Cat has tapeworms. What to do before vet? Should I clean my home?

This is really not necessary for you to do. The way cats get tapeworms is by eating fleas infected with the tapeworm larvae. They will not get tapeworms by ingesting the segments you see in the feces. So, that being the case, you should be more concerned with treating the environment to get rid of the fleas/flea eggs, etc. and by treating the cat with flea medication (either topical or oral) every month. If you have a yard and cat goes outside you should treat the yard as well. If a cat has tapeworms they definitely have fleas. Disinfecting the house with bleach is not helpful in preventing transmission of tapeworms (you cannot get the either) but if it makes you feel better by cleaning the house with bleach you can certainly do that - I would use a 10:1 dilution of water to bleach (10 parts water to 1 part bleach). Hope this helps.

It sounds like Sasha has tapeworms. She will need a medication call Drontal to kill them, which you get from the vet. Tapeworms are transmitted by fleas, so you will need to treat her for fleas as well. Fleas live in the environment, not on the cat, so she could have fleas even if you don't see any. They jump on to feed, and then jump off. I can give you a flea treatment for her. First, I would give her Capstar. It's a one time pill that starts killing fleas within 30 minutes. Then follow up with a spot on treatment, such as Advantage or Revolution. This is a treatment that has to be used once a month. You will also have to disinfect the environment. Wash her bedding in hot soapy water, and vacuum the furniture and carpet surfaces. You can use a spray to kill fleas in the house, such as Indorex, or a flea bomb would work well to kill the fleas in the home. I hope this helps!

All the cats in the house will need to be treated with the deworming treatment and flea treatment. If two of the cats have fleas, then the third likely has them as well and needs to be treated. Even if the third doesn't at the moment, there will be fleas in the home, and it could easily get them, so it does need protection. In addition, it is possible that your third cat also has tapeworms. I would get an additional flea treatment and deworming treatment, and give both to all of them. As for treating the house, I would wash all the bedding in hot soapy water. Vacuum the furniture and carpet surfaces. You can use a spray to kill fleas in the house, such as Indorex, or a flea bomb would work well to kill the fleas in the home. In terms of your twins, keep them out of any rooms where you use the spray (same for the cats) until the spray is fully dried. If you do decide to flea bomb the house, remove the cats and your twins for the entire day. At the end of the day, it should be safe to bring them back home. You can talk to an exterminator to get more help on this issue.

(sorry about that - I accidentally hit submit before I was done!) They may require you to bring Mystique in for an exam prior to giving you any prescription medication if you haven't been there with her recently. They may also recommend that you deworm your kitten prophylactically. Good luck, and I hope that you successfully get rid of those pesky tapeworms!

Hi, thanks for using PetCoach! Bella has the tapeworm from the fleas. You need to treat her for the fleas with a good preventative, I recommend Comfortis, Bravecto or the Seresto collar. You need to treat ALL the animals in the house hold. Below is a link to a dewormer that gets tape worms. I wish you and Bella the best! https://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=3464

Hi. Poor little one! The best way.to disinfect is to always wash hands, clean surefaces with a dilute bleach solution, clean or get new litter box, wash any bedding, place sheet over furniturr for now to wash later, and pick up feces right away and wash hands. Once treatment is all done, repeat and recheck fecal sample for testing

Yes, it is recommended to treat her but not as often as a cat that has access to the outside. i would probably recommend treating her once a year for fleas (before summer time) and once a year for worms as well, just to be on the safe side as fleas can brought from the outside by anyone that goes in and out of the house (and tapeworms are transmitted via fleas to your cat).