Are worms visible in my cat's stool and, what do they look like?

They can be sometimes. It typically takes a while for worms to become visible because you'd have to have enough that they're starting to kind of run out of room and need to pass through. Roundworms tend to look more like spaghetti. Hookworms look like short little rice noodles, so they're very thin. Both of them are white. In the case of tapeworms, we primarily only see the egg sacs come out, which are these little segments that look like small pieces of rice. You may find dried worms on your cats around their anus or their fur or even in the litter box. But you may not ever see an issue, and that's why regular stool sample checks are essential.

Many times they can be. Roundworms and hookworms look like long pieces of spaghetti, for a lack of better description. You'll also have tapeworms, which will be shorter and look like little grains of rice. Those usually get stuck around your cat's fur on the back end.

Of the worms that we see, roundworms and hookworms can be seen in kittens. Roundworms are the ones that look like skinny pieces of spaghetti. They can be several inches long, but usually, you'll see several of them. You might see a little cluster of them. They look like rubber bands being passed out sometimes. You're not able to see hookworms. So you could say, Well, I do not see any worms in my kitten or Mm puppy, so they don't have worms. They very likely could have hookworms. You're just not going to be able to see them. Tapeworms, again, are the ones they get from ingesting a flea or eating a small mammal, and you can see those as well. They typically look like little grains of rice. Those little grains of rice will either be passed along with the poop, or they can crawl out of the rectum. So sometimes people will see their catlike laying on the bed, and all of a sudden, they'll see this little rice-like worm crawling out of the rectum. I will mention a couple of things about tapeworms.

As I mentioned, pets can only get them from ingesting a flea or eating a small mammal. However, when they have the tapeworms, it doesn't mean they're going to pass them regularly. Depending on the tapeworm, it can get to be about two feet long, and they're made up of dozens and dozens of those individual segments. But it doesn't mean they're going to be continually passing those segments out where you would see them. They could pass some today, and it could be weeks before they pass them again. You could look around their rear end every day to see if you see those little segments. It could be weeks before they pass more of those little segments. Those little segments would break off from the long chain. But again, it's not something you'll necessarily see regularly. Typically, with the roundworms, once they start passing them, you'll see them frequently until they get rid of them.

Worms can be visible in your cat's stool. However, oftentimes they're not seen, so not seeing them does not mean that your cat does not have parasites. The most common parasite to be visible is the tapeworm, which appears as little rice-like segments on the outside of the stool.