The Grass Doctor

My Cat has bugs! What are they?

Problem! My Cat, he’s less than a year old, has bugs! He’s a stray as most of my cats are, but he disappeared into the woods for two days. Upon coming back, he brought some friends with him---many! These friends are small white bugs about the size----than head lice, maybe even small rice. They tend to be around the area where he poops and pees, to be less sickening. They might even be coming form within him I combed his hair and he had a ton of little white grass seed like things attached to the hair in his fur. It was abundant around his tail, so I lifted it up and was shocked. A boat load of little white bugs were on him, as they have tended to do wherever he sits. So I sprayed insect repellent on him (safe for animals) and he meowed and spread his legs in a squat position. He got up and left a lot of his “friends” with him. What is this? What can be done? How should I treat him, and am I endangered of the same? Please help! Frontline any good? Are they mites perhaps or something worse? While reading though these I googled maggots and it looks like that. Am I at risk, and if so how do I cure him and possibly me if I am?

Public Comments

1. It sounds like tape worms or some other kind of parasitic worms. Take your cat to the vet to be sure and to get the proper kind of treatment. If the worms are internal, your spraying his outside aren't going to help.
2. I'd be more worried about maggots, though lice are a possibility. Strongly recommend consulting your vet and placing your cat on a product like Revolution for fleas, ticks, mites, and many other insects. My pets are on Rev and I'm a veterinarian. Good luck!
3. most likely tapeworms. take him to the vet to be wormed before he really gets sick.
4. Sounds like internal worms. The white "rice" is the larvae. Get him to the vet. He needs medicine to be cured.
5. It sounds like you are describing tape worms. Go to vet get some dewormer. May take a couple of treatments cause it sounds like he's got them really bad. GOOD LUCK!!! PM me if you need me. I honestly don't believe bug repellent will help this. But it won't hurt to put some frontline plus on him cause thats how they get the worms. They lick themselves and igest some of the flea and flea larvae. Definitly de-worm and get some frontline
6. It sounds like while your cat was out in the woods, blow fly laid thousands of eggs on him/her. He, and you, need immediate relief. Get some spray for cats and spray him/her down before all the "rice" begins to hatch out. I found some puppies, sticking by their dead mom, in the woods and they were covered with the "rice", which was blow fly eggs. Good luck. Pops
7. Take him to a vet.They sound like tape worms but they could be something worse like maggots.Keep him isolated until you do.
8. Sounds like worms to me. You need to flea treat all your animals and buy some wormer for ALL of them. Best to get it checked out though
9. Sounds exactly like the description i use when I tell people about tapeworms. When they come out, sometimes they break up and look like rice. Great explanation! It helps when the person with the problem knows how to describe stuff! Now, I just prescribed this medicine yesterday for a client, Cestex.....treats just tapeworms, one pill will do the trick, it works really fast too. I would try to check your other cats, they are more at risk than you are, if any of them have worms too, try to treat them as well. Good luck!
10. tape worms my cat had them two weeks ago take her to the vet and make sure to use a flea control meds thats how cats get the worms by injesting a flea egg or something like that