How To Treat Fleas For Cats

Do a Flea Check

Before you spend money on flea treatments, find out if these pests have settled on your cat:

• Watch for any signs of movement in their fur. If you spot tiny bugs bouncing off their coat, it’s time to fight fleas.
• Comb your cat with a fine-toothed metal flea comb from head to tail several times a day. This will skim off adult fleas and their eggs and ease their itching.
• Then, dip the comb in a mixture of warm to hot water and liquid dish detergent to kill the fleas.

How to Prevent Fleas

Your cat’s warm, furry coat and nourishing blood supply are a flea’s dream home. Protect your pet with a flea barrier to prevent these tiny pests from settling in. There are a few different types:

• Fipronil (Frontline Plus)
• Imidacloprid (Advantage)
• Selamectin (Stronghold/Revolution)
• Fluralaner (Bravecto)

A flea collar with flumethrin and imidacloprid (Seresto) can also work well.

Medicines your cat eats. The pill nitenpyram (Capstar) kills adult fleas on your cat within 30 minutes. It doesn’t have any lasting effects, though. Spinosad (Comfortis) is a fast-acting chewable that starts killing fleas before they lay eggs. It provides a full month of flea protection to help prevent future hatchings.

Treat Stubborn Fleas

Fleas that stubbornly stick around despite treatment may call for more serious measures.

• Clear the decks. Take all pets and family members out of the house, and then coat carpets and other surfaces with a flea spray. Sprays that work the best have the ingredient methoprene or pyriproxyfen. If you’re worried about chemicals in the house, try a natural citrus spray. Keep pets, kids, and everyone else away until all surfaces have dried.
• Make sure all your pets get flea treatment. Any untreated pet can be a flea reservoir, and you’ll never get control of the flea situation. Until all of your pets are treated, fleas will win the battle.
• Call a flea expert. If fleas are still around, you might need an exterminator to address the problem.

Even in large numbers, fleas are tiny and pretty easy to kill. After a few weeks of thorough cleaning, they should stop bugging your cat — and you. Although it can take up to 3 months to fully eradicate an infestation.

While commercial flea medications and treatments can certainly help tame a flea problem in your cat, there are also an array of do-it-yourself approaches that cat owners can take to banish the bugs. If you’ve already had a consultation with your veterinarian regarding your feline flea problem, here are some at-home remedies you can try that may help get rid of your cat’s flea problem for good.

Cedar Chips

It’s a known fact that fleas hate the smell of cedar chips—and there’s a chance your cat may not be too fond of it, either. However, you can try spreading cedar chips around your cat’s bedding or outdoors in your garden. You can also apply cedar oil spray on your cat’s fur, as it is a safe, non-toxic essential oil, or even your cat’s collar to help keep the bugs at bay.

Lemons

One of the most effective natural flea killers is citric acid, which makes lemon juice a widely-recognized home remedy for treating fleas. You can spray your cat’s coat with a solution made by boiling a cut lemon or two (let the lemons steep for a few hours) and then draining the liquid before transferring it to a spray bottle. Work the solution gently into your car’s fur—just be sure to avoid his or her eyes and monitor your pet for redness or other signs of irritation—and repeat the treatment as often as needed until the fleas are gone entirely.

If your cat hates water—as most cats do—you can also try using a comb dipped into the solution and brushing the fleas out. If you’re concerned about any leftover fleas and flea eggs, add a cup of lemon juice to your laundry while washing your pet’s bedding to help exterminate any remaining bugs.

Spices

One of the easiest things you can do for a flea-infested cat is to spice up their life with natural ingredients you might find in your kitchen. Because of a natural compound known as carvacrol, oregano oil can be very effective at removing fleas; start by mixing one teaspoon of oregano oil with three teaspoons of olive oil and apply small amounts of the solution to areas where fleas tend to congregate, like your cat’s ears, stomach, tail, and neck. Fleas also don’t particularly care for rosemary; try grinding the leaves into a powder and sprinkling it in the areas where your cat tends to hang out in your home.

If your cat won’t allow you to apply topical treatments to his or her fur, you can try mixing a small amount (less than a teaspoon) of cumin into your cat’s food. The spice will make your cat’s skin become very unappetizing to fleas.

If you don’t have any of these spices on hand, a little bit of table salt can also do the trick, as it helps dehydrate and kill the fleas on your cat. Better yet, it works to kill fleas and flea eggs that may be lurking on your carpet (just sprinkle it on), or when mixed with water, it can be used to treat hard surfaces.