Fleas are surely among the most annoying pests that can trouble you in caring for a pet, and they must always be addressed swiftly if you don’t want to risk endangering the cat’s health more seriously.
Spotting fleas on your cat can be somewhat tricky if you’re not looking for them – some signs to look out for include frequent scratching, black dots covering the fur of the cat, as well as a general behavior indicating unease and restlessness. The cat may not always scratch itself frequently though, and sometimes it may not even scratch a lot – and it may not be easy to spot fleas with your bare eyes if you’ve got a dark-furred cat with long hair.
When you have spotted fleas on your cat though, you must prepare yourself for quite the challenging battle and put all your effort into getting rid of the condition. You may be tempted to go for some of the most commonly advertised products such as sprays, powders and the famous flea collars – but these are rarely a good solution to the problem, especially if you’re dealing with an infestation in a more advanced state.
Start with a shower, and be gentle on the cat but make sure you rub deeply into its fur to get all the fleas out safely. Change the water a few times during the bathing and use shampoo each time. Afterwards, if the flea problem still persists go to your vet to discuss a more direct approach to the infestation. You’ll probably be prescribed a medication (most commonly administered orally, though topical solutions exist as well), which you’ll have to treat your cat with for a brief period of time. Most of these medications aren’t specifically designed to kill fleas, mind you, as they’ll also improve your cat’s well-being in other aspects.
Preventing fleas from reproducing is crucial to the whole process and their ability to do so will be controlled by the medication – so you may have to keep applying it for some time after any noticeable signs of the infestation are gone, to prevent it from developing again. Make sure you go around the house and treat it as well – fleas can very easily take temporary refuge in various places (including on you!), which can defeat the whole purpose of combating them so diligently in the first place – so do a careful search around the whole house after you’re done treating the cat.