How often do you worm and flea treat your cats?

[Cathod]

I have two cats who go outside. We are surrounded by fields and one is a big hunter . When I wormed quarterly he still got worms so I have been worming monthly. I have read a lot of news articles about the environmental consequences of flea treatments on the waterways and also on birds (see article from the Guardian). Should I be concerned about the consequences on my toddler too? I try to stop him touching the cats for 24hrs after treatment. We had a flea invasion once and it gives me the shivers thinking of getting another!

www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/25/call-pets-toxic-flea-treatments-tightly-restricted-uk

Snap with the stripy cats! I have moved to just treating mine at signs of fleas. I have a hunch that's going to become the norm going forward.

Stripy one has a flea allergy, but the only time it became a problem was when I kept on treating her...with a treatment that the fleas had become resistant to 😬.

Oh Lord, I added a photo of the stripy one, but it was flagged up as potential sensitive content and it's "currently under review" 😆. There's not even any flagrant cat nudity on show- it's just her head sticking up from under a blanket!

I am really anxious about it all so we get Bravecto for fleas and a worming tablet every 3 months via the vet. Once fleas get hold they’re a nightmare so I’d rather just do it. My Mum (who’s passed away now but had cats a few years back) would only ever do hers if she actually saw a flea! So once a year or so. Makes me shudder 😳😂

Our cats wear Seresto collars; we’re in a really tick heavy area and I was taking five or six off them a week before - they sleep in the DC’s beds, and DD1 getting a tick on her hairline which was almost certainly brought in by the cat was really the last straw with that. They’re very effective, both for fleas and ticks.

I worm them when I remember; I aim for quarterly but realistically it’s probably closer to every 4-5 months!

Here they are plotting on the stairs…

Mine have a worm tablet quarterly (Milbemax) and a flea tablet monthly (Credelio). They don’t tolerate spot-ons and I too am concerned about the environmental and safety aspects of spot-ons, although cats don’t go into water like dogs do, we stroke them a lot and the active ingredient must be there all month or it wouldn’t work.

I aim for every 4 weeks but in reality it's more like every 6! They get nexguard spot on and it's for worms and fleas

I tend to do it through the spring and summer but not in winter.

As little as possible! I worry about the effect of pesticides on human health, as well as nature.

I worm my cat (who does go outside, but isn't a very skilled hunter) every six months with Drontal tablets. I also give her 1/2 tablet/day of Vet IQ flea/tick tablets, crushed into her food. Vet IQ is based on B-vitamins (like Marmite), which apparently makes cats' blood less appetising to fleas. She hasn't had fleas yet, but I know that if/when she does succumb, I'll have to use something stronger.

I use a product called Bravecto every quarter which is an all in one for fleas, ticks and worms. You apply it to the back of the neck just like spot on.

I haven't flea treated our cats since just before Covid hit. For some reason we have had no fleas at all in over five years. Four cats who go out everyday and are hunters. Very strange and I can't explain it.
They get the odd tick - I just remove them with a tick twister tool.
One of our cats had a tapeworm a few years ago. One pill and resolved.
I tend to treat rather than prevent. It's MUCH cheaper and is a lower risk of causing immunity in the pest population.

Another vote for Bravecto, you can get it from the vets. I wouldn't use any shop bought work/flea treatment, they just don't work

Monthly, I do both on the 18th of the month.

Previous cats were flea treated a bit haphazardly, when I remembered, when I spotted a flea/flea dirt, or when I got ankle bites. All previous cats hunted so worming was monthly. Current girl gets flea treatment monthly March to October-ish as she spends a lot of time in my bedroom/bed and my room would be a PITA to de-flea. I don't worm routinely as she doesn't hunt, just keep an eye on her poo/condition and ask the vet to give a tablet when she's in for jabs (she probably doesn't need it but just in case).

Thanks for all the replies. I will look into the collars and Bravecto. Mine aren't very amenable to pills but I might give it another try. Only concern with the collars is if they are a strangulation risk as we we are surrounded by hedgerows - unless they have a snap release?

Monthly flea,tick,worm treatment. Every six months for tape worm.

Stronghold & Profender.
One & three monthly, but my brain isn't sure which way around tonight!

Someone working in my house has a flea allergy so I won't risk it.

Fleas every month cats and dogs and both wormed every 2 months. I've got 2 cats and 2 dogs so if 1 gets fleas they could spread to others hence treated every month. I wrap tablets up in wafer thin ham.

We worm every 6-8 weeks (when I remember) but never flea treat and we’ve never seen a single flea. I only worm them as the youngest are hunters and will bring in rats, mice and birds.

I don’t worm, his idea of going outside is sitting on the doorstep or next to me in the garden and he doesn’t hunt

flea treat every couple of months

I read something about this recently and mentioned it to the vet, he told me 3 monthly is fine. I may not even do that to be honest, neither of my cats roam far, they hate other cats and are useless hunters!

I only treat when I see a tick or they have fleas. They hate it, act like I've done the worst thing ever. They've never had fleas but do pick the occasional tick up which I tend to see before it latches on.

I do a daily tick check in tick season.