Tapeworms come from fleas. Can a cat be given a dewormer as a preventive measure?

Answer 1

Every medicine you give your dog and caty has side effects that usually turn up later if not at that moment. Sometimes we don't have a choice (like heart worm preventive or prescribed medications) where owners have to deal with any long term side effects of the drug they are giving their pet to prevent a fatal condition.

To most effectively treat tapeworms, is to kill the adult worm and you must take out the Fleas.

See, the flea is part of the tapeworms life cycle, with out the flea, the tapeworms cycle is broken and will not be able to pass its offspring.

It goes like this: Your pet has the tapeworm, he releases one of his proglodids ( a segement of his body with tons of little tapeworm eggs). The proglodid exits the animals body (small rice like off white/yellowish), it eventually falls off into the carpet or pets bed. If you or your pet ingest this, the acid in our stomach will kill the eggs, you can't get tapeworm from eating the proglid, inside the flea is the only way that the eggs will hatch. The fleas on your pet jump off and ingest the proglodid with all the tapeworm eggs in it. From inside the flea the egg hatches and becomes a larve inside the Flea. That flea jumps back on to your pet, and bites your pet. Naturally he/she becomes irritated, and begins to scracth and nibble at the area the flea bit him/her at, and ingests the flea, now inside the GI tract of your pet, the Flea is digested, but the lava breaks free and attatches its scolex (head with tons of dagger like teeth) to the intestine wall were he'll leach off your pet and pass its own proglodids to feed the fleas, that are ingested by your pets, and the cycle keeps going and going.

Now if you just deworm your pet (with a specific tapeworm dewormer.... drontal, droncit) and you still have fleas, your pet will be re-infested time and again, because the deworming medicine will not kill the proglodids, in which the fleas will ingest and re-infect your pet.

Your best bet is to give your pet a dewormer of the tapeworm medicine, and keep your dog on a regular flea prevention (frontline plus.... advantix). Once you wipe out the adult interenal parasistes and the exterenal parasites (fleas) you will not have a problem with it again..... as long as you keep it Flea Free.

Good luck hope this helped.

Answer 2

The best preventive against tapeworms is to get rid of fleas both on your kitty and kitty's environment. Get a really good flea med for your cat like Advantage that kills fleas within a few hours. If you've "bombed" your home for fleas, you should also vacuum several times a week. There is no medication in the market that I know of that prevents a cat from getting tapeworms per se.

Answer 3

Tapeworms come from fleas that have ingested their larva, but dewormer does not work for tapeworms, just roundworms and such. A tapeworm can only be gotten rid of by a vet, because the medicine is so strong, and it doesn't always work. Keeping your home and cat free of fleas is the best measure.

Answer 4

The best preventative is to treat the fleas on your cat, in your home, and you yard. But if you have an outdoor cat they can still get them from mice/rodents that have fleas if the eat them. It is easier to treat the fleas than it is to constantly use a dewormer to prevent it. Also most over the counter dewormers only treat roundworms and hookworms so if you want to deworm it you need to make sure it treats tapeworms. Just read the directions to make sure you dont overdose them. Hope this helps

Answer 5

I don't think it's a good idea. We had a pretty bad flea infestation late in the summer, but the cats never got tapeworm. If you do have a flea problem, why not take a stool sample to your vet to get it checked? All you have to do is grab a piece of poop from the litter box a few hours after you change the litter, put it in a zip lock baggie or small glass bottle and take it in for testing.
From other people here in the cat section I have learned that fleas usually respond fo Frontline OR Advantage products, but not both. Our fleas are susceptible to Frontline.

Answer 6

Unfortunately there are not any tape worm preventatives that I am aware of. However, you can deworm a cat for tape worms very inexpensively. I believe we (the clinic that I work at) charge 5 or 6 dollars for the pill that deworms them. So this is even something that you do weekly to prevent tapeworms.

Answer 7

Treat the flea - it's the best preventive measure. Cats can swallow the eggs when cleaning themselves, ingesting the eggs which hatch and become tapeworms.

Frontline is what we recommend at our clinic. It's a once a month flea treatment. It kills the fleas, their eggs and larvae. Even indoor cats can get fleas if the eggs and or fleas are brought in on your clothing.

Answer 8

As a matter of fact, my vet recommends a dewormer and some kind of flea repellant for my cats. He doesn't push the issue much since they stay inside, but he does speak of it.

Answer 9

No. It is better to be proactive and use Advantage or Frontline on your cat to keep them flea-free.

Wormers are poisons that run through your cat's digestive system and should only be given when a tape worm is present.

Answer 10

I recommend that you treat your cat regularly for fleas. Revolution or Advantage are excellent products.

Treat your cat for tape worms only if you see evidence that it has this parasite. The segments are usually seen under the tail or where the cat has been sitting or laying. When dried up, they look much like rice.