118 THE CAT 



worms which has been passed. The treatment 

 consists of diet for twenty-four hours, then a 

 good purgative dose of castor-oil. This may 

 be preceded by half an hour by a three-grain 

 dose of santonin, and in large cats five drops 

 of turpentine may be added to the oil. 



Tapeworm (Tcenia crassicolis). 



The whole of the feline tribe is a frequent 

 host of the tapeworm, of which it has a variety 

 of its own (Tcenia crassicolis]. The worm is 

 from six to twenty-four inches in length. It 

 has a large head, set on a narrow neck. The 

 head is provided with a crown of from twenty- 

 six to fifty- two hooks frequently only thirty- 

 four in number. The body is made up of a 

 series of segments or rings, as can be seen in 

 the illustration (Figure 27). The tapeworm in- 

 habits the small intestine of the cat, the head 

 remaining fastened to the mucous membrane 

 of the intestine, while the body floats off in the 

 soft contents. The end of the tail, or various 

 portions of the body, break away from time to 

 time, to be carried to the exterior to develop 

 into fresh foci of infection. As the body breaks 



