Do I have to lock up my cat when she gets dewormed?

Question

I took my cat to get dewormed yesterday. She is a house cat and has been outside once or twice but thats all. She has been in my basement ever since she got dewormed at the vets. I cleaned my room (where she sleeps and eats) and bought that sprinkle stuff for the carpet to kill fleas and eggs and that kind of thing. I feel awful that she is in the basement by herself. Is there a way to let her out without reinfecting the house? And is there a way to keep this from happening again?

Answer 1

She just got dewormed that doesn't mean fleas OR ticks it means she has parasites in her belly. So you do not need to lock her up. The only precaution you have to take is whenever you are touching her is to wash your hands because you can sometimes catch the parasite. So make sure you wash.

Also, when cats are being dewormed all that happens is the medicine will kick in and sooner or later she will start going in the litter box and you might possibly see some of her p**p move for the fact those "worms" or parasites are leaving her body.

But like I said, she doesn't need to be locked up or anything just make sure anyone who touches her washes there hands after playing/handling her!

I hope this helps!

If not, check out this site http://www.hartz.com/cats/ArticlePreview...

Answer 2

Let the poor thing out of the basement! She can't catch worms from being on your carpet, she has to eat an infected flea to get worms.

IF you were at the vet yesterday you should have asked for a prescription of "Revolution" or one of the other antiparaiticides like Cat Advantage or Frontline. Once monthly on the back of the neck kills fleas, worms, ticks, earmites--everything but your cat!

That is what you need to do to avoid another infestation of worms!

Answer 3

Your cat probably got worms from eating fleas, although cats can also get parasites when they eat grass (or other things) outside, as some parasites leave their eggs on blades of grass. The only way to be sure she won't get worms again is to not let her outside and keep your home a hostile environment for fleas (which it sounds like you've already started, so you're actually doing yourself a favor even though the powder doesn't kill worms). For an indoor cat with no fleas and no access to grass, there are few places your cat could get worms from again. The better you are at keeping fleas out of your home, and the less time your cat spends outside, the lower the chances are that she'll become reinfected. Be sure to treat any other pets you may have for fleas as well--we never let our cats outside, but our dog brought fleas into the house all the time, so the cats still became infected. When we switched to a better brand of flea killer for the dog, the cats also benefitted.

Your cat shouldn't be able to "infect" you with worms just by touching you; I was more than a little horrified when I first found out our cats had worms, but don't worry, just touching tapeworm segments or roundworm eggs will not infect you (although personally I'd still avoid it as the things are disgusting), you have to actually ingest them. This is why human infections are actually very rare; we're far more cautious about what we put in our mouths and are usually good about washing our hands and such, which makes it difficult for worms to infect us.

Until she's rid of them, your cat will still leave little segments around the house if she has tapeworm (whereas roundworms are confined to the cat's droppings, and so shouldn't exist outside the litterbox), and yes it IS horrid and disgusting, but since you have to ingest them in order to become infected you can simply vacuum them up. If you don't want your house littered with these things, you can keep your cat confined to one room or just keep them out of certain areas--really it depends on what you're comfortable with and how much you want to vacuum. I know that, even knowing it is unlikely that you would become infected, it is still not a pleasant thought to know these things are in your home!

Answer 4

Are you referring to treatment to kill fleas, or treatment to deworm?  The f***s will contain the worms and worm casings, so it will stay in the litter box.  There is no reason to put her in the basement.  She may think she is being punished, and be confused.  Giving her deworming medicine typically kills the worms immediately, so there is no hazard.

If she has been treated with something like Frontline for fleas, there is no need to isolate her, and you are treating any possible fleas and eggs in carpeting.