Our cat Athena is a fluffy girl and we just found a flea on her, we removed it and crushed it but now my girlfriend is freaking out and her skin is squirming thinking the whole house could be infested. I’m of the opinion that we’ve caught it early and we should just check her usual sleeping spots as well as get a flea comb but my girl is damn near ready to buy a steam cleaner for the rug.
Idk, what do you guys think? How should we handle this?
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Please, don’t nuke your cat.
You have a ton of comments so I’ll keep it short. Fleas are very, very, very extremely hard to get rid of once they reach critical mass. Their eggs can remain dormant for up to two years, and they’re immune to pest control methods including bombs.
My suggestion: get a pill based flea treatment, read the dosage instructions and keep it going for at least 3 months. Clean and vacuum regularly. You don’t need to buy a steam cleaner but other than that your girl is spot on.
Not sure about pill treatments but I had tried a bunch of ineffective things before a friend recommended me one of these Seresto collars.
They’re just magic man, I don’t know. My dog and cat used to consistently get fleas, but a couple of weeks after I got them one of those, every freaking bug just vanished. Nothing ever since, as far as I can tell (I still check them often).If anyone knows how these works, I’d love to be enlightened!
I used to work pest control and in addition to treating your cat for fleas you can treat your home with this. Follow the directions on the label and vacuum at least once a day while you are still seeing fleas. I’ve used this in my own home before and keep some around just in case.
- never let your cat outside. Even when you’re not in Ottawa where the urban coyote population works to control the ‘outside cat’ infestation, it’s no longer cool to let your cat out. If you hate mosquitoes, for instance, keep all cats indoors all the time.
- use a vet-approved pill treatment - even when no visible signs
- wash everything … at the least to combat anxiety.
Point 1 has to be chosen when the cat is young. Forcing an outside cat to suddenly only be inside often doesn’t work.
I adopted a 7-year-old cat from the shelter, and after a week of having to be inside all the time, he got more and more frustrated. After a week and a half, he escaped during the night. In the morning, while I was panicking, he came strolling in as if nothing was wrong.
Since he apparently comes back, I allowed him outside from then on. Since that moment, his behaviour inside has improved a lot. No more random play attacks on my ankles and hands, and generally much calmer.
He has also come back home with mice several times. He always eats them. So I think he is very used to living outside. Maybe been a stray, or a farm cat.
Forcing him to be inside would feel cruel.
That’s the thing, she’s an indoor cat, we have no idea where the flea came from
Get some Revolution Pro or Advantage, follow the directions on the box. They are very effective unless you have a serious infestation, which it sounds like you don’t. Just make sure it’s the cat version and for the correct weight range of your cats.
Yep, any fleas about the house will jump on to the cat and then die.
No need to decontaminate the entire house, just make sure that fleas can’t make a home on your cat.
Fleas caused the death of my cat. A coworker generously brought a sample of her infestation in to the office and they must have hitched a ride home with me. My cats were indoor only, I didn’t expect them to need flea treatment. The fleas gave him hemobartonella and almost $20,000 later, we couldn’t get the anemia under control.
Nuke the fleas.
You spent 20 grand on a cat? Why? That seems like a horrible investment.
Calling healthcare for your pet an “investment” shows the kind of person you are.
Because life is priceless, and the life of the cat you care about should be priceless to you. When you get a companion animal, that’s what you sign up for. And if you’re not willing to go the distance to take care of your pet when they are sick, you shouldn’t get a pet.
Pets are not investments. They are friends and family. Sometimes you’ll do anything possible to save them, even if it’s spending a ton of money.
The same reason some people spend that kinda money on 30 year old cars. Or collectibles. Or PC parts.
It brings them joy. Seems that might be missing from your life currently.
Animals are not a hobby
Yeah, but my point was that people generally spend money on things that make them happy. That could also be treating a friend to lunch, but that’s not usually $20k.
So I guess what I was trying to say was, why is it suddenly a problem to spend $20k, when it’s a pet and not something else, that clearly does not create any financial gain but only gives joy to the person spending the cash?
That’s true but I wanted to point out that keeping a pet healthy is something you should do because it’s your obligation as a pet owner and human with empathy, not because you personally enjoy its company.
Fair point
I read somewhere that nuclear weapons were potentially bad for cats.
Citation needed. Also, three people seem firm in their belief that nuclear weapons are perfectly safe for cats.
but are they worse for fleas? 🤔
Just buy some Frontline Plus, apply it to your cat’s neck in a spot she can’t lick, and done.
It’s a topical poison, harmless to animals, but it kills of parasites very effectively. I’ve used it initially to treat an acute infection (found 2 fleas), and now use it as a preventive measure.
Per instructions you should use it monthly, but every 3-4 months seems to work just fine for me.
This cleared out a flea infestation in our dog. We use it preventatively because ticks, as well.
Fleas tend to linger because their eggs shed all over the place. As I recall, frontline had some double action going on by both killing fleas and causing their eggs to hatch into nymphs that never evolve into breeding maturity.
Fleas don’t really like biting humans, so any occurrence is a one+off.
Take it to a vet.
I would be regular vacuuming floors and furniture every day, laundering anything that I can, and putting things in the freezer that I can’t launder. Plus making sure pets flea treatments are up to date. Cat bed gets deep cleaned.
Flea #2 sighted and I’m hunting for steam cleaner deals with your gf.
Hmm yeah, I’m not familiar with flea treatments but it wouldn’t hurt to give our vet a call
Don’t panic. A few fleas could easily be random chance. You don’t really have to go to a vet, but in this case I would just for peace of mind for the humans.
Do buy a flea comb (if you do not already have one) and begin combing every night. Espcially around the neck and head. Don’t worry about squishing the fleas, just mix up some mild soapy water in a glass and drop them in that.
Keep count every night and you will be able to tell if the problem is under control or not.
Do vacuum and clean house.
You may want to invest in a flea trap. These combine a light and a sticky pad and can be placed on the floor to attract any loose fleas. Move it around to likely places and it will both help trap fleas and give you an idea of how many might be in the house (if any.)
If you do not go to a vet, do buy some over the counter flea treatment. If regular combing is not enough, it will help, but I would not use it for just a few fleas.
My cat has had fleas a few times, but thankfully I’ve only needed the ointment once. Mist of the time combing was enough.
If you’ve checked the cat’s fur thoroughly and found no other fleas, it’s not a big deal. Check sleeping spots for eggs and use preventative treatments regularly and you should be fine.
I’d go by the vet and pick up some NexGard for kitty and vacuum any rugs/carpet/pet sleeping areas periodically for the next week or two.
Even when I took in a foster that got the house infested, that took care of it.
Edit: Fixed NexGard spelling.
I’m sure it was just one flea.
Get pest control there now. Give your cat a flea bath. Clean everything very well. I had to deal with this once and it was a months long ordeal. If you catch it fast, you might avoid this.
Pest control right out of the gate is overkill. Get your pets some of these new medication they make. It’s like one tablet for a whole month, fleas will get obliterated.
Thankfully we have very little fabric in our tiny apartment, I would imagine our vinyl floors are not fleas favorite places. Were in the middle of some monumental purchases rn so I’m not sure we can afford pest control, but what we can do is hit every spot of textiles in our house, might just go for the steam cleaner after all
Found a few flees in the carpet last months ago, cleaned up, hoovered etc… then haven’t seen any more since. A good clean, flee comb an a few sticky catcher-thingies should do the job fine.
