worm in cat hair
Continue Reading
Posted in Gross Worms

Worms Caught in Cat Hair

We received a puzzling question recently about some worms that our reader found in the hair of her cat. The worms (or whatever they are) have been caught in the cat’s hair on a couple of different occasions, and the reader is concerned that they might be harmful to her cat in one way or another. They might just be getting caught in the cat’s fur, posing no threat, but they also might be “something worse feeding off him [the cat].” The reader offers a lot of information and a picture, so we’ll try to make some sense of the situation with what we were presented with.

larva on sheets
Continue Reading
Posted in Pest Worms

Worms or Larvae in Your Sheets: Is Your Cat Responsible?

We received a question from a reader a little while back about a worm she found in her sheets while using a lint roller. (To address the terminology issue up front, we should note that she probably found a larva in her sheets, not a worm, so we’ll use “larva” from here on out.) The reader shares her room with a cat, and although she doesn’t let the cat on her sheets for shedding-related reasons, she thinks the cat might be responsible for the larva’s presence in her room. If not, she suggests that it might be coming from her (the reader). In addition to the origin question, she also wants to know what the larva is, so we’ll address both of these matters below.

black and brown larvae
Continue Reading
Posted in Pest Worms

Small Black and Brown Larvae on Cats’ Blanket

A couple of days ago a reader found some small black and brown larvae on the blanket her cats sleeps on. The cats’ blanket (and therefore the larvae) is lying on a hardwood floor in an undisturbed corner that hasn’t been cleaned for a while. The larvae appear to be limited to this corner, and they aren’t found anywhere else the cats go in the house. The reader was wondering what the black and brown larvae are, and specifically indicated that they might be carpet beetle larvae.