Help! Does my cat have fleas?

and if so what should I do? Seriously - I am a relatively new cat butler and I have noticed when combing him that there are little black specks in his longish fur. As I was picking a few of these from his coat I saw a bug crawling down by his skin and picked if off. It didn't look like a flea AFAIK, but I don't like the idea of bugs on my cat.

He doesn't scratch himself like I'd expect if he had fleas and is otherwise a happy and cuddly 9-year-old cat. I have no other animals in my house, so whatever he has he had to bring with him from the foster's house where I picked him up seven weeks ago. There were five cats and a dog in that house.

What to do? Cat experts, please weigh in.

the vet can get you some Advantage or Front Line for the fleas. You may also need to bathe the cat and clean your carpets uplostery and floors.

Fleas can be serious for the cat. They can also bite you!

put one or two on a wet paper towel and crush them, if you see blood, your cat probably has fleas. The good news is that frontline will kill them eventually. You may want to ask your vet about giving your cat a flea bath before the Frontline.

Ha. Removing parasites from your parasite.

I was just speculating last night that cats have won the Darwin Lottery. They're UberParasites - living off another species, and not only do they NOT have to serve the species in any way, but they can happily atagonize it (run over its head at 4am, swat its ankles as it walks by, yell at it all the time) And yet, this species will feed it. And groom it.

The only downside is that the species is unreliable, and they have to choose carefully to ensure maximum luxury.

this morning I got a nice greeting on my porch.

Instead of the three regulars I don't own, waiting for food - tabbycat with a collar, momma cat of the ferrals, and crybaby a stray, there were 5 cats waiting for me, the additional two had collars on. All expected me to serve them.

I did.

Lookin for a sweeter deal

She's can't have the cat food she likes anymore, because she has horrible sores around her mouth. So we figure she's jonesin' for some Fancy Feast, and will do anything to get some

written on its collar -

Please! Don't feed me.
My vet says I am FAT.
I get PLENTY to eat at home.
You CAN scratch my ears! ;-)

The cat apparently lived with a nice family in a house behind the apartment building and had been gaining weight even after the vet had them cut down on its food portions. So mom followed it out of the house one day and found that it made a beeline for my neighbors apartment. The cat was such a charmer that it had been eating meals in both places for several years!

Smart cat.

I've never used any sort of flea products on my cats - but i got them when they were kittens - both came with fleas. All i did was give them a nice warm bath, and it sorta drowned off all the fleas, and we've been flea-free ever since (10 years)


actually here's a pretty good link on how to do it:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2208_give-cat-bath.html

ooh - one other thing - make sure to start soem towels in the dryer so when you finish with the bat - you can wrap the cat in it. And keep the house warm too. Mine didn't take so well to the hairdryer, so i let them airdry after snuggling them up in a towel. Well one regular towel to soak up the moisture and then the dryer-heated towel for snuggling. maybe some catnip to ease the tension after the bath is finished and y'all are snuggling.

The box will have instructions on how many to give. Sprinkle borax on the carpets and vacuum it up. Wash everything you can. The fleas will be gone in a few weeks. We did this in 1989 and haven't had a single flea since then on any of our animals. We had a dog at the time who was terribly allergic to flea preparations of any kind, so we didn't have a choice. We're glad we discovered a natural solution.

If you want to give him a bath, rub him down with a dish towel that has been dipped in a solution of half vodka (use the cheap stuff) and half warm water. Wring the towel out well before you put it on the kitty and just rub him with it. When you're all done, wrap him in a dry towel and cuddle him. This is also good for getting loose fur off him and it won't get him soaked and miserable. It won't kill the fleas, but it'll get some of the dirt off.

I never put flea products on my kitties. I've had too many allergic animals, so I'm a bit paranoid about putting chemicals on them. Definitely stay away from flea collars -- anything strong enough to kill the fleas is likely to make your cat very sick. Besides, you wouldn't like having pesticide hanging around your neck.

I wish you success in your new "cat butler" career!

:hi:

I never put flea products on my kitties. I've had too many allergic animals, so I'm a bit paranoid about putting chemicals on them.

Although I certainly respect what kestrel has to say.

I used to use Frontline and Advantage on my two cats but I quit. I live in a wooded area and I think there are fleas around. I am highly allergic to flea bites and will get them when I go outside and work in the gardens. If I wear mosquito repellent, I don't get any bites, though.

Oddly enough, I rarely find a flea on my cats. I can't figure out why this is. Maybe I'm just lucky but it isn't a problem. That's why I have to wonder if the need for these products isn't overrated.

In the spring, I sprayed my property with nematodes. The type of nematode I used eats flea larvae. I convinced my neighbors to spray with nematodes, too. Next year and the years following, I look for a reduction the the number of fleas around this property.




Cher

I am fortunate enough to have found a homeopathic vet who doesn't believe in using chemicals on pets. None of our 4 cats have ever had a single flea treatment of any kind since they've lived with us (5-8 years) and they've also never had a single flea on them.

I love he nematodes idea! Can you get them at Home Depot or do you have to go somewhere special for them?

I live in NJ and bought the "southern" mixture. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the drought didn't kill them off and that they will be productive next year.

A poster on gardenweb reported that it really works. Said he had been digging and found some flea larvae being eaten. Nematodes can't be seen--they're too miniscule--but their work apparently can be seen.

Here's the link:

http://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=2344

I sprayed the neemies, as we call them, around in early spring.




Cher

my vet recommended this for kittens

wipe down the cat/kitten with a mix of water and lemon joy dish detergent - let it stay on the critter for a couple minutes then rinse it off..

Sounds like you got fleas, alright. The black specks are probably flea "dirt" (feces) and the little dark brown bugs in the fur are fleas.

Flea control thee days is very simple, safe, and effective if you usr the right products. If you use the wrong products, it is complicated, frustrating, unsafe, and ineffective. Because fleas are a health issue for your cat and not merely unaesthetic, and because they can by extension result in health issues for people, it would behoove you to use the safest, most effective product from the start and not waste time, energy, and money on crummy junk.

I recommend Advantage or Frontline use monthly. These are topical insecticide products that you get from your vet. They are pretty much interchangeable from a results standpoint, though they are different chemically. You need to know your cat's current weight for proper dosing, and many vets will insist on an exam in order to sell to you, but that is not a legal requirement but rather their individual office policy. Both products are EXTREMELY safe and effective. They will not poison your cat or you, though some folks on DU (the pseudoscience crowd) would like you to believe otherwise.

Unless you have a major flea problem established in the home, you should not need to spray the carpets/furniture with anything. No bombs, no collars/shampoos/dips/powders/etc. Just the right product applied once a month. This stuff has been around 10 years and has a GREAT track record. I swear by Advantage; it's what I sell.

Feel free to PM me if you have any additional questions.

Added on edit: Your cat might acquire flea tapeworms from ingesting fleas while grooming. If you see any white (moving rice) or creamy (sesame seed) stuff on or around your cat's rear end, then you need to get the tapeworms treated, also by your vet. DO NOT use OTC worm remedies - these are notoriously unsafe and ineffective.

DO NOT use any Hartz or Sargeant's flea products. Some of them are not only ineffective, but downright deadly to cats.

I knew about the white rice tapeworms, but I didn't know about the sesame seed stuff. One of my cats had those hanging around his butt awhile back. I couldn't figure out what that was? Thank you. I'll keep a lookout for that on my newest kitten.

ICK!!!!!!!

Frontline. It's been so long now that I don't know if I'd even remember what one looks like. And we don't even put it on the cats. The dogs get dosed about every 6 weeks and the cats haven't had a flea since we started the dogs on it.

We're in the south, with fleas all year round and have tried everything...and I do mean EVERYTHING...to control them before Frontline with little success. Knowing what I do, I get kind of testy with the people who insist that Frontline and Advantage are somehow awful products that should never be used.

As for Hartz...the one time I tried that (Blockade), I got some on ME and even though I washed thoroughly immediately, I still got very sick. Killer product and their answer to it was to change the use label.

and Kestrel, I PM'd you a couple of questions.


Max is headed for the vet tomorrow.

:hi:

before moving to a drier climate. They seemed to really like it when I would put on pantyhose, there would literally be hundreds of them on my legs if I walked across the carpet. It was so disgusting. I used everything to try to get rid of them. You can kill the fleas you comb off by putting a small custard cup full of isopropyl alcohol nearby when you comb them with a flea comb and flick them into the alcohol. I use this for when we get ticks on the pup too. It sure beats losing it and wondering what it will get on next.

Good luck!

PS We bought one of those black light things that was supposed to attract fleas so they would jump into the flimsy tray below which had sticky stuff in it. I never even caught one flea that way, but it was hilarious because sometimes in the middle of the night we would pass by the bedroom we had it in... and our big black fluffy cat Caesar would be contentedly staring into it like he was watching TV. A dark room, a black light and a cat obsessed with it. I don't know if he was watching for fleas or what. Silly puddys.