One of our readers sent us an email about some worm-like creatures that she had found in her husband’s laundry basket. She said this is now the second time that she has found about 100 grayish worms in his basket. She said that they are smaller and skinnier than a grain of rice with a black speck that is showing through their skin. She did mention that they do have a cat which has recently been checked for worms and none were found. She also said that her husband works outside with concrete and they use a clothesline to dry their clothes. She did say that the cat likes to sleep in the dirty clothes basket quite frequently. She was not able to include a picture for us to better determine what these worm-like creatures are. There is a high possibility that these are not worms at all, but they could be flea larvae.

Flea larvae are often found on the beds of pets although they can also be found practically anywhere that the animals sleep. In this case, our reader’s cat likes to sleep in the dirty clothes basket. The larvae are usually white or gray in color and can get to be about 3 to 5.2 mm in length. The larvae like to live in darker places if they are in the house so the bottom of a clothes basket does seem like a prime location for them to grow and live.

It is curious to us that the vet did not find fleas when the cat was taken in to be tested for worms, but perhaps they simply were focusing on worms, not anything else.  While it is difficult to make a solid identification without a picture, it’s more than likely that our reader is finding flea larvae in her husband’s laundry basket.