Looks can be deceiving

When Angus was eating last night, I noticed what I thought was a string coming out of his butt that was stuck. So I got some wet TP and went in to yank it out. Turns out it was not string, but worms! They were about a centimeter long and were white and just plain gross. I got three out of/off his ass and flushed them down the toilet. Prior to adopting the cat about a month and a half ago, he had been treated for worms on a couple of different occasions, so I did not understand how he still had them.

I took him to the vet this morning and it turns out our baby has a tapeworm. Thankfully, it is not a tapeworm that humans can get (you would have to swallow an infected flea), and it is generally not harmful to Angus. I got meds to kill the tapeworm (two treatments just to be sure), in which Angus will essentially digest it so I should not see any more worm bits. He is in good health and free of fleas, so we should not be expecting any more worm drama. I also took in the dog’s morning poop to get tested to see if she got any worms/parasites from the cat. Hopefully she will have a clean bill of health. I swear, MKD and I spend more on the animals than we do on ourselves.

But in the past two days, I have learned more about tapeworms that can infect cats and dogs than I ever wanted to know. Nasty buggers.