Monday, June 23, 2008

Tapeworm

Elle is gone for the week to a sleep-away camp, and the care of the kitties has fallen on moi. So the first night Elle was gone, I read a book in her room and let the kitties crawl all over me...no problem...yet. Sunday, I also spent time in Elle's room hanging with the kitties and trying to help them not be upset by the change in their routine...namely Elle not being around. Once again, I laid (or is that lied) down on Elle's bed, read a book, and let the kitties crawl all over me. Only Sunday night, as I picked up Midnight, I noticed what appeared to be a small grain of rice stuck to her coat, on her back leg.

I used a tissue to remove it...thinking to myself at the time..."Um, this looks like either a grain of rice, or a maggot". (Don't even get me started on how I know what maggots look like). But being busy, trying to get my house somewhat ready for the foreign exchange students, I didn't give it another thought...that is until I found some more "grains of rice" on Midnights hind leg.

Of course she had been crawling all over me at the time...and this time, it was coming out of her tush...EWWWWWW! Of course the vet is closed until tomorrow, so I researched what it could be online, and have determined that what I saw was tapeworm... so now Midnight is in isolation, and quite unhappy about it. Twilight is upset that she can't be with Midnight, and I'm grossed out about the whole worm thingy.

I am off to vacuum the rugs and wash the comforters. Will need to get the kitty's to the vet tomorrow, after all, we have a foreign exchange student arriving tomorrow night, and another one arriving on Wednesday night. I certainly don't want to scare them away from America.

Can you just picture it..."Hello foreign exchange student. Welcome to America. Please make yourself at home. Just stay away from the kitties...and watch out for any stray pieces of rice you may find lying around". EWWWWWW.

10 comments:

Madge said...

Now I remember why I read blogs -- to realize I actually have nothing to complain about. It doesn't stop me, but I realize it....

Renee Nefe said...

hummm didn't the vet worm the kitties when you first took them in? every vet I've gone to that has been the first order of business. Sorry that you have to go through that. Hope it's a quick fix.

I also hope the arrival of your house guests goes smoothly.

Lynn said...

Madge - I agree...reading other peoples blogs often puts things into perspective.

Renee - The vet has dewormed the kitties 3 times and have finally gotten rid of the roundworms. However, tapeworm is caused by injesting infected flea poop. Which we shouldn't have because all of the animals have been treated for fleas...sigh. The first student arrives tonight.

Marshamlow said...

Those poor little kitties have been through so much in their short little lives. Sometimes dealing with all the icky stuff of pets is no fun at all. I hope that this is the end of all the icky problems for the kitties and you can move along to the enjoying them part.

I hope you enjoy your house guests.

jaded said...

Being a pet companion requires a cast iron stomach.

Because I like you so much, I'm not going to share this weeks feline dilemma....

Unknown said...

Oh my. Those kitties have a good mama. :-) Poor babies. Yeah, I don't think I could serve rice for a while...

Patti said...

hmmm..my comment didn't "take"

trying again...

Poor kitties, but mostly, poor YOU, Lynn. sorry about the worm issue.

meno said...

Oh yuck, just yuck. That would have me feeling all itchy and creepy for days.

sari said...

I'm kind of grossed out and I live in an entirely different STATE!

I hope you get it all sorted out quickly and painlessly. I hate watching all those Discovery Channel shows, they show things like that and then you've just got WAY too much information on it all. Blech!!

Lynn said...

marshamlow - They really have been through a lot.

Patches - Now you've peaked my curosity.

Nancy - Especially not white rice.

Patti - Maybe if I pretend the worms are snakes it won't gross me out as much.

Meno - Believe me, I am totally itchy and creeped out...and somewhat convinced that I have a tapeworm growing inside of me...yuck!

Sari - I can watch shows on surgery and they don't bother me a bit...but the shows that show bugs...I try to NEVER watch those.