about a mouse and a parasite, warning--gross!

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Betsy - 18 Aug 2003 22:39 GMT

My sweet kitty dumped a mouse on my porch that I think was already dead,
because it was stiff.

I think what killed it is a worm type thing that was emerging from it's
belly as I picked it up. This wasn't a maggot that attacked after death, it
was easily an inch long stuck firmly inside a 2 1/2 inch long mouse.

I had to really pull it firmly with tweezers. It was segmented, maybe 7
segments. The color was dark grey/black. It had some sort of orifice at
each end. I didn't look at it long enough to see if it had feet or
something like that.

What could it have been? Is it something that just goes after rodents or
could it become a problem for my cats?

Many years ago I noticed something sticking out of the front leg of my cat.
It was flat, and greasy looking. I tried to wipe it off and ended up
pulling it out with tweezers. It was about 3/8 inch wide and about 1 1/2
inches long. It didn't move in any way. The hole on the cats arm closed up
very quickly, and the whole incident was so bizarre I thought I might have
hallucinated it!

So, does anyone know what these parasites are?

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Mary - 19 Aug 2003 01:34 GMT

>So, does anyone know what these parasites are?

Sounds like it could be a tape worm. Odd it came out of its belly. They
generally exit from the anus when the host is no longer providing them enough
sustance to survive. They can be very long. Maggots can be up to an inch long
but I generally see them 1/2 to 3/4 inch long coming out of all the orifices of
dead animals. I bet if you were to rinse the worm off it would have been a
different color. The color you see is probably liquid on the worm from the
inside of the dead animal. Make sure your cat has flea medication and maybe
even check for worms.

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Leslie - 19 Aug 2003 03:38 GMT

i think we are talking about a Screw worm larva or Bot fly:)

Leslie

"you can tell alot
about a people or person in how they treat animals"

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Nadine - 20 Aug 2003 14:31 GMT

>I think what killed it is a worm type thing that
>was emerging from it's belly as I picked it up.
>This wasn't a maggot that attacked after death,
>t was easily an inch long stuck firmly inside a 2
>1/2 inch long mouse.

Sounds like a bot fly larva to me.

Nadine

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