How to Diagnose Cat Fleas and Eliminate Them Forever

If you think your poor cat has got fleas, then you need to act fast. Even if you’d just like to be prepared and know what to look for, this guide will help you. Fleas are nasty little creatures, and live by sucking the blood of your pet and making them itch like crazy. We wouldn’t be able to cope with this for very long, so we need to diagnose and eliminate the problem forever for the cat. Read on to learn all about diagnosing cat fleas, and how you can say goodbye to them for good:

Diagnosing Fleas on Your Cat

First of all you need to make sure that your cat has fleas and that there isn’t something else going on. There are many ways to do this, but we’ll just discuss the most effective.

Is your cat scratching and biting themselves? They may even be rubbing themselves up furniture more than usual in a bid to get rid of that itchy feeling. Of course, cats scratch normally. However, they will be doing it much more than usual. Watch out for scratching particularly on the ears and tail, as this is where fleas love to hang out!

There’s no better way to diagnose fleas than by taking a good look through your cat’s fur. Watch out for fleas jumping from one place to the other – just bear in mind that they are very small and may not be big enough to be spotted in many cases. You might spot flea poo though, which is a reddy/brown colour. Use a comb on your cat to see if you can brush anything out of their fur. You’ll be able to see better if you use a white piece of paper underneath your cat as the fleas will drop onto this and become more visible. Make sure you have a bucket of hot soapy water next to you to dip the comb in and kill the fleas before you begin.

The only other way you can diagnose fleas for definite is to take your cat to the vets. The vet will be able to take a look and tell you for sure whether that’s the issue or they have something else.

If you do suspect it’s fleas, don’t put it off for too long. Your cat will be in a lot of discomfort!

How to Eliminate Fleas Forever

Now you’re sure that your cat has fleas, you need to eliminate them for good. This can be done with consistency and determination. You need to wage a war on these little blighters to ensure that they never want to come back! The first thing you need to do is ask your vet for advice. They will tell you exactly what to do, and probably give you multiple options when it comes to cat flea treatment. I find that flea baths are very effective when it comes to killing off the fleas. You can put together your own flea bath made from natural ingredients like lemon juice, or you can buy one from a pet shop. Whatever you buy, make sure you read the instructions thoroughly and that it’s suitable for your cat.

Before you give them a flea bath, you can give them a thorough going over with a flea comb with your bucket handy again. Bear in mind that this is only a temporary solution and will simply reduce the number of fleas, rather than get rid of them forever.

Spot on treatment is very effective, and simple to use. Use this after the flea bath for the best result. You may also need to treat your cat again after a week or two, to make sure that any flea eggs hanging around have been killed too.

Don’t forget to wash all of your cat’s toys, bedding, and any areas they hang around thoroughly. The fleas can hide here and will simply attach themselves back to your cat if you don’t wash them thoroughly enough. Make sure you do it as hot as the materials can handle!

You then need to treat any other pets that you have in the house. Other pets can easily get fleas from another pet. Other pets may not seem like they have fleas now, but the eggs could very well be waiting to hatch. Don’t risk it and treat them for fleas too.

One thing you may not know, is that fleas could be hiding out in your garden. This is where a lot of cats and dogs get fleas – not necessarily from another animal! You can get treatment specifically for your garden, so make sure you treat the garden too. If you try to combat every angle that the fleas could be attacking from, you’ll see the back of them. If you do a half hearted job, you can bet that they’ll be back in no time.

Fleas will always be around, but you can use the above tips to eliminate them from your home. Here’s a summary of what to do:

• Double check your cat has fleas and not an underlying issue.
• Take your cat to the vet and ask for advice.
• Treat your cat as instructed and use other treatments if given the go ahead by the vet.
• Follow the instructions carefully and treat other pets in the house. You may need to buy different treatments for different pets.
• Thoroughly wash and clean areas that your cat hangs out.
• Treat your garden with flea killer.
• Repeat the process after a week or two just to be safe.

Remember, your cat will be suffering with these fleas. If left untreated for too long they can get much worse and cause a variety of other problems. They’ll spread it from pet to pet, and you may even find that you get bitten by them too! You don’t want that, do you? Take your cat straight to the vet and send those fleas running (or should that be jumping?).

Thanks for reading!