Pink Worm Found by Cat Food Bowls May Require a Medical Diagnosis

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“I live in Madison County, Kentucky, USA, and today I found a small worm on the floor in my bedroom”, writes this reader in his submission about the thin, pink worm pictured below. “My room is on the second floor of my house, and the bathroom is almost directly outside it. I have three cats (strictly indoor, they almost always stay in my room due to my little brother not knowing how to pet them nicely) and since I found this worm near their food bowls, I am very worried it might be in some way parasitic or harmful to them. I included a diagram with a pencil for size reference since my phone quality isn’t very good, but the worm itself is also in the picture of the diagram as well as the other pictures. I think I’m going to flush this worm for now, but I’m hoping to identify it and see if this is a problem in case another one shows up in the future! Thank you for your time!”

Straight off the bat, we will unfortunately have to tell our reader that we will not be able to provide an identification, given our reader’s concerns about his cat’s health. Parasitic infections are always a medical concern, and since we are not medical professionals, we are neither qualified nor legally able to identify parasitic worms. What we will say is that it is possible that our reader’s cat accidentally ingested a worm and spat it back out, but, as our reader said, the cats are all indoor cats, so how this worm would have ended up in his cat’s mouth is a mystery (though we suppose it is possible it wiggled its way into the house or was accidentally brought in by our reader himself on his shoes).

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In any case, we recommend that our reader take his cat to a vet to have a medical professional diagnose the issue and treat it, as only they are capable of doing so. Likewise, if it turns out that his cat has contracted parasites, then it is probably a good idea to have his other two cats checked as well, as parasites can spread quite easily. Additionally, we recommend our reader wears gloves when cleaning out the cat’s litter box, and that he wash his hands thoroughly afterward, so as to protect himself from potential parasites: they usually spread through eggs laid in the faeces of the host, which are then accidentally ingested by someone else.

Finally, we want to note that we do not recommend flushing worms down the toilet, as they can easily just resurface, especially if they are able to survive in low oxygen conditions, which parasitic worms are able to do. When encountering an unknown worm or organism, it is best to move it outside, somewhere far from one’s home, and to avoid physical contact while doing so (in case the organism is able to bite, sting or secrete harmful toxins).

To conclude, we are not able to identify the worm our reader is asking about, given that he thinks it might be a parasite. We hope nonetheless that the information we provided has proved useful, and we wish our reader the very best!

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Summary
Pink Worm Found by Cat Food Bowls May Require a Medical Diagnosis
Article Name
Pink Worm Found by Cat Food Bowls May Require a Medical Diagnosis
Description
"I live in Madison County, Kentucky, USA, and today I found a small worm on the floor in my bedroom", writes this reader in his submission about the thin, pink worm pictured below. "My room is on the second floor of my house, and the bathroom is almost directly outside it. I have three cats (strictly indoor, they almost always stay in my room due to my little brother not knowing how to pet them nicely) and since I found this worm near their food bowls, I am very worried it might be in some way parasitic or harmful to them. I included a diagram with a pencil for size reference since my phone quality isn't very good, but the worm itself is also in the picture of the diagram as well as the other pictures. I think I'm going to flush this worm for now, but I'm hoping to identify it and see if this is a problem in case another one shows up in the future! Thank you for your time!"
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Author: Worm Researcher Anton

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