Can our barn cat give our llamas tapeworms?

Answer:

Thank you for your enquiry. The short answer is not really.

Feline tape-worms need to go through a portion of their life cycle in a flea or other intermediate host. The llama (or alpaca) would have to ingest those fleas. Since fleas are fairly species specific they will not infest the camelids and therefore are very unlikely to get infected from a cat.

Llamas and alpacas do often become infected with a Monezia type tape-worm. These are common among ruminating species and the intermediate host is a pasture mite.

Below are some web sites that may help with some specific details as well.

http://www.askdrpetra.com/Cats/Tapeworm%20Infection%20in%20Cats.htm

http://www.vetpath.usyd.edu.au/parasitology/tape/cestodes.htm

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&C=15&A=562&S=1

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Cestoda.html

David E Anderson, DVM , MS , DACVS