- Cats and Fleas
Fleas and Cats and Kittens
Donât worry about your fleas, your cat isnât going to catch them from you.
Sorry, I couldnât resist that but fleas can be a serious problem for cats. Tigger didnât like fleas. When he was bitten by a flea he ended up developing a scab for each flea bite and his fur wouldnât grow on the scab so it fell out. I thought he was going to become a bald cat but it always grew back eventually.
I took him to see the vet who told me it was an allergy against fleas. He sold me an expensive spray which I had to spray Tigger with every day. As soon as the flea bit him it would die. I had to shake the can well before spraying him and hold Tigger by his neck while I sprayed from neck to tail and back. It felt very cold on him and didnât smell too pleasant.
It didnât work so I took him back to the veterinary practice after two weeks and saw a different vet who consulted Tiggerâs file and told me the condition he was suffering from rendered the product useless. It may kill the flea when the flea bit but that was the problem, Tigger has already been bitten and that was his problem.
The solution was to try a couple of drops of liquid on his neck which killed the fleas on contact, but they never seemed to work well. In the end I had to use a traditional flea collar which I donât like to see on cats and one day he came hopping home with one of his front paws stuck inside his flea collar. I helped him out of it but couldn’t find anything as successful so he had to keep wearing it, well a new one every 3 months. It worked though.
There was still a big problem with the spray though. I kept it for years but never used it again. The problem, well whenever Tigger heard any can being shaken he was off. It didnât matter that it wasnât for him, just shake a can of polish, hair spray, deodorant or anything and he hid. He wasnât having that awful flea spray near him.
So what can you do about fleas. Well take a bath, shave all your hair off, douse yourself in flea powder and donât go anywhere dirty again. Only kidding.
Fleas can be a major problem for most cats sometime in their life. It doesnât mean theyâre dirty though, all cats are fastidiously clean except one I once saw in a small mountain top village 2500 feet up in
the Andalusian Mountains on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. He didnât seem to be bothered about a little dirt. I took a picture of two of his friends but they were a lot cleaner. A couple of seconds after I took this shot in Comares a dog came round the corner, took one look at these two and scampered away with his tail between his legs. I kinda got the impression that in Comares, cats ruled and dogs didnât. The guy whose villa I was staying at told me there was one deserted house there which had 26 cats living in it and a British resident went to feed them all once a day.
Cats who go outside can pick up fleas by mixing with other cats who have fleas. There doesnât even need to be contact with other cats. They can still catch them from being in the same area where other cats have been.
Fleas can also get into your home on your clothing so even if your cat is a house or apartment cat they can still get fleas. Once the flea is in your apartment it will prefer your cat to your clothing.
Fleas lay their eggs in your cats fur. They can, and often do fall off, and will hatch into larvae almost anywhere but a favorite place will be your catâs bedding. They will also get into your drapes, carpets, furniture and even your bedding so it is best to deal with fleas straight away. Fleas can also cause you problems if you are alergic to them so be careful.
So what are the symptoms. Scratching a lot more than usual, especially behind the ears and on the neck is a strong sign to look out for. Your cat will almost certainly be grooming itself a lot more than normal so be prepared to check for fleas. Having a good look is unlikely to show anything to the untrained eye but carefully grooming your cat with a very fine toothed comb may show you the eggs which fleas lay in your cats fur. If you find any small brownish black bits these could be flea droppings. An easy way to test this is to drop them on damp kitchen roll. If they start to ooze red, that means they are flea droppings and the dried blood, (which is what they are made of), is rehydrating with the water. The other place to look for fleas is in your catâs bedding and here you may even be able to see them jumping.
So how do you deal with fleas. First you need to do your best to get rid of anything that will re-infect your cat. There are flea sprays which are available from your local pet store or veterinary which will help to get rid of fleas from your home. Before you start though you need to vacuum - everywhere, furniture, drapes, carpets, bedding, mattresses and then underneath all furniture as well and do it thoroughly. Once you have done that use the spray. Read the instructions very carefully on the flea product you have bought as many of them will be different and follow the instructions. Spray all the areas you need to and then deal with the other two problems.
The first is the cats bedding, and maybe yours. Wash your catâs bedding in a high temperature wash, yours as well if need be to kill the fleas. If you have a proper cat bed which can be washed, then was that as well. If it is something like a basket which you cannot wash, spray it with the flea spray but keep you cat away for however long the instructions tell you.
You deal with your cat using flea spray, the drops I mentioned which kill fleas or a flea collar which I donât like. Ask at your neighborhood pet store or your veterinary for the best flea product to suit your cat and remember to read all the instructions - fully.
Another suggestion is you can bath your cat with special flea eradication shampoo and then groom it on a regular basis to help get rid of fleas and bath once a week. Hell my cat put me in hospital for 5 days when I was playing with him so whatâs he going to do if I bath him. I suppose some cats like being bathed but not Tigger. The only time I ever bathed him was when he came home from a trip round his territory in the neighborhood and his back was covered in oil. He must have been under a dirty truck or something but left to himself heâd have cleaned himself with his tongue as cats do but I wasnât having all that oil inside him. So, I bathed him. He howled, he fought, he bit, he scratched and he spit at me, but I got him clean. After I had finished I put him down and laughed as he looked so pathetic, like he had no fur and was just a bag of skin and bones
Youâre probably thinking he hid for the rest of the day. Well, youâd be wrong, dead wrong, it was me who hid. I hid in the study until nightfall and did some work. He was still mad when I fed him at night but at least I got the oil off him. I checked for fleas a couple of days later and he was clean so maybe the bath helped.
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