I have five animals that do not seem to have fleas. A new dog brought in tapeworms. How are they contagious?

Question

I have called a number of vets and have heard different things. Two say they are extremely contagious and I have to bleach my whole house. Three say tapeworms are only transmitted through fleas so I should treat all animals for fleas and tapeworms. Another vet said they are usually only transmitted through flea bites but if my cat (who now has tapeworms too) ate one of the worms then she could have gotten it that way. I just don't know what the best treatment is. The new puppy I adopted had tapeworms but none of my animals appear to have any fleas. Wouldn't you see fleas around ears and belly if the animals had them? Please help me figure out how to prevent the rest of the family from getting sick and how to get rid of the tapeworms permanently.

Answer 1

Tapeworms are contracted thru fleas and rodents. Your pet has to ingest the fleas or eat rodents in order to get tapeworms. There is a process the parasite has to go thru in order to be contagious. By eating tapeworm segments you do not contract tapeworms. They have to go thru the flea in order to go thru their life stages. Now to your other question. I would bath all pets, get a .topical flea product from your veterinarian, vaccumn the house and wash all pet bedding. If there is not a large flea population on your pets you probably won't even notice them. Fleas can and do hitch rides in on clothing, as well as other animal visitors to your yard. If your pets go outside at all fleas will hitch rides into the house on them. So using the topical flea products from your veterinarian you can control the flea population and the effects of tapeworms and skin allergies to the flea bites for both you and your pets.
The reason I suggest the topical flea product from your vet rather than the local store, the products from your vet are guaranteed to last a full 30 days even if they groom themselves regularly or get wet outside. The products from the local market wash off more readily and have to be reapplied more frequently. If you see tapeworms in the stool of you pets, take a sample to your veterinarian and they should be able to give you dewormer for everyone.
Good luck

Answer 2

Fleas aren't even a factor. Tapeworms are contagious through accidental ingestion of the eggs, which will be all over your house by now. You can get tapeworms too. Everybody needs to get tested and treated with preventative from the vet, or human doctor. The house should be cleaned as well as possible. Next time, quarentine a new animal away from the others and in a room that can be bleached until it can get a clean bill of health from the vet. You best hope this is all the new puppy broght with it.

Answer 3

I brought in a rescue who had tape. And she had fleas too, but the vets got all the fleas off of her before I got her.
First, get rid of any fleas that you have. I use an otc called Bio Spot. It works!!!
Check out Droncit's website. On the screen you will see the word Praziquantel. This is the chemical name. Vets sell Droncit for Tapeworm for about $100.. Praziquantel is now otc. Around me, it cost about $20. It can be found at most larger pet stores.
One of my dogs must have accidently swallowed a tape egg sack because she got the worm also.
Praziquantel also comes in a cat formula.
If you still have fleas, you might have to retreat in a few weeks. If you don't, then one treatment will kill them all in the animals.

Answer 4

Concentrate on getting rid of the tapeworms before they spread. Fleas don't stay on the dog. You will see some black specks from where they pooped some blood, but the fleas feed and then drop off. They stay in the yard and carpet and furniture to lay eggs and produce more fleas. You can have fleas and not actually see them on the dogs. I give my dogs a nutritional supplement called Juice Plus+ for dogs and it is a great supplement but also have ingredients in it that protect from fleas. I do not have any fleas at my house, or on dogs. http://www.juiceplus.com/nsa/pages/Home.soa?site=Lb53116 And I take the JP+ for people and I don't have flea either.

Tape worms can be passed by the dog and left on the floor or the other dogs and cats to pick up and .....gag.....eat.

luck to you.

Answer 5

Fleas only send a very small % of their time on a dog, most of the time they are in the carpet. If any of your dogs have fleas then odds are they have tapeworms since fleas are part of the tapeworms life cycle. If you aren't sure if your dogs are infected simply take a fecal sample from each of them into your vet for checking or treat all of them to be safe.

If you want to keep your dog worm free simply put them on monthly heartworm preventative since it will kills off the other also.

Answer 6

It's possible that you have tapeworm eggs in your home now from the parasite that your new puppy brought in. It's true that if a dog ingests an infected flee the dog can be infected. Or they can pick up an egg where ever it might be and become infected.

Treat all your animals with with Droncit, you will have to get through your vet. Then bomb your house to kill any fleas that may be in the carpeting and upholstery. Then clean every part of your home vacuuming every corner and wash all dog bedding or through it out purchase new.

Answer 7

They are transmitted through fleas off rodents, you can buy the meds at the local feed store, but you should take them to the vets. You'll have to treat all the animals though (look in their stool to see if their infected). Wash their bedding and steam clean your carpets and your bedding as well.

Fleas can jump on, bite and jump off, you may not see any fleas at all on the other ones, but they still need treatment, you'll have to look in their poo to be sure, you'll be able to see long white flat strings.

You should just take them to the vet to be sure.

Answer 8

Treat every animal (cats and dogs) for tape worm. It never hurts to treat for worms once a year. Forget the fleas UNLESS you actually see some. You can buy most worming medicines at your local feed or pet store. Good luck.