Can humans get tapeworms from cats?
Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at
7:00 pm
My cat has tape worms. Can I get it from him? also, should I treat all of my cats if I know that one has them? I know that my animals have fleas. I have been trying to get rid of them for a couple months. I read that tapeworms come from the cats eating the fleas. Will they be reinfected if I dont get rid of the fleas then?
Tagged with: animals • cats • Fleas • tape worms • Tapeworms
Yes and no. You can’t catch tapeworm directly from your cat, but if your cat has fleas, it is possible to catch tapeworm by accidentally swallowing a flea carrying the tapeworm cysticercoid, and children are more at risk for acquiring tape worm than adults, perhaps because very young children tend to put almost everything in their mouths.
On the other hand, I grew up with and have had cats my whole life and had to deal feline tapeworm from time to time and have never gotten tapeworm myself. So, I don’t think there’s too much of a risk, but it’s possible.
If you know your cat has tapeworm, you should treat it. Otherwise, over time, the cat will become malnurished, lose weight and lose its healthy coat because the tape worm/s are living off the nutrients the cat is consuming preventing the cat from getting the nurishment.
As a precaution, I would go ahead and treat all your cats. It would be easy enough to do and because the other cats will most likey end up infected.
If your cats are indoor / outdoor cats, even if you kill all the fleas in the house, the cats can and most likely will, at some point, pick up tapeworm again. But, it’s always a good idea to keep fleas under control no matter what because it will help.
Cats can get another type of tapeworm other than ‘flea" tapeworm. It’s the second most common tape worm and is aquired when the cat catches and eats a rodent carrying the tapeworm larve.
Hope that helps.
i am not so sure.
if your cat or dog takes medicine for tapeworms then. no you definally cant get tapeworms form them.
so no i dotn think so.
Yes they’re likely to become reinfected if you don’t get rid of the fleas.
You’re fairly unlikely to catch tapeworms from the cat as long as you practice basic hygiene i.e. don’t clean out their litter tray and then suck your fingers! Get some wormer for them all at the vets. It’s quite likely all the cats will eventually get tapeworm if they haven’t already. It’s easy to get rid of; just a tablet from the vets for each of them. Ideally they should be wormed every three months to prevent them getting any kind of worm.
Now for the fleas – you need treatment from a vets. I don’t know what you’ve used so far, but you said you’ve been ‘trying to get rid of them for a couple of months’ so I’m guessing you’ve only used pet store treatments. These are very ineffective; stores aren’t licensed to sell the stuff that is effective against fleas, but vets are. Get some Frontline, Revolution or Advantage and the fleas will be sorted, and it will help prevent the worms.
Chalice
No way!!! Unless you eat the cat’s fleas. It is the only way by eating those fleas. Your cat must have ate a flea that carried it.
Yes you can get them from your cat but only if you don’t wash your hands after petting. You need to go to a vets and get something like frontline to treat the fleas as fleas carry tapeworms (not adult one its pupae or something I can’t remember) and the cat eats these whilst grooming and a tapeworm grows. You also need to treat the tapeworm as well. It may take numerous treatments as most products only kill adult fleas/tapeworms and I believe this is where your problem is. It also might be a good idea to treat your home as flea eggs may be in soft furnishing and the the corners of your home. To prevent this in the future you can use frontline every month to protect against fleas and worm your cats every six months to eliminate any tapeworm that way you are totally covered.
Yes to all of your questions. Always wash your hands thoroughly after handling the litterbox and get treatment for all your cats to get rid of the worms. As for the fleas, the best flea control remedy I have found is the liquid that goes on the back of the neck. There are many different brands and your vet can recommend one that works well. You will have to conitinue the flea treatment for up to 3 months after the last signs of fleas if you cats are housebound, indefinately if you let your cats outside. You will also have to de-flea your house too. Wash all cat bedding and human bedding then vacuum everything in the house. If its a really bad infestation a flea bomb in the house works well but you and the cats will have to leave the house for most of the day so none of you get sick from the fumes.
No you can not get tapeworms from your cat.
But you can get tapeworms from living with fleas, if one so happens to jump in your mouth and you swallow it while say… you are sleeping. However if you were to eat a piece of tapeworm by accident your body would just digest it and it would die in your stomach.
Now the best way to get rid of fleas on cats is Frontline plus.
the second best way is a flea collar. And flea carpet powder. Treat the animal and where it lives. If your cat’s go outside then spray the yard as well. Flea eggs can lay dormant for a little while so keep treating and don’t give up. Try to find products that break the cycle at the same time kill the fleas. And don’t use those cheap knock off flea control products like hartz and topspot. The can cause health problems that most people are not aware of.
In re: flea meds……..I’ve got 14 cats and 6 dogs, and they all got fleas! I tried Frontline, Biospot, Advantix, and none of them worked. According to the vet, the fleas have become immune to the "old" flea preparations, and the "flea people" have come out with a new formula, that they call "PROMERIS". You can get it for cats and for dogs (separate ones), but I’ve found it ONLY at the vet’s! It’s cheaper than Frontline, too. Well, I tried it (frustrated big time) and IT WORKED!!! I’ll give "testimony" to this one. After I got the fleas off of the animals, I got some "Droncit" to kill the tapeworms (no point in doing that first, since they can get reinfected). Then, I "doctored" my carpeting, etc with a carpet "powder’ called "Natural Defense", which I got at Petsmart. It’s made with a lot of different herbs/oils, and smells really good. After that…………..NO MORE FLEAS!!!!!! Hope this info is of some help! Good luck…..
Yes, if you eat them before they shrivel up and dehydrate, you can get tapeworms.
The vet can easily treat the cats for this, it’s a common parasite. Treat ALL the cats, if they mutually groom or all use the same litter box they all stand a chance of having tapeworm.
Fleas do spread tapeworm, it’s part of the tapeworm’s life cycle. While you’re at the vets, have them give you a dose of Advantage for all the cats, that kills the fleas and keeps them away for up to 6 weeks.
Vacuuming will kill the live fleas in your home. They found that just the fact they’re being sucked into the vacuum kills over 96% of the fleas–there was just a big report out on that Dec. 14 in the news.