How to tell if your cat has fleas
Fleas are very small and are often hard to detect. If your cat has a heavy infestation, you may see fleas on close examination of the coat. The best way to check for fleas is to check for "flea dirt" which are brown/black specks seen in the pet’s coat. These are composed of dried specks of blood extracted by the flea. The best way to check for flea dirt is to comb through your cat’s coat onto a wet piece of kitchen roll or paper. If the specks turn red/brown, then you know your cat has fleas.
Avoiding flea infestations
Don’t wait for your cat to itch or scratch before thinking about flea treatments. Effective and regular flea control will help make sure your cat and your house stay flea free.
At Vets4Pets, our vets can prescribe effective spot-on treatments that, used regularly, will prevent flea infestation.
Adult fleas are tiny dark brown, wingless insects which can jump up to 165 times their own length and easily spread by contact from one animal to another. Fleas need to feed on blood from either our pets or ourselves in order to survive and to breed. For young puppies and kittens this blood loss can be distressing and may even be life-threatening. In adult cats (and humans) the main problem is the flea bite, which leads to irritation and skin allergy problems. Fleas can also spread feline infectious anaemia (FIA), a potentially fatal disease in cats.
The flea life cycle begins when the adult flea lays eggs in the coat of the pet. The eggs drop off into the environment and develop through immature larvae and pupal stages to form the next generation of adult fleas.
When it first emerges, the young adult flea immediately begins to search for a host and blood meal. After just one meal of blood the female becomes sexually mature and can start to lay eggs. A single flea can produce over 2,000 eggs in its lifetime!
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