My cats have fleas

Lavender Room
1

…which means my apartment has fleas.

…which means I have fleas.

I have no idea how this all started as my cats are indoor cats, but a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that one of them started acting differently. Lots more grooming and scratching, wants a lot of attention from me. As it was just one of them that was acting this way, so I really didn’t think much of it, but the behaviour started changing more and the scratching got worse and I called the vet. The first thing they said was that it is most likely fleas and asked me to pick up medication.

And after using the medication (which is already working. Idiot cat is already more calm and taking naps rather than incessantly scratching).I found visual proof, vis-a-vis flea carcasses on the bed.

It took me so long as I never considered fleas as a possibility, being indoor cats and all. Lesson learnt.

Sigh.

I know what I need to do - clean the place, wash beddings/fabric, toss their beds. Is there anything else I should be doing?

I am just posting in the LR because I am so tired with other life stuff that I really don’t have it in me to deal with it, but I will, because I have to.

2

There’s nothing worse than an itchy pussy.

3

…which means my apartment has fleas.

…which means I have fleas.

I have no idea how this all started as my cats are indoor cats, but a couple of weeks ago, I noticed that one of them started acting differently. Lots more grooming and scratching, wants a lot of attention from me. As it was just one of them that was acting this way, so I really didn’t think much of it, but the behaviour started changing more and the scratching got worse and I called the vet. The first thing they said was that it is most likely fleas and asked me to pick up medication.

And after using the medication (which is already working. Idiot cat is already more calm and taking naps rather than incessantly scratching).I found visual proof, vis-a-vis flea carcasses on the bed.

It took me so long as I never considered fleas as a possibility, being indoor cats and all. Lesson learnt.

Sigh.

I know what I need to do - clean the place, wash beddings/fabric, toss their beds. Is there anything else I should be doing?

I am just posting in the LR because I am so tired with other life stuff that I really don’t have it in me to deal with it, but I will, because I have to.

This happened to us about 20 years ago. We had a cat that was exclusively indoor, and a friend was in the area, found a stray, and brought it in our home for “just a minute”; that’s all it took.

We spent about three weeks getting it under control. The fleas were everywhere. In addition to flea meds for the cat, we had to have her dipped a couple of times, and our vet gave us this spray we could use on the hardwoods. I read online (not sure if this was accurate but I did it anyway) that you should vacuum daily and then put the vacuum outside for several hours afterward. The fleas (supposedly) could crawl back out of the vacuum.

It was awful…be diligent and take a multi prong attack to getting rid of them.

Matt

4

I read online (not sure if this was accurate but I did it anyway) that you should vacuum daily and then put the vacuum outside for several hours afterward. The fleas (supposedly) could crawl back out of the vacuum.

Put mothballs or moth flakes in the canister; that will kill them as well

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There’s nothing worse than an itchy pussy.

+3 points.

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Thanks RandMart and Matt

I forgot about the vaccuming part…

Matt, what did you mean by having the cats “dipped”?

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It was a bath she got at the vet. It helped to kill the fleas and eggs, as well as help to chill out the itching. We had to have it done at least twice.

The flea infestation on her was awful…we could see them crawling on her.

We initially tried to do the bath at home. However, bathing a cat is not something I will ever do again.

Matt

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I have no words of wisdom, but I get the “doing it because you have to even though you don’t really have the energy”.

Hang in there.

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I have no words of wisdom, but I get the “doing it because you have to even though you don’t really have the energy”.

Hang in there.

I’d be in tears. I second the hang in there.

10

It was a bath she got at the vet. It helped to kill the fleas and eggs, as well as help to chill out the itching. We had to have it done at least twice.

The flea infestation on her was awful…we could see them crawling on her.

We initially tried to do the bath at home. However, bathing a cat is not something I will ever do again.

We adopted a stray who came from a litter born in a barn, so she was pretty bad, and yeah, the fleas were “abandoning ship” when she got in the tub

Pro tip: if you’re planning on giving your cat(s) a bath at home, with anti-flea shampoo, wear gloves and a long sleeved shirt or sweatshirt - they will bite and scratch like motherfuckers the first time or two

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A flea bath is a good idea. Some cats tolerate baths better than others - good luck!

https://media.giphy.com/media/7ftcUwlE3exXO/giphy.gif

https://gifsboom.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/cat-falls-to-bathtub.gif

https://forgifs.com/gallery/d/280792-2/Cat-air-swimming-sink-bath.gif

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Are they on monthly flea meds?
I have indoor cats and they never go out and they get monthly flea meds, like frontline, revolution , nexgard.

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Cat fleas don’t live on humans so as long as you are making your cat undesirable to them you will eventually be rid of them.

My son had bedbugs when he moved into his new condo in Toronto. Terrible

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Bathing my cats? I’d like to, but I’d need a suit of armor and an elephant tranquilizer. I had a scuttle with one of them before, for reference see here.

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Are they on monthly flea meds?
I have indoor cats and they never go out and they get monthly flea meds, like frontline, revolution , nexgard.

They weren’t, but they will be now… (I started them when I found out about the fleas.)

Do you apply the flea meds year round? Or just the summer months?

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We do it year round, we are in a southern climate and fleas can be an issue most of the year.fleas on cats will cause health problems like tape worms, anemia , skin conditions.
It was really Important when we had dogs because they went in and out of the house.

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Thank you and thank you edbikebabe.

The encouragement is appreciated.

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Our cat was in my lap out on the back deck yesterday then I came in and saw this.

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Our cat was in my lap out on the back deck yesterday then I came in and saw this.

Your photo did not load… but I am also kinda afraid to see it.