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My dogs had tapeworms. How do I clean my house to prevent reinfection?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Labrador Retriever | Female | spayed | 4 years old | 80 lbs

What do I need to do to clean the house after my three dogs have had tapeworm?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on March 16th, 2017

A very good scrub of the house will suffice. Steam mop the hardworking surfaces, and you can steam clean the carpets as well. It's important to remove any fecal material from the home, as that's how tapeworm infection is passed.

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    Answered By Linda G, MS, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on March 5th, 2018

    Hello. Most worms are obtained through the fecal-oral route. Boudreaux ingests something contaminated with fecal material & worms are deposited in his gut, so try to keep him from picking up sticks & debris to chew on. Tapeworms are primarily obtained from fleas. Fleas on your pet's coat feed on tapeworm larvae, your pet feels a flea, grooms it off & swallows the flea & tapeworm. Or, he can pick up tapeworms from hunting & eating small prey. All the house needs is a good vacuuming, & use a good flea product on a regular basis. If you do not use a heartworm preventative, consider using something like Interceptor Plus, which will deworm your pet every month for all the common intestinal parasites. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

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I just found out my dog has worms...found them in his stool this am. I am taking him to the vet this evening for treatment. What do I need to do moving forward to clean house etc to keep from being reinfected and in what timeframe from his initial tr
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I took my dog to the vet today to get treated for tapeworms and now I wanna know how can I treat my house ?
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what ratio of water to bleach can i use to clean my home after treating my cat for tapeworms. Can a vinager water solution work or a lysol consentrate?
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Greetings, my puppy seems to have acquired tapeworms because they are visible in its feces. Additionally it's bed had loose worms as well which worried me. I just wanted to ask what can I do to maintain my family secure, including my dog, and what m
Oh no. This is a nuisance to deal with for sure. Tapeworms are contagious to people, but it would require ingesting (eating) a live worm to become infective. As long as you clean up the feces and use good hygiene (washing your hands and avoid putting hands in the mouth after touching your pet or any live worms), then you are less likely to infest yourself. Clean up the poop quickly and don’t let your pet around other dogs or cats to avoid transmission until you can get Coco treated. Best wishes and don’t forget to also get Coco on a good flea preventative (ie Bravecto, Nexgard, Simparica, Vectra etc) at your vet to avoid further infection with tapeworms. Take care.
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