Flea treatment for cats
Fleas are a very common problem for cats and kittens. Fleas are most common in warm weather (spring and summer), though they can occur all year around. They can transmit parasitic or infectious diseases to your cat, including tapeworms.

Although some cats become irritable, scratch and have scabby lesions on the skin, others have no visible signs of discomfort. In small kittens, a severe flea infestation may cause anaemia from loss of blood. Check your cat or kitten weekly by looking under the fur at the skin on the back close to the tail for fleas or flea ‘dirt’ (dark pepper-like specks, which is flea faeces). A flea comb is also a good way of detecting fleas.

Use a flea treatment that is safe
If your cat or kitten has fleas, remember that a large part of the flea life cycle is off your pet, so your house and outdoor area may harbour flea eggs and larvae. These may be treated with flea bombs or other house flea treatment products.

Worm treatment for cats
All kittens are born with intestinal (gut) worms, and it is important to treat them regularly to prevent poor health and even fatal intestinal blockage. A kitten with a lot of worms may have a fat round belly, thin coat and be less playful.

Worm treatments should be given at two, four, six, eight, 10 and 12 weeks of age. Roundworms are the most important worms in kittens, although a broad spectrum treatment (that also treats hookworms, whipworms and tapeworms) is often given.

Cats can pick up intestinal worms very easily from the environment where other cats have been. Tapeworms are passed on from flea infestation (when the cat ingests a flea when grooming). It is important to treat your cat regularly to prevent parasite infestation and poor health.

Worm treatments (broad-spectrum) should be given every three months to adult cats. Some new topical (or spot-on) treatments, applied at the back of the neck, available from vet clinics, treat both fleas and worms. Ask at your vet clinic.

Set up your worm treatment reminder to remind you to treat your kitten or cat regularly.

There is often misconception about pet worms and children. It is important to treat worms in young kittens (and adult cats) because as well as causing ill-health for our pets, cat worms do pose a small risk to children. If a child accidentally eats a microscopic roundworm larva (immature form of a worm, present in pets’ faeces) there is a small chance that this will burrow into the gut and organs, or get into the blood stream and enter the eye.

This is not common, and usually results from situations where children eat dirt, or there is poor hygiene (pets not treated for worms, and children playing around pet faeces outside). Direct contact with pets is not a factor in infection because of the incubation period required before the eggs are infective.

The worms that children commonly get are from other children, and cannot be passed from pets. So, worm treatments for children and pets are quite different things – but both should be done to keep your pets and children happy and healthy!

Good hygiene – such as washing hands after handling pets and always before preparing or eating food – is essential with pets in the home.