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Tapeworms don’t just hamper your pet’s health but also affect you and your family members’ health. After your pet is free from parasites, you need to clean your home to ensure you and your pet remain safe. Here’s a guide on how to clean your house after tapeworms.
How to Clean Your House After Tapeworms
It might seem daunting, but a deep clean is achievable as long as you know what you need to do.
1. Gather Supplies
Ensuring that you have all you need to clean the house will save you a lot of frustration. Here’s what you need to do:
- Bottle of floor cleaner
- Mop with a cloth head
- Water bucket
- Vacuum cleaner
- Steam Cleaner
A steam cleaner is essential to ridding your home of tapeworms. While a vacuum might do the trick, a steam cleaner is far superior.
Tapeworms are known to be quite susceptible to moisture and heat. Therefore, steam cleaning is the perfect way to get rid of those tapeworms and their eggs.
You also need to put your pets in their crates or put them in a room where they won’t interrupt your cleaning session.
2. Clean Pet Bedding
The first area that you need to clean is the pet’s bed. Tapeworms might be hiding in the bed, waiting to infest again. So, you need to:
- Take a washing solution. Flea shampoo will also work.
- Wash the bed with it thoroughly. Make sure you clean the sides just as well.
- Dry the bed under sunlight.
Once the pet beds have been cleaned, you can move on to vacuuming the house.
3. Vacuum the House
After cleaning the most vulnerable area for tapeworm infestation, the pet’s bed, it is time for house cleaning. Start with vacuuming:
- Vacuum the entire house without leaving any corners. Ensure you vacuum the carpets, furniture, under the sofa, under the bed, and all other hard-to-reach spots.
- Tapeworms can survive outside of your house. Sweeping or vacuuming outside your home is also a good idea.
- Mop the floors with water mixed with floor cleaner.
- Use a clean cloth head with the mop for a neater outcome.
Tip: For best results, use floor cleaners with Permethrin and Methoprene. Also, change the mop water whenever it gets too dirty.
4. Steam Clean Your Home
After vacuuming, you can start steam cleaning all the areas in your house.
Steam the carpets, curtains, drapes, furniture, rugs, and every other area that you vacuumed. The heat and moisture will kill the adult tapeworms (and fleas, too, if there are any) and will destroy the eggs.
Tip: Surfaces like wall cracks and furniture gaps can’t be cleaned well with a vacuum or steam cleaner. You can use bleach to clean out such spots. However, remember that some surfaces do not react well to chemical bleaches.
5. Disinfect Home Surfaces
With the home vacuumed and steam cleaned, you still need to disinfect surfaces like the tables.
These areas are less likely to have tapeworms and their eggs, but it is still entirely possible.
Use a commercial disinfectant that will kill the worms and their larvae.
6. Launder Bedding and Linens
Unfortunately, your bedding might have picked up some of the tapeworms, and needs to be washed in the laundry.
The same is true for any other linens, such as your clothes, jackets, tablecloths, and area rugs.
Make sure to use hot water during the wash cycle and high heat during the dry cycle. This will help kill the tapeworms and their eggs.
7. Take A Shower
Taking a shower and making sure you and the bathroom is clean too is just as important as cleaning the house. There is a possibility that flea, tapeworms, and their eggs might stick onto your clothes or body while cleaning up.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Long Can Tapeworms Survive on Carpet?
Tapeworm eggs can survive for months on almost any surface, including grass, carpets, bathroom floors, and bedsheets. If a live tapeworm leaves the body, it can survive for around three weeks without a host.
Can I Get Tapeworms? How Can I Flush Them?
If you have tapeworms, you will experience nausea, weight loss, weakness, and abdominal pains. The good news is, you can use oral medication to flush out these tapeworms from your body. If you experience symptoms, consult a doctor.
How Frequently Should I Clean My House for Tapeworms?
If you have a pet in your house that goes outside for a walk every day, it is better to opt for daily cleaning. A tapeworm infection doesn’t take long to set in, and the parasites pose a risk to you and your family.
Conclusion
Having a pet has its perks, but it can also be a lot more work than you thought you were in for. Helping your pet get better after an infection is the easy part – it’s keeping yourself and your pet safe after the infection that takes effort.
The methods listed above are the best ways to clean your home after your pet recovers from a tapeworm infection. Using either of the methods will help ensure your pet’s good health.
