Have you had fleas in your home recently? Is the cat with tapeworm a new resident?
The tapeworm lifecycle involves a flea. A cat gets a tapeworm by eating an infected flea, not by direct contact with another cat who has a tapeworm. Even though your cats only have contact through a baby gate, any fleas can easily move back and forth.
You can take a stool sample to your vet for examination but that's not always definitive ... the tapeworm segments don't shed constantly and therefore aren't always seen in a stool sample.
I'd ask your vet for advice, but if I have/had fleas in my home and especially if there's confirmed tapeworm in another long-term resident cat, I'd personally treat all of them.
EDITED to add: Revolution kill fleas but does NOT work on tapeworm.
(And of course use flea preventative on your other cats as well if you're not already.)
Thank you, and yes we are aware of all these things as seasonally fleas reoccur to some degree here. She was treated for fleas and so is everyone in the house. My vet was not in when I stopped by yesterday, but we will still consult prior to surgery. Alice does not bury her feces in the box so I have a very good look at it on a regular basis. For a long time I was also tracking fecal score regularly and adding pictures to my digital notes and so on, of her bowel movements.... I see too much poop.
I can almost 100% guarantee it came from one particular cat who is a flea magnet (I haven’t figured this one out yet), pretty sure it was his poop because I am familiar with what his look like in that box. We do not have carpet, they don’t share blankets, etc. She is also in the most isolated room in the house (physically but not socially). That being said, it’s definitely still going to be discussed. The ginger boys were treated with Profender the evening I found the worms.
Oh and to specific questions, no new residents, but once in awhile we get a mouse in the house, that sort of thing, it’s spring, we did not really have a proper freeze, bugs happen. I’ve also got some room treatment I can use and I planned on redoing a room for her since it opened up.
.... I am half asleep, may be babbling. Other CG helps with morning shift so I can catch extra rest, but I still have to consult. Been sick, dehydrated.
Umm AMPS was in a decent yellow so having not seen message here we went ahead and did 4u one more time. Was going to look at dose changes in new post later when officially awake.
Yawn......
