Cat Flea Meds Prevent Dermititis and Skin Infections

Your cat flea medicine don't just stop Kitty scratching. Those fleas can bring further skin complications for your cat. You must keep on top of the flea population in your home to prevent bigger problems than an itchy pet.

We tend only to think about our cats flea treatment as a way to stop our cat scratching. But there are more serious reasons to control the flea population on our pets, and in our homes.

When a flea bites, it actually produces a serum which starts to digest the flesh. Horrible as it sounds, this is just a way to clear a path towards the blood which is what the flea needs to feed on. This serum is the stuff most of our pets and we, find irritating.

Although a lot of animals are only mildly allergic to fleas and will have a simple scratch and forget about it, others develop highly sensitive skin. This might be a reaction to an 'overdose' of fleas, brought on by exposure to an extremely large flea population, or it can just occur over time. Just because your feline friend is not allergic to fleas today, does not mean they won't develop an allergy in the future.

As well as being allergic to the serum produced by a biting flea, skin allergies are often associated with the 'dirt' left behind by fleas. So even when your pet is not being bitten, unless you groom very thoroughly he or she will still be living with a skin condition brought on by the fleas.

The cat with flea dermatitis is likely to groom excessively to the point where he will break the skin or pull out fur around the affected area. Sores may develop and spread as your feline friend endeavours to clean up the sensitive area. In extreme cases the skin may ulcerate, becoming infected.

Skin infections are a common secondary effect of fleas. Sometimes they are due to your pet's rather too vigorous scratching and breaking the skin. Others are caused by the extreme flea sensitivity with the flea dermatitis mentioned above. Either way, an untreated skin infection can lead to blood poisoning. Although both these problems are really easy to sort out, they can quickly develop into real illness for your cat. The problem is cats are pretty small things. It doesn't take a very big skin infection or sore to pose a threat to them.

Regular cat flea treatment is imperative to prevent these secondary (but all to common) problems of flea dermatitis and skin infections. Always make sure you reapply the treatment when your cats flea medicine is due. Most treatments only kill the adults or adults and eggs. That means you still have the dormant larval population in your home. If you don't use your cat flea treatment as often as recommended, you will allow those larvae to develop into adult fleas and be back to square one.