What to do if the cat has fleas

Even if you regularly wash and comb your pet, fleas can appear in a cat at any time. Every owner needs to be ready for this, so that later in a panic they don’t think what to do in such a situation.

It should be remembered that fleas are far from the only parasites that can be found in the fur of an animal (do not forget, for example, about ticks and withers). Therefore, before starting the fight against parasites, you need to make sure that it is fleas that pester the cat, and not some other insects.

So, fleas in a domestic cat are small parasites about 2 mm long, with a shiny dark brown body. Their main distinguishing feature is the ability to jump far and very quickly: from the place where the flea sits, it literally disappears. Her jump is impossible to see with a glance.

The easiest way to notice fleas is when combing an animal directly in its coat. Usually parasites are very agile and quickly escape from the place where they were found.

Below in the photo is an example of fleas in a cat in wool:

It is interesting

Cats are parasitized by many types of fleas - actually cats, as well as canine, rat, rabbit, human.All of them are very similar in appearance, and it is possible to distinguish them from each other only under a microscope.

Fleas also differ from lice eaters in that they stay on the skin, and not on the hairs. In addition, withers are not able to jump. Ticks, which often attack cats walking on the street, are well distinguished by paws widely spaced apart from the body. In addition, a tick has 8 legs, and any flea has six.

If the cat itches, but there are no fleas, you can suspect that he has scabies mites - it is impossible to see them with the naked eye, but they cause even more severe itching than fleas.

Review

Over the summer, our cat caught everything that could be picked up. First there were ticks, after them they even gave injections. Then fleas jumped all over the apartment, even biting the child. Already in September, we see that the cat is constantly itching, but there are no fleas. Turned out to be scabies. He was also stabbed with something. In short, I already understand cat parasites better than a veterinarian.

Sasha, Tver

It is important to keep in mind that fleas do not live permanently on an animal. They can bite a cat, suck his blood, and then they will certainly jump off and hide near the place of his rest, so that after a while they will attack the pet again.

Here (under bedding, under carpets and parquet, behind baseboards) fleas breed. Their larvae live in the garbage, feeding on rotting organic matter and excrement of adult insects containing large amounts of undigested blood.

The following photos show flea eggs and larvae under a cat bed:

 

Why are fleas dangerous for cats?

Flea infestation is fraught with several troubles for your cat at once:

• Itching, bites and persistent skin irritations.With a serious infection, a flea cat begins to quickly lose weight, constantly worries, itches and tears out hair when combing with its paws. Subsequently, the cat may develop allergic dermatitis.
• There is also a risk of contracting dangerous diseases. Among them are salmonellosis, brucellosis, various trypanosomiasis.
• The probability of infection of the pet with helminths is especially high. Fleas are intermediate hosts of several dozen species of worms., and if a cat accidentally bites and eats parasites, it will almost certainly become infected with these endoparasites.

For the same reasons, fleas are dangerous to humans. At the same time, they carry such deadly diseases for people as plague, encephalitis and anthrax. Therefore, when the first symptoms of a flea infection are detected in a cat, you should immediately start treating the animal.

 

Symptoms of the appearance of fleas in a cat

You can find out if your cat has fleas by several characteristic symptoms:

• constant anxiety of the animal, combing with its hind legs behind the ears and attempts to bite fleas out of the wool;
• red dots with small papules in the coat - traces of parasite bites;
• flea excrement around the animal's resting place, as well as in different places of the apartment. They look like tiny black dots a fraction of a millimeter in size. Most often they come across in the garbage when sweeping the apartment.

But the most obvious signs of fleas in a cat are the parasites themselves, which are easy to detect in the animal's fur upon careful examination.

Important!
If fleas have appeared in the apartment, they will bite all animals in it, including rodents. With the same ease, they will attack a person.

As soon as it becomes clear that the cat really has fleas, you must immediately begin to remove them, preventing the parasites from multiplying in the room ...

 

Means for ridding a cat of fleas

Today, there are many products on sale that allow you to quickly remove fleas from a cat. The most popular among pet owners are the following drugs:

• Drops from fleas at the withers - Frontline, Bayer, Advantix, Hartz, Blochnet, Bars. Hartz and Frontline tools are most often used as the most effective. Their main advantages are ease of application, high efficiency and long-term residual effect (from several days to several weeks). The disadvantage is a high probability of developing an allergy in an animal.
• Flea sprays - suitable for elite cats, and can also be recommended for those animals in which drops and flea collars cause allergies. Sprays allow you to remove fleas in one go, but have little to no residual effect. The most famous manufacturers are Bars, Hartz, Advantix.
• And finally, flea shampoos are effective, gentle, but relatively difficult to use (some finicky cats are not so easy to wash). In addition, flea shampoos have no residual effect and are generally quite expensive. Good for domestic cats who rarely go outside, and usually use Mr. shampoos. Bruno, Dr. Zoo, Phytoelita.

Flea collars are usually not considered as a means of removing fleas. They are considered means for preventive protection against fleas of an animal that has not yet been infected.

However, if a collar is put on a cat, fleas will definitely run away from it after a short time.It is important to keep in mind that the collar can cause allergies in the animal and damage to the coat on the neck. In general, insecticide collars are well suited for cats who are often and a lot of being outside.

Other means such as special powders, injections and flea tablets are used quite rarely and do not have significant advantages over the drugs already described.

Review

“We returned from vacation and decided to kick our Leo. During the holidays they left him in the yard - he got used to him, spent the night on the windowsill in the entrance, fed his neighbors. But when we saw him upon arrival, he was a typical street flea cat. Well-fed, clean, but full of parasites. We bought Bars spray for him, sprayed him once - the fleas disappeared. Then they bought some kind of collar, very expensive, put it on it, and it lasted until the very winter. Now every spring we will buy a new collar.”

Alena, Moscow

On a note

The collar on your outdoor cat also protects your cat from being caught by extermination agencies. He immediately makes it clear that the cat has owners.

When choosing a flea remedy, you should always consider the physical condition of the animal. A cat suffering simultaneously with fleas from an infectious or somatic disease should be treated only with gentle means for kittens, or not treated at all, waiting for recovery.

 

Proper removal of fleas from a cat

The procedure for removing fleas from a cat depends on the specifics of the parasite remedy itself.

1. When using flea drops, the liquid is applied from a tube to the skin of the neck at the base of the skull and carefully rubbed into the skin.At the same time, the drug itself penetrates into the blood vessels under the skin and spreads throughout the body, poisoning the fleas trying to pump blood and scaring them away with the smell. Some remedies require rubbing at several points along the spine.
2. Flea spray must be applied to the entire fur of the animal from head to tail and do not let the cat lick and wash for several hours. After that, the animal should be redeemed. Part of the spray penetrates the fatty glands and is subsequently released from the skin over a certain period of time, repelling fleas.
3. With flea shampoo, the cat should be bathed in the same way as with any other shampoo. It is only important to ensure that the foam does not get into the animal's eyes.

If suddenly, in response to the use of a flea remedy, the cat shows signs of poisoning - shortness of breath, impaired coordination, excessive salivation, vomiting - it is necessary to stop using the remedy and show the cat to a doctor.

And it is imperative that after removing fleas from a cat, an apartment should be pickled from them - almost certainly parasites and their larvae managed to choose breeding corners in it. If, after treating the animal, the apartment is not cleaned of parasites, the fleas will soon begin to bite people or the same cat again. And the previous steps will have to be repeated again.

Read about how to get fleas out of the apartment in a special section of our website - “Fleas in the apartment”.

 

Useful video: the main mistakes when treating a cat with flea preparations

 

A clear example of how flea drops can be dangerous for cats