Hammerhead worms are carnivorous, with many of the species preying on earthworms specifically. There are several different species in this genus, so a hammerhead worm is not a specific species of worm, but rather a loose term that ranges over several types of worms that have a distinctly shaped head (one that roughly resembles a hammer head, naturally.) More precisely, hammerhead worms are part of the family Geoplanidae, which are also called “land planarians,” and the worms that are specifically labeled “hammerhead worms” compose the genus Bipalium. That said, hammerhead worms are a type of flatworm (i.e., the members of the phylum Platyhelminthes) that live on land. It is not as if the hammerhead worm was attacking the reader’s kitten or anything like that. The kitten perhaps rolled over on the hammerhead worm, which is why it happened to be found on the kitten’s body. In other words, hammerhead worms are not known to afflict pets or other mammals, making them distinct from creatures like hookworms and tapeworms. To begin, we should note that finding a hammerhead worm on your pet (kitten or otherwise) is coincidental. We can, however, take this opportunity to talk a little about hammerhead worms, explaining what hammerhead worms are and what they do. We are not veterinarians, so all we can ever say is that if something is questionable about your pet, you should go to the vet’s office. Unfortunately, this question falls outside of our purview. The reader was concerned that this might hurt the kitten, and was wondering if the kitten would become sick from licking the hammerhead worm. The worm was found on the side of the kitten, and before the reader could remove the hammerhead, the kitten licked it. A reader wrote to us recently about a hammerhead worm, or what is believed to be a hammerhead worm, that she found on her kitten.
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