Expert: Jana Connell RVT, CVT - 6/4/2010

Question
Hello,

I have just recently got a kitten. She is 6 weeks old and has been given her first set of vaccinations. I also have a one year old tabby cat named Remy. We have had him since he was a kitten and since then he has had all his vaccinations, was de-wormed and he was also neutered. They are both inside cats. We have had the kitten for 2 weeks now and her and Remy have been getting along well just recently for the past 4 or 5 days. It has taken him a while to get use to her. We found out just yesterday on 6/3/2010 that she has tapeworms. I have taken her to the veterinarian and she is now on medication to get rid of the worms which I just started today on 6/4/2010. The vet believes that she had gotten the tapeworms from the fleas that she had had before we had gotten her. However, she was treated with Revolution about 3 days before we brought her home so the fleas were all dead when we had taken her for the vet. She has had several baths since then and now she no longer has fleas. However, we also waited about 2 days so that I could be absolutely positive that she did not have them before we introduced Remy to her. I also put a product similar to Frontline on him as well as treated my carpet for the fleas just to make sure that they would not get on him or in the house. He did not get the fleas either. He has licked her only a few times and she has licked him too. But he has never directly licked her anus or face just the tip of her tail and the side of her stomach. While playing with her he has bitten her feet not to hurt her just to play with her. She has also never directly licked his anus or face just the tip of his tail and the sides of his stomach. She does lick herself on the anus before and after she uses the bathroom. Remy has eaten after her a few times and has went into her litter box. Remy has only been in her litter box a few times and he does not use it. When Remy did go into her litter box it was always clean. I have always cleaned the litter box directly after she uses it ever since we have had her. I do the same for Remy. He only goes into it and sniffs around then gets out. The last time he went into her litter box he did use it but that was the last time. Since we found out that the new kitten had tapeworms we have completely isolated Remy from her litter box, food and even her. We always wash our hands before and after we play with the kitten and Remy both. I'm really terrified that Remy has them even though the kitten and Remy have only been around each other for the 4 or 5 days. They have had no other contact before then and after we found out about the worms. I wanted to treat Remy for the worms but the vet would not give me anything to give to him unless he had them. I have been checking his stool since then too and have not found anything unusual in it. My question is how likely is Remy going to get the tapeworms that the new kitten carries? Could he get them from licking her and eating after her? And could he get them from the surrounding area like the litter box or in the house where she has been? Any advice you can give me would be greatly appreciated. I hope that I'm just being paranoid but better safe than sorry. Thank you so much for your time and patience.

Answer
Hi Breanna,
Remy cannot get tapeworms from her this way. He would have had to eaten a flea with a tapeworm egg in just like she did before you got her. He has a better chance of getting a virus like leukemia from her but since she has been to the vets I am sure you had her tested for that.

Cats don't get tapeworms from litter boxes, food bowls or licking another cat. They have to ingest the intermediate host which in this case is the flea.
They can also get them from eating mice, lizards etc. By and far the most common cause of tapeworms in pets is from fleas. Once they eat a flea with a tapeworm egg inside of it takes about 14 days for the segments to show up which is why it took that long after you had her de-bugged and brought her at home.

Since the house is flea free you will be fine. Remy will be fine and your new baby should be fine as well. Relax and enjoy them both!