Today, any owner can rid a cat of fleas quickly enough - the whole procedure will take from several minutes to several hours, depending on the chosen remedy. And it is simply amazing that a large number of pets today continue to suffer from fleas due to the negligent attitude of their owners. Meanwhile, fleas are one of the most dangerous ectoparasites, both for animals and for humans themselves.
Few people think about it, but fleas are carriers of many dangerous infections, from plague and trypanosomiasis to encephalitis and salmonellosis. Some of these diseases are deadly for humans, some for a cat, and some of them equally successfully affect both the owner and the pet.
Therefore, generally speaking, curing a cat from fleas does not mean making it healthy, since it is quite possible that after removing fleas, after some time, additional treatment will be required already for infectious diseases caused by parasites. And the longer the cat walks with fleas, the higher the likelihood of such treatment.
Fleas also carry the eggs of a large number of helminth species. Moreover, almost every parasite carries the offspring of worms. For humans, this is not so dangerous - helminth eggs are not transmitted by bite, but domestic cats, who have the habit of biting fleas from the wool on their legs and tail, receive a portion of worm eggs with each bite of an insect.
In any case, fleas constantly disturb the cat with their bites, which can sometimes even cause allergies and dermatitis (in a cat, an allergy to fleas usually does not occur immediately, but only with frequent and regular bites of parasites). So, if a cat has fleas, treatment should be started as soon as possible.
On a note
Do not be surprised where a house cat has fleas. Fleas are very mobile and can move between apartments, and in a private house - from the street or basement to the room. In addition, even if the pet is never outside, it can become infected with fleas from other pets, and in some cases from a person who can bring parasites from the street on clothes. However, before treating a cat for fleas, it is advisable to find out where they got into the house from or where he picked them up, so that after a successful disposal, to prevent re-infection.
The right approach to ridding a cat of fleas
To rid a domestic cat of fleas, it is best to treat the pet with one of the effective modern preparations containing an insecticide toxic to fleas, but safe for warm-blooded animals as the main active ingredient - for example, Permethrin, Cypermethrin, Piperonyl butoxide, Fipronil, Selamectin. Such drugs act quickly, usually have a prolonged residual effect, relatively low toxicity to warm-blooded animals, and rarely cause side effects.
Flea shampoos have the most gentle effect, sprays and drops on the withers are slightly more difficult for the animal. Special powders are considered very delicate, but they are expensive and are usually used only for elite cats.Injections and tablets more often than other means cause side effects and are inferior in safety to drops on the withers and insecticidal shampoos.
Review
“I poisoned fleas at Solomon's twice. Once with drops of Stronghold, but I didn’t like them, Monya salivated for a long time after that. Then I sprinkled flea powder - a very good preparation, however, it is a little difficult to rub this powder into the skin. Anyway, Persian. But after it, there are no side effects."
Alevtina, Kazan
After treating the animal with such a remedy and exterminating fleas, it is necessary to put on a flea collar on it, which will protect the pet from parasites for quite a long time.
It is highly desirable, after the procedure itself, to carry out flea treatment of the entire apartment or house in which the cat lives. If fleas have been present in the room for a long time, this measure is simply necessary, because otherwise all efforts to rid the cat of fleas can be nullified.
Also, after the extermination of fleas, it is advisable to pickle the worms from the cat, since with a high probability he picks them up when infected with fleas.
Choosing the right flea remedy
Medicines that can be used to get rid of fleas in a cat have different forms of release and are in different price categories. When choosing, you should first of all be guided by the physical condition of the animal, its age and weight.
Usually, in order to eradicate fleas from a cat, they use:
- Drops at the withers Hartz, Frontline or Bars. They have earned a reputation as the most effective and safe, but they are also in the middle and highest price categories among their peers.When using drugs, you should carefully monitor the condition of the animal during treatment.
- Shampoos Phytoelita, Barsik, Lugovoi and Rolf-Club. With these shampoos, it is usually enough to wash the cat once to rid him of fleas, but then care must be taken to ensure that the parasites do not infect him again.
- Sprays Barsik, Hartz, Advantage, Beaphar - in their variations specifically for cats. Some of them, like Beaphar, have a pleasant minty smell and are very delicate. The disadvantage of sprays is the lack of a long residual effect. Only a few products provide pet protection for several days after treatment, but most of them only allow you to exterminate fleas at the time of spraying.
Cats of elite breeds and exhibition specimens should be treated with shampoos - after drying, it looks the same as before treatment, and even better with expensive shampoos. Shampoos are usually used for kittens under the age of six months.
Domestic cats, who are constantly and a lot on the street, can be rid of fleas with drops - in most cases they provide fairly long-term protection. To eradicate fleas from a cat that constantly lives in the house and only occasionally goes outside, you can use a spray.
Important!
Flea collars should be worn only on those animals that are not allergic to insecticides and for which the appearance is not critical - the hair under the collar usually wears off a little, and the pet's neck visually becomes thinner. In addition, irritation may occur at the point of contact between the collar and the skin.
We remove parasites in one go: quickly, safely and effectively
To fight fleas in a cat, you should try to treat the animal a minimum number of times.If drops are used on the withers, then they are dripped from the bottle onto the skin between the hairs (the wool must be moved apart) and carefully rubbed with your fingers. Drops are rubbed in several places along the cat's spine, if the instructions say so.
The spray is also applied to the animal in such a way that it hits the skin. In this case, the active substances of the drug can penetrate into the sebaceous glands, and for some time after treatment they will repel parasites. However, after treatment with a spray, the cat must be washed (insecticides will not be washed out of the sebaceous glands immediately).
Flea shampoo is applied in the same way as any cosmetic shampoo. It is only important to thoroughly wash it with running water from the pet's coat.
Flea powder is the most time-consuming to apply: it must be rubbed into the skin in the maximum number of places in the animal. But it also provides long-term protection against parasites and is quite safe to use.
If it was decided to remove fleas from a cat with a spray or shampoo, care must be taken to ensure that these substances do not get into the animal's mouth, nose or eyes.
If during treatment the animal began to behave strangely, suffocate or vomit, the treatment should be stopped immediately, wash off the drug and take the pet to the veterinarian.
Review
“We bought Hartz drops for our cat, but he got addicted to them. I don’t know how, everything seemed to be done according to the instructions, but after they smeared them on his neck, he first began to salivate, then to tear his beginning, his eyes rolled. We were terribly frightened, we took him immediately to the clinic. There, as soon as they told the doctor that the cat was poisoned by flea drops, the veterinarian exhaled.He says that this happens often, animals can have such an individual reaction. I gave him some kind of injection, gave him a drink, and in half an hour the cat was as good as new. They advised us to buy either other drops, or even some kind of shampoo.
Alena, Kirovsk
How not to give chances to the younger generation of fleas?
But ridding a cat of fleas does not mean protecting him from parasites forever. Fleas can infect him again both in the house and on the street.
The best option for preventing subsequent infections is to wear a flea collar for animals (at least on the street) and the obligatory removal of fleas in the house itself. The latter procedure is even more complicated than ridding the animal of fleas, but it also guarantees the protection of all the inhabitants of the house - including people.
It will also be useful to regularly put branches of wormwood under the cat's bedding - it repels fleas (tansy can also be used for the same purpose). If desired, herbs can be replaced with fumigators.
Read more about removing fleas indoors in the section of the site "Fleas in the apartment."
Interesting video: what you need to pay attention to when choosing a flea remedy
How to rid a domestic cat of fleas: 3 simple and reliable ways
