At Home Flea Treatment for Cats

You can treat your cat for fleas at home.

Fleas are tiny insects that feed on the blood of mammals. They can make your cat miserable, but they can make you miserable, too. Fleas prefer to feed on nonhumans, but they bite humans sometimes. Flea control involves eliminating the fleas on your cat and preventing them from returning, as well as eliminating the fleas in your cat's environment.

Need for Treatment

Flea bites will irritate your cat, but they can also cause serious health problems. Cats can develop anemia due to blood loss, which can become severe. In very young or unhealthy cats, it can cause death. Cats can become allergic to the saliva of fleas, which causes severe itching. They may scratch and lick their skin until sores form, and these sores can become badly infected.

Types

There are many types of at-home flea treatments. You can use special flea shampoos, flea powders, flea sprays and flea collars. You can also use topical flea treatments. Those consist of little tubes of an oily substance that you apply to the back of your cat's neck. Cats absorb the medication through their skin, and it kills fleas.

Safety Concerns

Some methods of flea treatment pose safety concerns. Flea collars contain pesticides that your cat will inhale. You will inhale them too if you hug or kiss your cat. Pesticides can cause a number of problems in cats, including vomiting, diarrhea and respiratory problems. In addition, flea collars can get hung up on things like fences or tree branches, causing injury.

Efficacy

Flea shampoos kill fleas when you bathe your cat, but they don't prevent your cat from picking up fleas again in the near future. Flea powders also kill fleas, but don't prevent your cat from getting fleas again very soon. According to Pawprints and Purrs Inc., your cat could be covered with fleas within a day of using flea shampoo, spray or powder. Flea collars keep fleas away from your cat's neck, but fleas can survive elsewhere on your cat's body. Topical flea treatments are the most effective form of flea control for cats.

Treating the Environment

If your cat has fleas, there are probably fleas in your house and in your yard. According to Pawprints and Purrs Inc., sometimes applying a topical flea treatment takes care of all the fleas in the area, but you may need to treat the environment as well in order to keep your cat free of fleas. You can hire a professional exterminator or you can purchase insecticides for your yard and sprays or foggers for your house and take care of the problem yourself.

References

• Pawprints and Purrs: Flea Control in Cats
• Doctors Foster and Smith: 3 Keys to Cat Flea Control