OH NO! 16 weeks pregnant and cat has worms!

[mumsiebumsie]

Feel so grossed out. My cat was sleeping on my husbands white t-shirt last night and today I looked at it to see lots of tiny dead worms! I feel so dirty. Also I'm worried as surely there's a risk to me?? Really wanted to stay home and clean but had to go to work.

Said cat has now had worming treatment and is outside although she was crying to come in poor thing

I need to clean but where do I start? Should I do it or is it better to get DH to do it? Thing is he won't do it properly!

Also - last night the cat tried to go to sleep in the baby car seat we bought until I shooed her out (didn't know she had worms just didn't want her in the car seat!) and so no doubt that's been infected too. Do I need to throw it out or will a thorough clean do the job?? What do I use - bleach??

[bumpsoon]

I really wouldnt worry too much , as regards the child seat ,can you just pop the covers in the wash and then milton the other bits . Its awful when they have worms isnt it ,mine has had them a couple of times ,even though they are wormed regularly with stuff from the vet . Also if you did manage to injest said cat worms or eggs ,then they would go into your digestive tract and wouldnt pass to your baby ,im fairly certain of this ,but it might be worth checking with your vet to be sure

[mumsiebumsie]

Bumpsoon it is horrible - I know cats have worms I just never think mine has! But have been proved wrong.

I really hope it doesn't affect the baby - I want to google it but am scared as it always comes up with the most horrific information! Also don't like my vet - missed an appointment once without calling to cancel (totally forgot about it and was SO apologetic) but they were so mean, so am really hesistant to call.

But what you've said re: it going into my digestive tract does make sense.

[sjbj]

My vet gave me a website to check
www.fab.org
Feline Advisory Bureau
They may have some advice rather than a google scare story!
Hope this helps

[Queenoftheharpies]

Are you sure they're worms?

I've never seen worms except in cat poo.

[steamedtreaclesponge]

Ditto, Queen - I would think it unlikely that you would see dead worms falling off your cat just from sitting somewhere.

Mumsie, are you sure it wasn't flea poo? One of the signs that your cat has fleas is that they will leave flea matter over things when they've been lying down, and flea poo does look wormy, like tiny, black coils and threads.

[Queenoftheharpies]

Flea larvae are also worm-like (pale coloured though so hard to spot on a white t-shirt) - although I think it takes a very bad infestation before you ever see them.

The only time I've ever seen flea larvae is when my landlord wouldn't believe me when I told him his cat had fleas...

[beautifulgirls]

They will be parts of a particular tapeworm and you need the right wormers to get rid of them - just call the vets and ask them to dispense some drontal cat or milbemax tablets for you. You shouldn't need to see the vet for that if you are a regular client there for vaccines etc. Most supermarket type wormers will not get rid of this particular tapeworm, though many claim to be complete wormers.
The good news in all of this is that they are not a human health hazard, just not pleasant. They look like grains of rice and may be dry when you find them, or still soft if very fresh and even move a bit - they are not actually complete worms but rather just segments full of eggs that drop off Cats catch them through hunting flea infested mice etc and grooming themselves if they have fleas, so make sure you are on top of flea control too just to be on the safe side. The intermediate part of the life cycle of this particular tapeworm has to pass through a flea or small insect.

Hope that helps