Cross Breeds

flea bites can transfer worms to dogs and cats. if you get a flea bite can you get worms too?

i have three dogs and two cats. i treat all my pets regularly for fleas and worms. i treat the fleas with "spot on" for fleas and certain worms and "frontline" (for fleas, mites ans ticks only doesn't treat worms) i treat my cats once ever 8 to 12 weeks and my dogs get their treatment every 12 weeks. i do sleep with one of my cats a lovely main coon mix and i have found that i have had a few flea bites only one or two and only ever on my legs. my boyfriends never gets bitten!! i know you have to switch up the flea remedies every now and again to insure their effectiveness but my vet does that for me she keeps track of my pets past flea treatments. i have noticed that even after treating my cats i have seen one or two fleas on them 2 weeks later. do fleas still temporarily live (like even for only an hour or two) on your cats until the flea remedies kick in and effect the fleas??? and if fleas can transmit worms to cats and dogs can they do the same to people? could i have worms from flea bites. oh i regularly vacuum and have no carpets in my home. i even leave a flea collar in my vacuum to kill any flea eggs or fleas that i might hoover up if they are indoors. but how can they be?? i am the most care-full person i know when it comes to treating my pets for fleas and worms. oh know i dont ever double up i was just giving examles of what the treatments are. they get their one treatment once ever 8 to 12 weeks its up to the vet which one she wants to give me at the time.

Public Comments

1. Yes.
2. I may have misunderstood but it looks like you're doubling up on flea treatment in your first sentence. This can result in overdose. Flea treatment is pretty harmful stuff. Like nerve agent used in chemical warfare. Safe in the right dosage but harmful if over exposed. Review your treatment regime. And use a regular wormer tablet on all pets. It's not uncommon for one person to be favoured by fleas or other pests. It's believed to be something to do with pheromones in body odor (not like bad BO just natural scent) Cafe Mocha confirmed my suspicion. You have to eat the flea containing the worm eggs to develop worms. Even then some worms wouldn't survive in a human. EDIT It's best practice to visit your local vet's front desk when selecting flea treatment. Vet's recommendations differ from location to location as one treatment becomes less effective due to immunity. Vet's are the best people to advise on this and this advice doesn't need a consultation. The reception will be able to advise and sell you the best protection for your area at the current time. 2nd EDIT Glad to hear you don't double up. But I've never come across a vet that's promoted or recommended "Spot-on". That's normally sold in supermarkets and my vet said it was largely useless.
3. You're very confused. Flea bites don't transfer tapeworm it's the INGESTION of a flea. The tapeworm larvae can be inside a flea so when a cat or dog licks its fur it can ingest the flea. The larvae then grows in its intestinal track, suctions onto the intestinal lining and then grows and grows. There's other worms as well - Roundworm, Hookworm, Heartworm - but none of these worms come from fleas. Roundworm and Hookworm tend to come from other animals - ie, a bird the cat ate - and heartworm is transmitted by mosquitos. Odds are the dewormer you're using DOESN'T kill tapeworm. Only if it contains Praziquantel will it kill a tapeworm. I don't know what "Spot On" is but don't use it. Storebought crap like that not only doesn't work but they can make your cat VERY sick. You're also overdosing your pets by using two different medications. And I've heard that Frontline doesn't work well on cats. It seems the fleas have built up an immunity to it. Only use Advantage or Revolution. These products need to be applied MONTHLY - not every three months. And it can actually take several days - even a week - to kill all the fleas in your home once the medication is applied. And FYI - very unlikely your cat is a "Maine Coon mix" when breeders tend to sell kittens altered and never allow crossbreeding. It's simply a domestic - a cat of no particular breed just like over 97% of the cats on this entire planet.
4. You need a gold star for being one of the most responsible owners EVER !!!!! The only thing i can say about fleas is that they die in 24 hrs, and fleas will not jump back on an animal if they have been treated. So i would go back to your vet and question this. If this is happening often, then perhaps you need to change your vet! As for fleas? The buggers hide round the skirting, and they hid in the bedding and they hid in cushions, blankets, softa furnishings, so you need to treat with flea powerder. But its very strange that you see fleas on your cats two days after they are treated, this aint right, speak to your vet, you have paid for a service, and you should get what you paid for, and that is a house free of fleas and animals who are not infected XXX
5. What you are doing is perfectly fine. For those who don't know - spot-on is the type of treatment which you apply as a single spot rather than a spray and contains exactly the same insecticides as you find in the sprays - much more convenient for cats at least. If your cats go outside then of course they will pick up new fleas and the treatments don't stay 100% effective until the next treatment. Get a good flea comb and keep remove them and any eggs this way. The eggs can also lie dormant around the house for a bit too and may hatch when conditions are nice and warm - regular hoovering keeps on top of this but won't always catch 100%. What we are doing is controlling the problem, it can never be eradicated. Even if you swallow a flea you won't get worms from it - parasites are really specialized to single host species and human and dog/cat worms are completely different, so a cat tapeworm for example couldn't survive inside a human. If you worry that fleas are coming back more often than before tell your vet - they can develop resistance to insecticides after a while.