Teacher said:

i think that one of the main problems is that the dewormer that is used most often in america (pyrantel) doesn't really get cat tapeworms, mostly roundworms and hookworms. Droncit is used to treat tapeworm infections and that's not given at most routine dewormings.

Usually, if you have adquate flea control, your cat won't get tapeworms, which is why all cats in a household should be treated with a flea control product even if they are exclusively indoor cats. However, if you have an 18 year old cat in a single cat household who never leaves her special room, well then maybe you can ease up a bit on things.

As long as you take the cat to the vet right away, the cat should be fine. One of my boys had them a few months ago. The vet gave him a shot and they went away fairly quickly. He also said it's because the cat ate a flea. My cats are indoors as well, but with this increase in heat in my area, and friends visiting who have animals as well, it was possible that some may have entered my home. Good luck and I hope the kitty feels better.

JasmineFire said:

We have two diff dewormers here too, one that take the round and hook and then the other one that makes a clean sweep. It's advised to do one the first time of year and then the other one for the second, to make sure you get them all. Tapeworms seem to be less common here than in the US, but then so are fleas - here you don't have to treat your dog or cat for fleas routinely, personally I believe that to be because we don't keep our dogs in the back yard here so the fleas rarely get enough time to breed and fester in one place. The occasional outbreak surfaces in neighbourhoods but not as a general rule.
I just buy the dewormer twice a year and give it to all my pets at the same time. That's all, easy.

Teacher said:

I have never given anything to my two indoor kitties (in the last 20 years) and neither ever had worms or fleas. I assume they are given something in shots when they are kitties, but I've never had a problem and no vet has ever told me to do it either. Perhaps it's regional?

XxAxX said:

butterfli25 said:

On that note Dan, I'll need to see your health card prior to our next visit!

XxAxX said:

I have no advice Dan


See a vet?

shanti0608 said:

Ok, and nowwwww you'll need to have a flea dip prior to arrival!

CarrieMpls said:

yeah, it's regional although your cats were probably dewormed at some point in their life. out where my mother lives they don't really need to treat for fleas because it's so dry but where I grew up treating for fleas every summer was practically the law and where I live now it's recommended to treat for fleas all year round for indoor and outdoor animals.

Teacher said
i don't think the presence of absence of fleas has much to do with Americans keeping animals in backyards or not. Most of the people who posted on this thread stated that they've had run ins with fleas on their INDOOR animals. Tapeworm infestation is a very quiet condition in healthy animals. There are many animals who harbor tapeworms but don't shed any proglottids, have any kind of diarrhea, or even have fleas at the present moment. Tapeworm eggs are hard to visualize on a fecal flotation so it's always best just to deworm to cover the possibility.

Also, fleas thrive in internal environments. Your largest populations of fleas are going to be in houses, apartments, etc. It's true that outdoor animals are more likely to have fleas but just because an animal is outside, does not mean that animal is harboring fleas. The entire lifecycle of the flea does not take place exclusively on the animal and while fleas can complete their life cycle in the great outdoors, they do it much better and more efficiently inside.

That's certainly an unsavory subject...

If it's tapeworm however, it doesn't do any harm to the cat usually...
here's a bit of info that might give you some insight.

http://www.dr-dan.com/tapeworm.htm

http://www.marvistavet.co...eworm.html

`
[Edited 7/26/08 7:07am]

thanks for reminding me to worm my dog today!

I do not own a cat because cats seem to have a severe problem with worms!!!
..

butterfli25 said:

ffs, do you know where Dan finds cat hair ??

CarrieMpls said:

Same here...although, when my cats were babies they were treated for worms. The mom passed them along to them.
I do wonder if it's regional - maybe our wicked northern winters kill the fleas outside or something.
Plus, like you, no vet has told me to pre-treat my kitties. I feel uncomfortable giving them chemicals unless they absolutely need them.

BlueZebra said:

amorbella said:

Some cats do, but not all. My cats are indoor only, and they haven't had a problem with worm infestation. Hopefully this will continue.

applekisses said:

there are products you can buy in America to deworm your animals at home but most people just go to the vet.

In fact, it makes me nervous when people deworm their animals at home because people who don't have any veterninary or medical training make very simple mistakes that sometimes have serious consequences.

That being said, there are some owners do an excellent job with that kind of thing and you can trust them to do the right thing always and you know that they'll call you before they get in over their head.

But then there's the majority of pet owners who don't have enough knowledge about what they are doing or enough technical skills and can end up hurting themself and/or the animal.

So I guess it just depends.

JasmineFire said:

I'll just keep an eye out on their poops.
My sister-in-law is a nurse and gives her dogs, cats, horses and goats their medications at home. She's never had a problem (I think because of her med training) but, I'd NEVER try it.

applekisses said:

Aaawwww...goats!

what kind does she have?

JasmineFire said:

They're really cute and friendly, but they eat the horses tails!
They are total escape artists and like to get out of their pasture and the last time I was over there it was dark and I was walking to my car and the girl goat was waiting for me by my door - I was petting her and she was giving me kisses.

They're mixed with two different breeds...this is one of them (I can't remember the other) and they look the most like this:

imago, i swear the entire internet shivers every time you log onto this site.

amorbella said:

thanks for saying this...i love animals, but i have a fear of worms!!!!!

anyone else itchy?

peacenlovealways said:

yeah, but it has more to do with the person who started the thread than the actual topic.

Poor Kitty. I hope it's okay.