My cat has worms and kids are home. Should I isolate him for safety?

Unfortunately there is no way to stop cats from shedding the tapeworm segments. You don't have to keep her quarantined if you don't want to . I understand the segments are gross and you have a toddler but the segments are not harmful. The only way your toddler would get tapeworms would be from ingesting an infected flea. I would be more worried about getting the fleas under control. So, if Yuki had fleas, they are definitely in your house so you should treat the house for fleas as well. I recommend this product: https://www.allivet.com/p-1389-knockout-es-area-treatment.aspx?SearchTerm=knockout+Auto

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear that Rashmika had tapeworms but it sounds like you are addressing that. This is a good question. Tapeworms require an intermediate host so a pet cannot transmit them directly to other pets or people. Other pets would have to eat the intermediate host (most often a flea carrying tapeworm eggs) to get a tapeworm infection. So your other pets and your family are extremely safe to be around her right now. Good luck with Rashmika

1. The only concern for human beings is the transmission of certain tapeworms. These are transmitted by fleas and incidental ingestion of the flea can cause infection. I would not be worried about roundworm, but fleas need to be treated as well as gastrointestinal worms. Normal hygiene precautions must be followed though (wash your hands). 2. You can pet him without problems. 3. Eggs can be present of course and usually bleach is enough to disinfect the area appropriately.

All kittens have worms. Get some kitten wormer today and worm them. Tell your children to wash their hands after handling the kittens and they should be fine. It only takes a few hours to get rid of the worms. However you will need to worm them again on about two weeks to kill the worms that have hatched from eggs present. If your children are very young and not able to comprehend that they will have to wash their hands, then it may be a good idea to separate them from the kittens for the next 2-3 weeks until the kittens have had their two doses of wormer.

Oh no. Well he good news is that Tapeworms are only infective if they are alive and wiggling around. Once that are dead they are no longer infective. Good hygiene practices (washing hands) is generally enough to avoid being infected with them because they have to be digested for transmission.

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.

This looks segmented from the photo so this is a tapeworm. Cats get tapeworms from eating rodents, or fleas when grooming. They can’t be given to humans or other animals since they need to go through an intermediate host. You can purchase tapeworm medication at PetCo. I recommend using a monthly flea preventative so Smokey won’t get these again. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you care for Smokey.