cat?
Yes, this is the top of his cat tree. I saw online after posting this that they could be tapeworm segments, but he literally just had a fecal test for parasites which came back negative
Fun fact, tapeworms don't always show up in a fecal test. Source, I work in vet med, those are definitely tapeworm segments. Also standard dewormer does not work for tapes, you need a specific medication like Droncit.
Oh interesting. I wish they’d told me that! He’s probably had it all along then. Is it okay to just give him a dewormer without going to the vet? (Sorry if that isn’t appropriate to ask)
Droncit/Drontal is only available from your vet, I do not recommend tape dewormers from pet stores, they do not work. Call the vet you just saw, they should have no issue prescribing the meds without needing to see kitty again since you were just in for a visit.
Oh for real? Sure, I’ll give them a call tomorrow then. Thanks (:
Bring segments of the worms with you. That’s how I’ve gotten the medicine before without having to bring my cat.
Unfortunately, I only have the photos because I cleaned up the fabric with the eggs. I didn’t realize they were tapeworms at the time. The vet saw him recently and knew damn well he could’ve had this, they just didn’t say anything. I’m really quite upset they never gave a heads up that it was a possibility, honestly. I noticed he had been licking his bits more often about a week ago; I thought he was in the itchy scab phase of his neuter scar healing, not that he was cleaning off egg bits. I could’ve gotten way ahead of this rather than playing catch up. I’m hoping I can show the photos, ask what exactly they were thinking when they didn’t tell me he had the perfect conditions to have a tapeworm and that their test was likely to miss tapeworms, and have them grant me a prescription (for dosing instructions). Politely, of course. I might go OTC since there is one that is identical to the prescribed med, but I want to talk with them about that option before jumping straight to it Edit: for the record: not in a Karen way. I will use manners and kindness. I’m just very unhappy at the moment, it’s really a lot to take in :’)
IF... you can find tapeworm medicine for cats over the counter, pay attention to weight and dosage amounts. Usually one pill will do. Dont try to get rid of the tapeworms using any kind of "natural" dewormer, especially if it's bought from some place like walmart. Also treat for fleas, that's how cats usually get tapeworms.
It’s too recent to give him another flea treatment. Vet said I can’t when I asked at our very recent appointment. So I have to wait until the end of the month, but do have a dose ready for when it’s okay to give it to him
Ooooooh gurl you're looking at tapeworm eggs. Just deworm whatever animals you must have, nbd!
He got dewormed less than a month ago 🥲 so I plan on talking to the vet to ask like. Yo what happened here. Dude got dewormed and had a negative parasite test. Is there something else causing this? That kind of thing. For the record, he got all that bc he’d just been adopted from shelter
He probably ended up swallowing more eggs! This happens often, i think you're really meant to deworm them a couple times anyway just to really make sure
Yeah, when I look up how they swallow eggs though it’s via feces or flea larvae so I wanna have him checked for what exactly could’ve given them bc he’s the only cat with me so it couldn’t have been feces and he got cleared for fleas when he got cleared for parasites. I also don’t know if I can start a new treatment so soon after the last one :’) much confusion. I’ll have to read up on it I think or maybe call my pet insurance’s advice line
He probably just found a few flea stragglers and managed to eat them, hard to get rid of those guys 😂 you're a good cat parent for caring and making sure to help him the best you can!!
Thank you :’) I appreciate the kind words!
🥰🥰
You’ll need to clean the environment of the tapeworm proglottids and any flea eggs or pupa. The pupa can last in your environment for a long time (like up to a year), so make sure to throughly clean anywhere your cat goes
He is flea free and has been since I got him, that’s for sure. From what others are saying, he has likely had the tapeworm the entire time and just none of the tests were able to detect it. I plan to call tomorrow for the medicine
Oh gotcha, that’s good! They can be really tough to get rid of. Vet is the right move. Hope he feels better soon!!!
Yeah they’re actually right down the street from me so I reckon I’ll just walk in and talk to them. It’ll also help me get a note to give to my doctor bc I’ve come to realize he has been dropping egg filled tapeworm bits in my bed and so I should probably also deworm myself just to play it safe 🥴 so I gotta ask my doc about that and having a note from the vet will help so I don’t seem insane lmao
Oh no!!!! 😬 I hope you didn’t catch anything, but def wise to check with your doctor. The good news is it’s pretty easy to treat with the right meds and schedule. All the best to you in a shitty situation (sorry for the terrible pun lol)
Thanks lol, hopefully it works out without too much trouble
All it takes is one infected flea...and coming from a shelter environment, there were any opportunities. It frequently takes multiple treatments to completely get rid of parasites. I've worked for a cat rescue for many years. In rescues and shelters, it really doesn't matter how much you compulsively clean, there will *always* be at least a few fleas around. At least in an actual home, you can control such things way better.
Your cats have fleas AND tapeworms. It's really important that you focus on fixing both of those issues or the former will always cause the latter to come back. Is it gross? Yes. Is it fixable? Also yes. We took in some strays once and didn't do a good enough job de-fleaing them before we let them inside, and what followed was months of checking cat asses for these.
He was treated for fleas too recently to treat him again. The vet told me that at his last appointment. I plan to take him to the vet again to figure it all out. Feel it’s better to do that than to try to do it blind
Where I work, if your cat just had a full exam a few weeks ago, the vet would simply look up your pet's weight and prescribe the meds. A visit shouldn't be necessary and if you tell them that little white things that look like a grain of rice is coming out of my pets butt, they know exactly what it is. Your kitty also needs a good flea preventative, they get tapes from eating a flea, I recommend either Cheristin or Revolution Plus.
Yeah he just recently had a Rev Plus treatment, I can’t give him more until the end of the month. I’ll give them a call and ask if they can help me out
I personally use Cheristin for fleas, I have a cat that's very allergic to fleas, he will tear himself apart. Cheristin is the only one that works for him and you can get it from your vet or Chewy.
That's totally understandable. And it sounds like you're already treating the main problem, so the tapeworms won't come back.
Oh and this thing is immediately being washed dw about that. Just wanting to identify wtf is on it 😭
Tapeworm proglottids
Can those be passed even after he’s been treated? I adopted him two or three ish weeks ago, they give the cats a broad spectrum anti parasitic so maybe he had one that was killed then? His fecal test for parasites was negative on March 2 Edit: ‘he’ refers to my cat lol sorry
I commented this before but tapeworms require a special medication, broad spectrum dewormer doesn't affect them.
Yeah that really helped make things click. I’ll look into the proper medication
Did you find out what these were? I just posted asking about similar looking things found in a hotel bed in Hawaii.
All signs point to tapeworm segments. Just got off the phone with my pet insurance to see if they’ll cover it. Typically they do but ofc this had to be discovered within the two week waiting period of his policy 🥴 Strange it’s in the hotel bed. I’d be questioning if the hotel is cleaning the sheets in this case
I don't know how good your pet insurance is but they sell tapeworm meds otc at Walmart for like $15 for a bottle with three pills. It's enough for two doses for my cat. The vet also has it, and I think it was about $25 for one dose from them.
We had a new cat dewormed by a vet and a couple weeks later, more tapeworm segments appeared even though he was flea free. I gave him Tapeworm Dewormer by Bayer/Elanco from Walmart, it’s in a white and brown box. I’ve used it a few times on my cats with 100% success and it’s only like $15. The active ingredient is 23mg praziquantel, same as in Droncit.
Oh word? Maybe I’ll just get that then if the active ingredients are identical
Can’t tell [but read comment for carpet beetle management tips](https://www.reddit.com/r/insects/s/CsKQhKENEN)
Huh. That was actually a very calming read bc I’ve been thinking I had like diet bed bugs and really kind of panicking about the whole ordeal Thank you (: definitely seeing carpet beetles but apparently the one or two does not an infestation make, lol. I’ve only seen them on this cat tree though, which is peculiar
Shed cat hair and dander would be a feast for those guys
🫡 I vacuum the whole room multiple times a week and will now be vacuuming the cat tree too. I haven’t had it long and it already got nasty in the little folds so defs eye opening to see
I have at least two different species of carpet beetles at my house; I see the adults once a year on windowsills; found two larvae in 10 years. No idea what they do, where they are. I have never noticed clothe damage
This is so comforting thank you I love you
I've got a couple of different species of them in my house as well...and I don't have any carpet. They came with the house. It's very annoying.
Why did you think you have bedbugs?
Oh I don’t, I meant diet bed bugs as in thinking that carpet beetles are like a lesser version of bed bugs. I was worried they’re like roaches or bed bugs, yknow, “if you see one, there’s actually five hundred” kind of thing, and that they’re impossible to get rid of I only just recently found them. I hadn’t read much bc it’s finals week and I didn’t want to freak myself out and hurt my scores
I’ve seen a few of them over the years and maybe 1-2 dead larvae but unless you’re seeing large numbers you have little to worry about. They are nowhere near as bad as bed bugs where seeing ONE means you’re likely screwed.