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I keep treating my cat for fleas, but can never find them?
Hello, so a few months back I adopted a cat from a shelter who turned out to have fleas. I know he has them because I keep spotting flea dirt (feces) where he sleeps and every once in a while a flea will jump off of him.
I have been treating him with a flea collar, flea pills (like pills I feed him that are supposed to kill the fleas in 6 hours), and the flea medication that goes on their neck once a month.
The weird part of this is that I sit him down about every 2 days and groom him with a flea comb all over his fur (short hair). Do I find any fleas? No. Do I see any flea dust? No.
I'm getting extremely frustrated because I don't know what to do. He's confined to a master bedroom and a bathroom and I routinely change the sheets and vacuum, but that's about as much as I can do because I live in an apartment with a roommate who has a dog and her own room so I can't do a flea bomb because I have nowhere else to put the cat while it's going off.
I feel like fleas are impossible to get rid of because their eggs are so tiny that they're bound to be anywhere/everywhere. I could treat the carpets and wash everything all in one day, but then one flea could be under the mattress you know?
Once several years back my family had one cat and they spent thousands of dollars treating their place and their cat who had fleas and nothing ever worked. They just learned to deal with the cat having fleas and tried to keep it to a minimum .
The only hope I feel like I have is moving in a few months to another place and having him flea bathed at the vet before I take him into the new location. However, I recall my friends doing this exact thing with their puppy who had fleas and it didn't work because the flea bath didn't kill all the fleas so the new place just got reinfested. I remember they spent a lot of money on it too!
Augh help please?
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Want to answer more questions in the Domesticity category?
Maybe give some free advice about: Pets?
Fleas are a big problem when you have a cat, but they don't always live on the animal. For example, they can live in your home (but they're so tiny that sometimes you don't even notice) and then jump on your cat when they get the chance. Because flea treatment generally kills fleas within 24 hours of them biting your cat, you are bound to see a few. It's only really a problem if you see lots of fleas all the time, because this could mean that the treatment isn't working. Try putting down some flea powder/spray in your home to kill the fleas that are currently in your house. Unfortunately cats and dogs bring fleas in quite often from outside - cats especially! - but when they have been on your cat and your cat has been treated they are usually dying, so when they go onto the face or the paws it's because they're trying to escape; they're harmless when they're dying, they can barely jump and don't move very quick, but if you find one that is dying quickly put it into water as fleas cannot swim - if the flea is already dying, it will die straight away once put into a cup of water. I would advise you to go to your vet to see what they suggest, but you can also do a Google search to find the most effective ways of getting rid of fleas from your house. Usually the fleas are already in the corners of the rooms in your home, so it can take up to two months to get rid of them completely (the ones on the cats, the ones in the house and also the eggs). Be patient; this is a horrible and stressful issue, but once you find the perfect products (there's even some home-remedies you can try) hopefully it will decrease your stress and get rid of fleas in your home for good.
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There are ways to trap fleas if you actually have them. they don't have to be on the pet by living in the carpet and just hop onto the cat to feed when hungry. I know people with pets who have tried this natural way to catch fleas and it works great. They are attracted to heat and thats why it works. At night have your cat in bedroom with you and try leaving a pan or two out in general living space and alert roommate that these are on the floor. Check out this instructional on what to do for the making of trap in this link.
[Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
and this video [Link](Mouse over link to see full location)
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Sounds odd. If I groomed a cat with a fine-toothed flea comb and could not ever trap an actual flea or find any flea dirt I would tend to think the cat has no fleas? Especially if I had been treating it. Those little drops you mention which you put where the cat cannot lick tend to be very effective, even without pills. Fleas and eggs can survive a long time in soft furnishings and carpet edges etc, but they will always be looking to hop onto a likely host, ie your cat, and once onboard they'll have a hard time surviving with his meds out to kill them! I'd say that far more people keep their cats free of fleas with what you are doing than hiring pest control guys and/or fumigating their homes. As if they have such a hostile host they must die off? Only thought is that, there are many different fleas and most cannot live and breed on anything other than their specific host animal, I believe? Might what you see hopping off your cat be dog fleas leaving their unsuitable host? That would explain why you find no dirt, and why you don't find fleas actually living on the cat? Has your housemate checked her dog?
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