How to Get Rid of Fleas on Cat

Symptoms and Signs That Your Cat Has Fleas

The majority of pet owners are unaware their cat has fleas until they observe their cat scratching. Some felines can have very heavy problems without being troubled, other cats are incredibly conscious the saliva in a flea bite and just one flea can be enough to cause him to itch and scratch.

The most typical signs of a flea infestation consist of:

  • Itching, biting and scratching, specifically around the neck, ears and around the base of the tail.
    Some felines are delicate to the saliva in the flea bite and might establish crusting, this is especially common along the back.
  • You might see flea eggs and droppings in his bed linen. Flea eggs are white, droppings are dark red, offering the appearance of salt and pepper.
  • To check for fleas, thoroughly go through your cat’s fur, paying attention to the base of the tail and around the neck. Cat fleas are brown in colour with a flat body, and approximately 2mm in length.

Impacts of Fleas on Your Cat

Fleas are more than a nuisance, they can have a major impact on your cat’s health and convenience. Heavy problems can result in anemia, specifically in young kitties.

A great deal of felines establish an allergy to flea saliva, which is referred to as flea allergy dermatitis, an extremely uneasy condition characterised by itching, biting and scratching together with numerous papules. Left unattended, repeated biting and scratching can harm the skin and lead to a bacterial infection.

Fleas have the prospective to transfer a number of diseases on to felines including tapeworm, pester, bartonellosis, tularemia, feline transmittable anemia and rickettsia.

Life Process of the Flea

To combat fleas, it is very important to understand their life process. There are 4 stages of the flea life cycle, called transformation.

Only 5% are really adult fleas which would live on your feline, the rest are discovered in the environment through eggs (50%), larvae (35%) and pupae (10%). It is definitely important to treat both your animal and the environment (home and garden) if you are to fight fleas.

  1. Adult flea: The adult flea emerges when it is promoted by environmental elements such as vibrations, warmth or breath of the host. The flea can come out of its cocoon within seconds of stimulation. The life-span of an adult flea is around 2 – 3 months. The adult flea is around 1.5 – 4mm long, and dark brown or black in look. Grownups suck blood from their host. Adult fleas begin laying eggs within 36 – 48 hours of their first blood meal. A female flea consumes up to 15 times her body weight in blood daily.
  2. Egg: At.5 mm in length, flea eggs are hardly noticeable to the human eye, the female flea lays roughly one egg per hour. The flea egg is whitish, smooth and dry and quickly falls off the coat into the environment. Flea eggs hatch in around 1 – 10 days, depending upon conditions. Flea eggs and flea droppings are typically found together. When the cat scratches the eggs along with the droppings fall off the feline. The droppings provide food to the larvae when they hatch. The eggs and droppings together have the look of salt and pepper. Ecological conditions such as humidity, light, and temperature level identify how quickly and how many flea larvae hatch from flea eggs. The lower the temperature, the less larvae will hatch. Optimum conditions for flea larvae to hatch are 70% and higher and temperatures of 21 – 32 degrees C (70 – 89 degrees F). Flea eggs fall off the feline when it leaps, scratches, moves, and sleeps. Eggs are found all over the home, but in their highest concentrations in your feline’s favored spots such as bedding.
  3. Larvae: The larvae are vermiform (maggot like) like in appearance and up to 6mm long, flea larvae avoid light by residing deep in carpet fibers, under furniture and rugs and in crevices. At this stage they have no legs or eyes however have chewing mouth parts. Flea larvae feed on adult flea excrement, food debris, and dead skin.
  4. Pupae: This is the transition stage between larvae and adult flea. After approximately 7-18 days the flea larvae pupate. It takes around 7 – 10 days for the larvae to become a flea, although it might be some time before the flea emerges from its protective cocoon. They are at their most resistant as pupae, and resistant to insecticides.

The flea larvae spins a sticky, protective silken (produced by the saliva of the larvae) external cocoon, covered with particles of debris such as dust, hair, lint and so on. The pupae are discovered in carpet fibres, crevices and so on, and are essentially undetectable.

Can I Capture Fleas From My Cat?

A heavy problem might cause fleas taking the occasional blood meal from humans, but they generally prefer to reside on cats. Signs you might have been bitten by a flea consist of itching and scratching and a small, red, papule. Human beings are frequently bitten around the ankles and feet.

How to Get Rid of Fleas on Cat

This is a two-pronged technique. Treating the feline and the environment (your home/outdoors), both which need to be done at the exact same time.

There are numerous items offered to treat fleas on cats. Flea collar, hair shampoo, flea combs, spray, tablets, powders, insect growth regulators and topical treatments. The most reliable products are the spot-on or oral suspension treatments which are available from your vet. It is possible for fleas to establish a resistance to some items, speak with your veterinarian for his advice on the most reliable flea control treatment.

Treat Your Cat

Flea collars There are many different types of flea collar on the market. Some are insecticide just and work by eliminating adult fleas on the cat. Other flea collars include IGR’s to eliminate the eggs and larvae. Flea collars typically only kill fleas on the cat’s head and neck, but fleas further down the body survive.
Shampoo/Dips Flea shampoos consist of insecticides which eliminate adult fleas.
Flea Combs Flea combs aren’t overly reliable, just getting rid of 10 – 50% of fleas on your cat. If you want to use this technique location a little bowl of water with some detergent in it nearby and drop the fleas into the bowl. This will drown the fleas. Positioning a small amount of petroleum jelly onto the teeth of the comb will help the fleas adhere to it.
Flea Powders Flea powders will kill adult fleas on the feline. Powders may cause the feline’s coat to dry out as well as may be annoying to the cat’s oral and respiratory mucosa.
Oral suspensions Program® is offered to felines through an oral suspension once a month. The item is added to the cat’s food and is taken in into the bloodstream. When a flea bites a feline treated with Program it ingests the active ingredient (lufenuron), which is passed to her eggs and prevents them from hatching. As this item just avoids eggs from hatching, an appropriate adulticide will also be had to eliminate adult fleas. Seek advice from your vet prior to using more than one item on your cat. It is likewise extremely important to talk to your vet if you are considering dealing with a pregnant or nursing feline. They will have the ability to suggest the most safe treatment for your feline.
Spot on treatments Topical adulticide. There are several effective items on the market which are administered through a liquid kind to the feline’s shoulders. These are offered through your vet or online pet item shop. These items are really efficient for eliminating adult fleas on your cat. The active ingredient differs from product to product. The application is normally when a month.
Cat Flea Sprays There are some reliable feline flea sprays on the marketplace. Frontline make such a spray. Use rubber gloves while applying the spray to your feline while ruffling the coat. Avoid contact with the eyes and mouth.
Injections Program is a flea treatment which is injected under the cat’s skin as soon as every six months.
Tablets Capstar and Comfortis are administered orally once a month to treat fleas. Comfortis also deals with flea allergy dermatitis.

When using a flea product to a cat it is important to follow the guidelines on the package to the letter. Cats are incredibly conscious chemicals and if you are using one than one item your cat might be exposed to a lot of contaminants, resulting in illness or death.

Transformation likewise eliminates worms (except tapeworm), so makes life a bit much easier for pet owners, inning accordance with the Bayer site, Advantage cat flea control, likewise eliminates flea larvae in the animal’s environment too.

Warning: Don’t ever use flea items developed for other family pets on your cat and ALWAYS follow the dose chart on the back of the package.

Reyus Mammadli/ author of the article

I have had pets since childhood: cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, geese, chickens, ducks, parrots, aquarium fish and dogs (in the yard). Of course, I constantly encountered diseases of pets and treated them. Glad to be able to share my skills and experience, as well as advice on caring for and adapting these critters and birds.

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