What kind of worm is this!?

CptJcup

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Hey, so a week or so ago I woke up to find this huge, nasty looking worm on my floor. One of our cats threw it up at some point during the early morning hours. Needless to say, I immediately ordered a whole bunch of Drontal and overnighted it. We just treated all of our cats, which was far from easy. They all absolutely hate Drontal. But they all got the proper dosage. Anyway, last night I found another one on our back porch. Meaning the neighborhood cats are infected with them to. This one was nowhere near as big as the one I found on the floor inside, but it was definitely the same exact kind of worm. I Googled every type of worm cats can have and in my opinion none look like this. Especially when you take the size into consideration. I put the toy mouse in the frame for size reference; it's about the size of a person's big toe. So the worm was gigantic. Anyone know what kind of worm it might be? It was definitely thrown up. Thanks for any help.
IMG_20200703_114320.jpg
 

sidneykitty

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I agree that doesn't look like a tapeworm or roundworm at least to me. Do you have a vet you can send that photo to or even bring it in for them (as gross as that sounds, it can be helpful)? Do your cats go outside and do they hunt?
 
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CptJcup

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No, we keep them strictly indoors. And they don't come into contact with any of the cats outside. I'm going to keep my eye out and see if it happens again. And if it does I'm definitely going to take it and one of the cats to the vet. Especially since Drontal is a broad spectrum dewormer, meaning it's supposed to get rid of every worm in the book. I'm really hoping that did the trick. The picture doesn't do it justice, that thing was gigantic.
 

sidneykitty

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Yuck. If a hammerhead shark were a worm it would look like that... :barfgreen:

I wonder how your cat ingested that. But stranger things have certainly happened. Does your cat seem to feel fine otherwise?
 
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CptJcup

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If that is what it is you the only thing I can think of is we recently bought and set up some kitty grass. The kind from Walmart. And there wasn't enough soil included to cover all the seeds, so I did get a little bit of dirt from outside and mixed it in. But there DEFINITELY wasn't any worms in it then. Not unless they were borderline microscopic and just grew. I did consider that when I found the worm and I dug through the grass and it was worm free. But like I said, it was definitely thrown up. It was lying in a pool of clear vomit, with no slime trail leading from any direction. The same as the one outside. But what are the chances of one of my indoor cats and one of the stray community cats both finding the same exact kind of worm and eating and swallowing it completely whole? It just seems too much of a coincidence to me. I feel like it has to be some kind of internal infestation. But I've been wrong before. But to answer your question, all of our cats seem to be completely fine. No swollen stomachs is no diarrhea, no vomiting. Well, except for Grimm. He just has a habit of gorging way too fast he throws up sometimes.
 

catapault

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Cats do not eat the worms. They ingest the eggs, which hatch inside the cat's body. Eggs can be in soil. Cat digs, then licks themself clean. Eggs may be in the feces of a cat and when another cat sniffs the feces the egg(s) inhaled. Parasitology is a complicated topic.
 

BlackCatOp

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Cats do not eat the worms. They ingest the eggs, which hatch inside the cat's body. Eggs can be in soil. Cat digs, then licks themself clean. Eggs may be in the feces of a cat and when another cat sniffs the feces the egg(s) inhaled. Parasitology is a complicated topic.
Yes, but certain worms can definitely be found in cat vomit. Mainly roundworms and stomach worms. (Toxocara cati and Physaloptera). Cats can also be infected by parasites by eating certain insects or rodents. Infection from sniffing feces is a new route that I haven’t heard of before. I would love to read more about it if you share your source. Thx
 

catapault

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Of course cats can vomit up the adult worm(s) or tapeworm segments may be seen around the cat's anus.

How do cats get roundworms?
Trans-mammary or milk-borne infection is the major route of roundworm transmission in kittens. The immature roundworms called larvae are present in the mother's mammary glands. The larvae pass to her kittens in her milk during nursing.

Both kittens and adult cats may become infected by swallowing eggs that contain infective roundworm larvae. These eggs may come from the feces of infected cats or from the tissues of paratenic hosts (an accidental host). In a paratenic host, the roundworm eggs do not mature into adults, but are just transported. If a cat eats the paratenic host, the roundworm is able to complete its life cycle. Common paratenic hosts for roundworms include earthworms, cockroaches, rodents, and birds.

The life cycle of the roundworm is complicated. Once ingested, the larvae hatch out in the cat's gastrointestinal tract and migrate through the muscle, liver, and lungs. After several weeks, the larvae return to the intestine to mature into adults. When the adult worms begin to reproduce, eggs will pass into the cat's stool, thus completing the life cycle of the parasite.

During migration, some roundworm larvae may encyst (the larvae become enclosed in a cyst) in a dormant state in the host's body. In female cats, the larvae can come out of the cyst during pregnancy. These larvae can then be passed to the kittens across the placenta during pregnancy, or through the milk after birth.
 
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