Cats - Talk to me about fleas

[SilveryMoon]

I have 2 indoor cats.
The vet this morning said they have fleas. Now I've been using the spot-on on them and they don't go outside, how did they get fleas?
I'm now going to have to flea treat my whole house aren't I?
They spend time in the airing cupboard, so I will have to wash all the bedding in there too won't I?

How the hell did they get fleas?

My 2 cats go outside and they have never had fleas in the 2 years I have had them.

Have you seen the fleas? Normally you would notce - the bloody things would be hopping all over your legs.

Maybe hey got fleas from a stray pest? Not saying you have mice or anything, just one may have wandered in.

Yeah, you'll have to flea treat your house. We had them fucking everywhere last October and I'm not even confident it was my flea genocide that finally killed them. Think it might have been the weather.

All bedding will need to be washed. Ask your vet to recommend a flea spray for your furniture. It might be more expensive but the stuff I got is great. Vacuum all your floor and furniture and then spray. You'll need to vacuum A LOT. About 5 days after you've sprayed, do it again to kill the ones that have hatched since the last time.

If it's really bad, get a flea fogger.

I haven't seen any fleas and the cats themselves aren't scratching or anything.
I remember when my dog used to get fleas, I could see them on her and I saw one on the baby!
I've been spraying the carpets and curtains etc since I found out, have stripped all beds and sprayed mattresses and duvets etc.

I have since spoken to dp again who has taken the m to vets (they are being castrated) and he is now saying the vet didn't actually see any fleas, but saw the flaked skin (which I've not noticed) and said that means they have fleas, so fingers crossed it's not so bad.
I will spray again next week too like you say.
Thank you

Was it definitely 'flaked skin' the vet said he saw, or 'black flakes' (i.e. flea dirt)? If he saw flea dirt that's one thing, but telling you they must have fleas just because he saw some flakes is a bit alarmist! Flakey skin could mean any number of things, it's not necessarily caused by a flea allergy - ours get dandruff sometimes and they certainly don't have fleas! One of them had such bad dandruff a few months ago that the vet took scrapings to test, but it turned out to be nothing more than dry skin. Probably from spending too much time lying in front of the radiator

Of course it's always possible that you've brought some fleas in on your clothing if you'd been to somewhere that was infested, or if you have stray cats hanging around on your doorstep they could get in that way. And if they sleep in the airing cupboard, the heat will help the fleas breed and it's likely that you could get an infestation that way - one flea soon turns into many! But if you haven't seen any fleas or flea dirt, and neither your family or the cats are being bitten, I would suggest your vet looks into other causes before you fog your house

Thanks MrsL Dp is collecting them this afternoon so I'll tell him to find out if it was flea dirt or skin.
Gosh, the dramas!

It's really easy to find out whether it's flea dirt. You dampen some kitchen roll, and stand the cat over it; then you ruffle the fur so that any particles land on the kitchen roll. Flea dirt (poo) will start to absorb moisture and seep red on the paper just like blood which is what it is! Ordinary dirt/soil particles won't. However, sometimes you can detect the odd flea egg, a tiny white oval thing, before it gets scratched off. If there is a heavy infestation, you can see scabs if you part the fur on the back of the neck, behind ears, groin area, and base of tail. This is where the fleas come to feed repeatedly.

White skin flakes are easily treated with the addition of cod liver oil to the cat food, results in lovely glossy fur!

If you are going to treat for fleas...use Frontline on the cats....nothing else works as well

Yep I agree scurryfunge, Frontline is the business! I use nothing else and treat regualarly.

Those little buggers are horrible to get rid of.

Thanks for the tips ladies.
I've been using the bob martin stuff on them, but will get along to a pet store and look for the front-line. That stuff was great on my dog.
girly I will try that with the kitchen roll when they get back x

You need veterinary strength stuff for it to be really effective. We use Advantage spot-on for fleas once a month, and Profender spot-on for worms every 3 months (can't get her to take Drontal tablets, even the vet failed!)

It is important to worm as well as treat fleas as their life-cycles are linked, and spray the environment to kill any unhatched eggs.

Have just thought - perhaps the vet thought the skin flakes were an allergic reaction to the fleas?

It's ok, panic over. Dp collected the cats from the vet and asked them about the fleas and the nurse said they haven't got fleas.
Dp told her that he was told this morning that they did and she said she'd been with them all day and they haven't got them, she then brushed them over some paper to test and said they definetly do not5 have fleas.
I didn't think so..........
anyway, the house has been treated, won't do any harm.