# Cat + butt + what IS that? = Grossout **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 3, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-butt-what-is-that-grossout/152504 "2003-02-03T15:19:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MercyStreet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@MercyStreet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MercyStreet)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-butt-what-is-that-grossout/152504/1 "2003-02-03T15:19:14Z")
Oh, it was horrible. Even two weeks later I’m not over it. It’s 6 a.m. I can’t sleep. Reach across the bed for my beloved kitty (I’m not going to name names … Hankyspank), and drag him toward me, bottom first. And what, exactly is going on with his little pink pooper? Why, it’s a length of white thread. He must have sat on it and it stuck. Yeah! … Wait. Why is that thread moving? (Click on light, schnell.) Oh my God. It’s really, really, wiggling. It’s … it’s UNDULATING. It’s a WORM and it’s coming OUT. Wait. It must have seen me. It’s going back IN. Wait! Wait! Don’t go in there! Leave my Hanky alone! Launch self at Internet. Bone up on tapeworm. Roundworm. Reassure Hanky (I mean, Anonymous) that Everything Will Be OK, and Mommy is Calling the Medics, Who Will Arrive With Helicopter and Take Us to the V-E-T, Where Good and Happy Things Happen. Inspect his bottom some more. Note the presence of sesame seed-like things. Tapeworm, for sure. And if he has it, his bratty sister (again, I’m not going to name names … Skippyroo) has it, too. … So how does this happen? It’s that freaking (again, do we really need names? … Tomatoboy) stray who’s been living in the basement all winter. We had him de-balled, but can’t catch him again for the de-fleaing he so desperately needs. So now Tomatoboy’s gross flea/tapeworm problem is Hankyspank and Skippyroo’s gross flea/tapeworm problem. More than $250 in vet bills later, the kitties are fine. But I forever will live in fear of Undulating Cat Bottom. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-butt-what-is-that-grossout/152504/2 "2003-02-03T15:26:32Z")
You mean that part on a cat that looks like a tree knot? Yeah, that’s why I give every passing cat anus a shot of pruning paint. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-butt-what-is-that-grossout/152504/3 "2003-02-03T15:28:51Z")
$250.00 in vet bills??? As far as I recall, it’s pretty much one pill to wipe out tapeworm. (I know this because of a cat I adopted who had _everything_). Even doing a fecal exam, that sounds _really_ high. Unless you did hire a helicopter. ---
**Author:** ![MercyStreet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a9adbd/32.png) [@MercyStreet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MercyStreet)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cat-butt-what-is-that-grossout/152504/4 "2003-02-03T15:38:52Z")
Welllll … the v-e-t visit got a little involved. Turns out both also had coccidia. And The Skipstress (I mean, Anonymous Cat 2) had an itchy spot that required two injections and a tube of ointment. (And, come to think of it, a $15 Elizabethan collar through which she crammed a leg, thus freeing herself of any more firsthand experience with such devices. … Does anyone need a free Elizabethan collar?) The office visit alone was $42 per kitty. Blimey.