Cat Health Care

Cat Fleas

I once found a young stray cat near my house and her body, was chock full of fleas particularly around the neck area. She was scratching her neck like crazy and I was very concerned, that she might injure herself by scratching so vigorously. So I did the following to get rid off her fleas so she could finally have a peace of mind.

1. Get a flea comb to rid off the fleas from your cat’s body.
2. Purchase a flea treatment. I recommend this flea treatment to remove cat fleas.
3. Send your cat to the vet for deworming every now an then, the cat might consume the fleas by accident while grooming and cause tapeworm infestation.

Signs that show your cat has been invaded by fleas are as follows:

• Excessive licking around the tail and along the spine.
• Excessive scratching around the neck or behind the ear.
• Dark flaky specks around the neck, spine as well as the base of the tail. These are actually flea eggs or droppings made up of mostly dried blood. This is the most obvious indicator of cat fleas infestation.
• During heavy infestation, the fleas are totally visible, and can be clearly seen roaming all around the cat’s body.

I personally enjoy plucking a few fleas from my cat’s body; then placing the fleas on a hard surface, and then squeezing them using the tip of my finger. It makes a popping sound that can be very, very satisfying…Ahem…. Sorry if I sound like a nut case, its just one of my unusual habits.

Here's a picture of fleas on cat.

Gross aren't they?

This is a rather heavy fleas infestation.

4 things you can do to prevent the above from happening to your cat.

1) Provide you cat a well balanced diet.

2) Keep your house or the cat's surrounding environment clean.

3) If you see your cat playing and messing about with cockroaches, birds and rodents, intervene immediately. These animals can infect your cat with worms, heavy fleas infestation will soon follow like the above image. Find something else that can assist you in getting rid of them rats and cockroaches. Cats are suppose to scare them off, not playing around and beating them silly. Sooner or later you cat get will get infected. Again, if you see, intervene, don't let the cat mess around with it for too long.

4) Use powerful flea treatment. Sometimes, no matter how hard you keep the house clean or the cat's diet in check, you can never totally annihilate the fleas. Light infestation can sometimes occur and you won't realize it, until you see your cat scratching its head or licking the back and tail vigorously. The war against fleas can easily be won if you have the right weapon. And that weapon......Is the Frontline! Seriously folks in my opinion, frontline is the ultimate cat flea treatment. Spend a few minutes to apply it to your cat and the next day the fleas are gone! Heavy infestation takes a couple of days though, but total eradication of light to moderate infestation is usually within a day. Powerful stuff, check out Frontline Plus. There's another flea and tick treatment for cats called BioSpot SPOT ON which is cheaper than Frontline. I've never used it before so I really can't say how effective it is. If anyone of you have tried this flea treatment before, do let me know by dropping me a note right here. Currently I still have about 8 month supply of Frontline Plus!

Now remember to read the directions carefully before applying Frontline on your cat. On the label it says that the product is for cats age 8 weeks and above. Don't try it on cats that are younger than the stipulated age.

Cat Ear Mites

The ear mite is usually transmitted from cat to cat. A highly contagious infestation can be totally avoided by cleaning your the cat's ears regularly. if you're too busy, then twice a week should be ok enough to help keep mite infestation at bay.

Signs that show your feline pal is suffering from cat ear mites are as follows:

• Dark brown deposit in the ear.
• Continuous scratching of the head.
• Shaking the head and keeping the ears flat.

Here's an excellent Ear Mite Treatment that I use on my cats. It can be used for both cats and dogs.

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