What's the simplest way to deal with a cat flea problem?

[DodgerGirl]

Now that it's summertime my mom and I have been trying to deal with fleas on our cat again and I don't know what we can do? Mom and I first noticed our cat scratching himself and itching himself till he got scars and it seems that my cat has very bad fleas. The odd thing is we don't know where the fleas are coming from and our cat has been an inside cat since he was a tiny kitten and has never been outside and we don't bring any other animals in the house or have any other animals. My mom grooms our cat with a flea comb every day and our cat wears a flea collar and still gets fleas. My dad even has sprayed our front stoop with bug spray and we still get fleas and my mom thinks that our grocery bags might carry fleas because we get grocery delivery every so often. But our cat is very uncomfortable and every time we try to play with him or apply flea remedies he tries to bite my mom or scratch her hands. What could be the cause of our cat getting so many fleas and what can my mom and I use to get rid of these fleas? Is there an outbreak of inside cats getting fleas this summer?

 

[sam_gordon]

If your cat never goes outside, it might be worth having an exterminator come by for an inspection if not treatment. He's getting the fleas from somewhere, and I doubt it's from the occasional grocery delivery.

Might also be worth a vet visit to confirm it's fleas and not something else.

 

[LoveDaisy]

If your cat doesn’t go outside the fleas are in your house and you need an exterminator. The source of the fleas is probably mice.

I would also take your cat to vet, they will be able to make sure that is the issue and help you properly treat your cat.

 

[DodgerGirl]

If your cat never goes outside, it might be worth having an exterminator come by for an inspection if not treatment. He's getting the fleas from somewhere, and I doubt it's from the occasional grocery delivery.

Might also be worth a vet visit to confirm it's fleas and not something else.

As I mentioned I had my dad spray the front stoop of our house for fleas and Mom might try flea drops on our cat and see if they work on him. When our cat had fleas the last time it wasn't as bad and was easy to treat. But this time it seems our cat has gotten more fleas this summer
Thank you for the good advice Sam
Dodger

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

As I mentioned I had my dad spray the front stoop of our house for fleas and Mom might try flea drops on our cat and see if they work on him. When our cat had fleas the last time it wasn't as bad and was easy to treat. But this time it seems our cat has gotten more fleas this summer
Thank you for the good advice Sam
Dodger

If fleas have gotten in your house, spraying the front stoop isn't going to be of much help. We had a bad case one time and eventually had to use bug bombs in the house to get rid of them, after trying things like vacuuming multiple times a day. We use Bravecto flea prevention on our cats. I've heard the flea collars really don't do anything.

 

[BrianL]

Treat the cat with a topical medicine like Frontline or Revolution, but you have to get rid of the fleas in teh house and the eggs. My vet recommends a spray caleld "Knockout." I had this issue once and that combination too care of it. Note tha TKnockout is only for the house - it is not to be sprayed on the cat. Flea collars don't work as well as the topical that goes on the back of their neck like Revolution, etc.

 

[mom2rtk]

Get flea treatment from your vet. Things that used to work don't work now.

 

[Tuffcookie]

I have 2 inside cats that have a catio on my patio, that they go into when the weather is nice outside. For that reason, I use Soresto flea collars on them. They are pricey, at $70 per collar but they last 8 months and they work!

 

[Dive Bar Casanova]

I use flea bombs for the house.

Then I spray a towel with flea spray and make a cat burrito. Wrap her up and carry her around. She doesn't want to be put down is the issue. Likes to be held, on her terms.

We have lots of Coyotes here and when they walk thru the yards their fleas jump ship and hop on our animals.

Wifie gives the dog some sort of pill that is a flea repellant.

Cattacinno drinking Dune Cat:

 

[NannyBeBe]

Many years ago, I got a bad infestation of fleas in my house. I had to move out for a few days while the exterminator tented the house and set off bombs in the house. It worked.

 

[Stratman50th]

When you get a flea infestation in the house you need to treat to kill the fleas, obviously. What we used was a powder. Vacuum throughly. That breaks up the egg cases. Repeat the process in two weeks.
There is a pill now you give monthly now I believe. It isn't a flea and tick "repellent". It kills them when they drink the animals blood. They aren't able to lay eggs after they die so the cycle is broken.
Getting rid of an infestation in the house is very difficult. If the fleas are coming in from an outside source, the pills should prevent them from getting anywhere.

 

[cabanafrau]

The fleas are in your home. I believe fleas will bite humans as well as pets, so leaving an infestation unattended will result in more than your cat suffering.

 

[Nayan]

Fleas are very nasty little suckers and in the event of a bad infestation they will not only bite you but can actually kill your cat (Flea Anemia). You need to treat for fleas year round, especially if you live where it's warm. Fleas can come in at any time (no, groceries will not bring them in) mostly on your clothes, like ticks.

Spraying the stoop isn't enough, you need to take you cat to the vet and have it checked out, you're going to need to board your cat and flea-bomb your entire home, if you have carpet you'll need to vacuum at least twice a day. Your vet will tell you how often to treat your cat and what to use, but you need to get it under control and quickly before it gets way out of hand.

 

[mjkacmom]

Ask your vet.

 

[Simba's Mom]

Another thing I do, along with what's already been recommended is my cheap and easy overnite treatment. What I do is put water in a pie pan, about half full, then I add several squirts of liquid detergent (or bath gel). Put it near where you can plug in a night light, on the floor. Overnite, the fleas will be attracted to the light and jump into the pie pan. But the surface tension from the gel you added will prevent them from jumping out, and they drown and die. As I write this, I'm reminded that I need to do this soon. Also. vacuum like crazy and wash everything you can think of. Our indoor cats get fleas every year. The vet says that when DH goes out to cut the lawn, the fleas catch a ride to indoors on his shoes.

 

[NotUrsula]

It's your house that has fleas, as well as your cat. The cat is getting them from the house. New generations of fleas hatch out every 2 weeks, and the eggs also lie dormant for that long. They are very much self-perpetuating as long as there is ANYTHING in the home they can feed on, and that includes people (fleas that infest people are a different species, but cat fleas are not above snacking on us occasionally to survive.) Have the vet give you a flea repellent drops treatment for your kitty, and visit the hardware store for flea bombs for your home; enough to bomb it 3 separate times, because the egg-casings are resistant to the fogger mist poison. You have to actively wait out the hatching of 3 generations of fleas and be sure to poison all of them.

As to what to do, the answer is simple. It doesn't cost a lot of money but does require intense effort, and it takes a total of 7 weeks to do. Here is the routine: The carpet / rugs and all upholstered furniture all must be double-vacuumed with the dust waste removed outside the house, then repeat that again every week for 7 weeks. All "soft" separate goods made of fabric that cannot be washed and that humans handle regularly must be sealed in black trash bags for that long. Everything else will be treated by flea bomb. You use the trash-bag treatment during fogging for all eating/cooking utensils and any human- or pet- centric soft goods that cannot be washed so that they are not touched directly by the mist, and also all non-refrigerated foodstuffs, and then you set off the foggers in your closed-up home according to directions, taking yourselves and your pets out of the house for a few hours. Then you take all your dry food back out, wash your dishes and all the bedding, curtains, and clothing, and wipe down fixtures and hard furniture. Then wait 2 weeks and repeat the necessary steps to do the fogger again, then wait 2 weeks more and do it a 3rd time. Then you can liberate the unwashable soft goods from their trash-bag prisons, because your fleas should finally be eliminated at that point; the 3 generations sealed in without air will have died as well as the ones poisoned by the foggers.

If you find any traces of mice be sure to seal any places they can get in, and also make sure to put out cat-proof poison dispensers for them if your cat is not a good mouser.

 

[bcla]

Haven't had a pet in a while, but at least when I did have a pet I remember oral insect growth regulators like Program and highly effective topical insecticides like Advantage that lasted a month. The IGR required a prescription, but I remember a vet that would basically write one up for maybe $1 and sold it pretty cheap. The vet also recommended getting the ones for larger animals and then using only part of it or splitting up the pills.

I don't think the oral growth regulators are as commonly used now. Using them was kind of a long-term strategy, although I'm reading that a lot of the monthly insecticide treatments might have versions that contain an IGR. When I talked to a vet about Advantage, she was really enthusiastic about it. Said it was far more effective than flea collars and the ingredient was extremely safe around pets and people.

Not sure how that works since there may be specific cat versions. What I remember with Advantage (over 25 years ago) was that it came in a tube and just needed a small spot on the back. Then it would distribute. However, I think newer versions come in a spray that might be easier to deal with.

In the end, the primary host in anyone's home is going to be larger mammals with fur. I'd think treating the animals is the way to end the cycle.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

Back in the day when we had indoor/outdoor cats we would flea bomb the house, and then put Advantage on the cats. The surviving fleas would jump on the cats and die.

Nowadays we get the flea treatment from the vet for our cat and dogs. So,hopefully, if fleas get in the house they'll die when they bite our animals.

On the other hand... those pesky mosquitoes are hard to get rid of. We have a few of those mosquito zappers and they do somewhat work.

 

[bcla]

On the other hand... those pesky mosquitoes are hard to get rid of. We have a few of those mosquito zappers and they do somewhat work.

Mosquitos come from outdoors. They have a life cycle of maybe two weeks once they're out of the larval stage. But the important thing is to avoid standing water. I keep on telling my mom to get rid of her buckets and other things carrying water, but she doesn't seem to care until there's a mosquito issue in her yard. However, I think most of the mosquitos are probably from a larger area than just her yard.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Kill it with fire?

Seriously though, try Front Line Spot On. Gets rid of all nasties.