Flea Control

Fleas can potentially pose a very real threat to your cats’s health and the well being of your family. Few creatures can inflict more misery, ounce for ounce, than fleas. A flea infestation at one time or another has affected many dog and cat households. These tiny, almost invisible pests are much more than an annoyance. They make life miserable by disrupting your household with a vicious cycle of biting and scratching, and can cause flea allergy dermatitis in some cats.

Where do fleas hide?

Fleas hop onto your cat to feed on his/her blood; they then lay their eggs, which can be up to 50 a day. The eggs are not very sticky, so they quickly fall off your pet. The fleas and their eggs can be found in a number of flea friendly locations, such as:

• Carpets
• Furniture
• The Car
• The animal's own bedding
• Vacuum cleaners

These areas should be treated, when treating your cat for fleas.

The Flea Life Cycle

The life cycle of a common flea can last as little as three weeks, depending on the temperature and humidity of their surroundings. It is little wonder that with the introduction of fitted carpets and central heating to a lot of homes, the flea problem has increased over the years.

For more information, please contact your Veterinary Surgery for advice.

The egg stage

A female flea lays as many as 50 eggs per day, they quickly fall off your cat and hatch in two to five days. A female flea lays around 2,000 eggs in his lifetime.

The laval stage

After hatching, the larvae head toward dark places around your home and feed on "flea dirt" - Excrement of the partially digested blood of your cat. The larvae grow; moult twice, the spin cocoons, where they grow into pupae.

The adult stage

The adults emerge from their cocoons when they detect heat, vibrations and exhaled carbon dioxide indicating that there is a host nearby. Once they hop onto a host, the adults mate and begin the life cycle all over again. The entire life cycle can be as short as three to four weeks.

Identifying flea infestation

Warning sigs include:

Black specks

Black specks on your cat or his/her bedding could be flea dirt. Which are the faeces of partially digested blood from you cat, excreted by the adult fleas. They can often be found around the neck area and the base of the cats tail.

There are two easy ways to check for flea dirt:

Using a metal flea comb, available form your Veterinary Practice. Run the comb over your cat, making sure the comb reaches the cats skin through the coat. If there are black specks on the comb they may be flea dirt.

Place a white paper towel beneath your cat and rub your hands across the fur. If black specks appear on the towel, they may be flea dirt.

With both of these methods, to confirm if the specks are flea dirt. Place the specks on a white piece of paper, sprinkle a few drops of water on the specks and if after a couple of minutes a reddish, brown stain is seen in the water. It will indicate that the dirt contains, partially digested blood from your cat. This is flea dirt.

Agitation/Scratching

Your cat may exhibit nervous or annoyed behaviour coupled with excessive scratching and or grooming, your cat may even start to bite himself, which not only confirms the presence of fleas, but also may indicate that the presence of fleas may be affecting your cats health.

Ailments:

Fleas may affect your cat in the following ways:

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