Answer: Ideally, at intervals throughout the cat’s life, a simple of motions should be examined by a laboratory for evidence of worm eggs, though usually this is only performed if the cat is showing signs suggestive of worm infection. If an examination is carried out after worming, it is valuable way of assessing the efficacy of treatment, especially as most modern tapeworm treatments cause the worms to break up within the cat’s intestine-so intact worms are not passed, and are therefore not visible in the motion.
As was mentioned earlier, those segments of the tapeworm furthest from the head, which contain the eggs, are continually being shed and passing out of the cat’s anus. These segments are large enough to be seen with the naked eye, and they may be discovered in the motions, or sometimes seen around the cat’s anus, or in the bedding. For a time the segments retain the ability to contract the muscles in their walls, and though not capable of an independent existence, may be observed moving over the animal’s coat or across the floor. They have the size and appearance of the rice gains or cucumber seeds. The eggs of the other worms are also passed out in the motions, but individually, i.e. not contained within segments, and these are so small that they can be seen using a microscope.
