I took Aleph and Fifo to the vet last week for their annual checkups. Fifo doesn't seem to enjoy the vet nearly as much as Aleph does, and the first thing he did once I let him out of his cage was to climb behind the computer screen in the corner. You can see his little head poking up in the picture at right.
Both cats have fleas (yay) and Aleph has tapeworms, likely from eating said flea larvae. Odds are good that we picked up the fleas from previous tenants in this apartment or the last. They've both got topical anti-flea medication and Aleph got a big shot to kill the tapeworms.
Both cats also have the dreaded gum disease, gingivitis! And apparently their diets need to change, too, since I've been feeding them the cat equivalent of a burger and fries—Purina Cat Chow...how would I have known?
Add 1-2 teaspoons of brewer's yeast to each of their food bowls each day and it will keep fleas away, once the current ones are gone (it changes their skin's scent slightly, making it non-tasty smelling for fleas). It works better than flea collars, is cheaper and is organic. It also works for dogs. My mom's been doing it for years and hasn't had a problem even though her cats used to get fleas while wearing flea collars.