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Flea Control for Cats Tips

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Keeping up with flea control on cats protects both your health and your pet's. Flea and tick infestations cause anemia in kittens and wreaks havoc on humans because of disease. Bubonic plague and the Black Plague were caused by fleas. A form of typhus is also caused by flea bites. Learn how to prevent flea infestations from ever happening.

Bringing Home a New Pet

Many flea and tick infestations occur when you bring home a new pet. Before bringing the pet into your house, check it for signs of fleas and ticks. If you do notice any, head straight to the bathroom to give a flea control cat bath.

Flea Control for Cats Starts in the Bathtub

Flea preventative cat shampoo should never be used on kittens. Instead, use Dawn dish soap or baby shampoo. The gentler soaps are equally effective on adult cats.

Fill a bathtub with a few inches of warm water. You may want to put on gardening gloves to prevent scratches.
Rinse the kitten with water and create suds over the entire body of the kitten from the tip of the ears to the tail. Be careful around the eyes. The suds will suffocate some fleas, others will climb to the ears, nose and eyes.
Carefully use tweezers to remove and crush these parasites.
Wait five minutes and then rinse the animal thoroughly and wrap him in a towel.

Invest in a Flea Comb

While you dry your cat or kitten with a towel, use a flea comb to remove any fleas who survived the bath. Use the flea comb daily for a couple of weeks. With time and patience, the fleas will disappear. This is the best method to use for young kittens who are not old enough for feline flea treatment prescriptions.

Treating Older Cats and Kittens with Flea Medicine

If your cat or kitten is old enough for flea medicine, drops like Frontline prevent fleas from biting and continuing their life cycle. A few drops between the shoulder blades every month is all that you'll need. If you do use a flea medication, do not use flea cat shampoo. You will overdose your pet on flea killing medication.

Fleas Feast on Humans

Flea control for cats is not enough. Fleas will bite humans too. Filled with human blood, fleas can continue to lay new eggs and continue their life cycle.

If you have a flea infestation in your home, vacuum regularly. Sprinkle your carpet with Borax and let it sit for 10 minutes before you vacuum the carpeting. Vacuum your carpet twice a day for a few weeks to rid your home of fleas. You'll quickly learn that flea control on cats and humans requires patience.

Alternately, you can set off an insect bomb in your home to kill all fleas. If you do use this method, you must shut off the gas to your home, put out all pilot lights and then move everyone, including all pets, out of your home for 24 hours. The fogging insecticide used in insect bombs is dangerous to humans and pets, so you should plan to go to a hotel or camp site over night.

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