How To Tell If A Cat Has Fleas

How To Tell If A Cat Has Fleas

Cats are generally clean animals, but if your kitty has fleas, you’ll soon notice them jumping off their bodies and showing up on yours. If you’ve had a flea infestation in the past, you’re probably well aware of this fact. But once you get rid of the fleas, it’s a good idea to learn how to tell if a cat has fleas just in case it ever happens again.

Every pet owner worries about their cat having fleas. What are the signs of a flea problem? How can you tell if your cat has fleas? This article goes over 4 easy ways to tell if your cat has fleas.

Any pet owner will know that fleas are a real problem. They can make your cat’s fur look unkempt and uncomfortable. Fortunately, there are things that you can use to help treat your cat. And it’s important to know how to tell if your cat has fleas so that you can treat it quickly.

How To Tell If A Cat Has Fleas

How To Tell If A Cat Has Fleas

Cats are clean and tidy pets, so it can be difficult to tell if your cat has fleas. Fortunately, there are some tell-tale signs that your feline is suffering from a flea infestation.

If you’re anything like me, you love your cat. But if you’re also anything like me, you hate fleas. I’ve had cats for over 20 years, and I’ve dealt with flea infestations on several occasions. It’s not fun—not only can they make your cat scratch itself raw, but they also carry tapeworms that can infect humans.

So how do you know if your cat has fleas? Here are some of the most common signs:

-Your cat is scratching itself excessively or biting at its skin

-Your cat is losing fur or scabbing up

-You see fleas on your cat’s body or in its bedding (they’re tiny little bugs)

What’s causing the itching?

If you have a pet, then you know that they love to scratch, lick or bite at themselves. This can be caused by various things including fleas and allergies. To determine if your cat has fleas, look for signs such as black specks on their fur or skin (flea dirt), red bumps around their ears or neck area and excessive scratching.

How do I treat my cat for fleas?

There are many products available in stores that will kill fleas on contact but if you want something more natural then try rubbing some lavender oil onto your cat’s coat which will help repel any future infestations as well as relieve any existing ones!

How To Tell If A Cat Has Fleas

When springtime brings warm weather, you may be visited by some uninvited guests. Fleas become most active when temperatures are favorable (35°C and a relative humidity of 70 percent are ideal conditions for flea populations). In parts of the world where winter temperatures fall below this for more than 40 hours per month, households and pets get a bit of a break from flea activity.

Fleas are indeed very active insects, feeding on blood from your cat and you. They jump onto passing animals and burrow down into the fur to the skin, where they stay well hidden while biting and ingesting blood. This is irritating to the animal, and humans as well, as the bites can cause severe itching and inflammation.

How Do I Know if My Cat has Fleas?

Behavioral Signs

In severe infestations, it’s easy to spot fleas jumping and moving on and off your cat’s body. In less obvious situations, you may notice that your cat is restless and doing more scratching or chewing on certain areas of his body. Shaking the head often and scratching at the ears is another indication of a possible flea infestation in your cat.

Excessive and constant licking at the haircoat is another sign of potential fleas, especially in cats. Many cats will even groom the fleas out of the haircoat before you get a chance to see the evidence.

Check the Skin and Haircoat

In order to see actual fleas on your pet, you may have to look fast. Fleas can jump very fast and very high. Fleas are very small (1/16-1/8 in.), flat-bodied insects that are a dark brown, almost black, color. The more blood they ingest the lighter in color they may appear.

Turn your cat on his back and check areas that allow fleas to hide. The armpits and groin are two areas that are warm and protected; favored spots for fleas to hide out. Check your cat’s ears carefully for signs of scratching, redness, blood, or dirt. These can all be signs of fleas. The skin on the belly, groin, or base of the tail may appear red and bumpy, especially if your cat is doing a lot of scratching. Hair loss may occur in certain areas that are being scratched excessively, and there may be black spots on the skin along with scabbing.

Get a flea comb (a specially made comb with closely set teeth) and run it through the hair on your cat’s back and legs. The comb’s teeth are designed to catch and pull fleas out from under the haircoat where they are hiding. Make sure you get close to the skin when running the comb through the hair so you have a greater chance of getting to where the fleas are hiding out. Have a bowl of soapy water on hand to douse any live fleas into as you find them while combing.

One trick that may help you if the fleas are hard to see is to place a white piece of paper or paper towel on the floor next to your pet while coming through his hair. Flea dirt (i.e., flea feces) will fall off of the cat’s skin and land on the paper. One way to differentiate between regular dirt and flea “dirt” is to wet any black specks that fall off the cat onto the white paper towel (using regular water sprinkled on the specks). If they turn a dark reddish-brown color, you are seeing the digested blood that the flea has passed through its body and excreted.

List Of How To Tell If A Cat Has Fleas