Treating White Worms in Cat Stool

Reader Question: Are white worms in my cat's stool maggots or something else?

Good afternoon! Our cat is a 15 year-old neutered male with IBS and intestinal cancer (being treated with CCNU and El-spar - in remission). He hasn't felt well for several days and is eating like a pig, but I thought it was just his cancer.

Then, he went to his box and cried (meowed) where I saw him stool very light-colored stool with white worms in it. I took two separate samples from two separate days to the vet, who thought they were maggots. Have you ever heard of a cat ingesting and then stooling out maggots?

If so, what treatment is recommended?

Thanks!

Suggestion from our Veterinarian on How to Identify and Treat Cat Worms in Stool

Hello,

If your cat had eaten maggots (which I think is unlikely), they would be digested on their way through his intestinal tract. In my experience, small white “wiggly things” that come out of a cat’s anus are usually tapeworm segments. Cats get tapeworms from ingesting fleas during self-grooming or from hunting mice and other rodents.

Is this a possibility for your cat?

If so treatment with a deworming medication specifically labeled for tapeworms and addressing the route of infection should do the trick.

Talk to your veterinarian to determine whether tapeworms are a possibility and if so, what type of medication he or she would recommend.

Best of luck,

Jennifer Coates, DVM