Cats and Parasites?

Question
Dear Kate Tilmouth,
Lately, I've been having quite some problems with my four year old cat. He has gotten a bad case of flea infestation and we've been having a hard time getting rid of these pesky parasites that have been tormenting him. He is a long hair, and he is mostly dark colours so I suppose he's quite a good host... but of course we don't appreciate it! We've brushed him with a flea comb that has been removing a lot of fleas, but not all of them. We tried flea medicine- Frontline plus as well as Hartz. We've also noticed fleas hopping on us, but coming on our ankles every time. So with that, we now know that fleas are trying to live in the living room carpet, so whenever they scent skin or blood, they come on us or our cat. We've been vacuuming it all we could, but still unsuccessfully eliminating them. We cannot bomb the house for we live in a two-family house and we'd have no place to bring our cat. We are afraid to give him a flea bath because some pets are highly allergic to them. We cannot take a risk with our beloved cat! Shall we groom him? Our male cat hasn't gotten outside, so is there a way to prevent them from coming in? There is a disadvantage for there are strictly fifteen feral cats. I'm almost definitely sure they all have fleas, ticks, and/or mites as well. Thank you for any suggestions you may provide us.
-Jennifer and Family

Answer
Hi
yes fleas can be tricky to get rid of at first and it does take a lot of persistence to remove them from your cat and home.

Basically you will need to treat your cat with a spot on flea treatment once a one, the best and most effective form of this flea treatment is only available from the vets. it also protects your cat from worms. this treatment not only kills fleas but also prevents them from breeding and living on your cat, so this treatment needs to be applied once a month to keep your cat free of the little blighter's.

Long fur can be problem buy as long as you have treated with the flea spot on the best you can do is to keep grooming him to remove any reaming eggs etc from his fur. you could also bath him if the infestation is severe but it is not strictly necessary i think.

the big thing is you will have to treat your home thoroughly and probably for several weeks. please see my web page about this here
/flea-treatment.html

I have several pages about fleas there and i find the more you know about them the easier it is for you to treat them, knowledge is power.

I know how difficult this can be I once had a terrible infestation one hot summer and had to have the house professionally treated and my cat boarded for a couple of days. But unfortunately if the job is not done properly your home and your cat will keep getting reinfected.

there is no way really to prevent the fleas outside, but as long as your cat is protected this should be enough to stop them getting inside again.

best wishes Kate