English Deutsch Français Italiano Español Português 繁體中文 Bahasa Indonesia Tiếng Việt ภาษาไทย
All categories

Is this anything to do with his fleas? Hopefully we got em all now.

2006-10-26 02:51:21 · 17 answers · asked by smudge 1 in Pets Cats

17 answers

Congrats on taking in the stray cat.
Yes, that black dirt is the crap from the fleas and maybe some flea bodies too.
I would get a flea comb (if you don't have one) from Wal Mart and brush your cat with it and put any black specks into a cup filled with some water and dish soap liquid to drown any living flea that survived the flea treatment. Repeat this on a daily basis till you find no more black specks. It might take you a month or less to get rid of all the black specks on your stray cat.
Be sure to apply between his shoulder blades, Frontline tick and flea liquid each month as it will kill any flea or tick it may have on his coat.

2006-10-26 02:58:57 · answer #1 · answered by Kaladan 2 · 0 0

Take some of the black 'dirt' and place it on a damp, white tissue. If the black dirt shows red staining then it's flea faeces. If no fleas are present, then eventually the black bits will disappear and your new feline friend will become shiny coated. Just keep brushing and caring for the cat and make sure you give it a dose of Frontline flea treatment every few months. If it is an outdoor cat then keep an eye on its coat - fine comb it every so often to keep a check on fleas returning. And well done for giving a stray cat a home!

2006-10-26 03:00:02 · answer #2 · answered by avian 5 · 0 0

Cats do get lots of flea dirt (droppings) in their fur if they have fleas.I used to bathe my stray cats after treatment, to clean the skin , as this is very irritating to a cats sensitive skin. It is also a good way to check and see if the flea treatment was effective, as left over fleas will become visible.Don't use people shampoo, there are cat shampoos available, or a mild soap solution should do.

A heavy flea infestation can leave a cat anemic, so make sure puss gets some fresh meat every day, as part of his meal.

Good luck, Anny

2006-10-26 03:04:59 · answer #3 · answered by ann c 2 · 0 0

Good job on applying the flea meds! The black stuff is called flea dirt, a.k.a. flea feces. When you apply a little water, it will turn pink or red, this is the digested blood from the flea 'bite'.

You can either wash the cat (very carefully - either with cat /kitten shampoo or with plain water), if you MUST use human shampoo, dilute it dramatically in a big water bottle and use that water vs putting shampoo directly on the animal. Human shampoo, even baby shampoo, does not have the right pH balance for pets and is very harsh, even baby shampoo. So, diluting it bunches will help, but not recommended still.

Chances are, since fleas spread tapeworms, the cat has tapeworms, or even rounds, whips, hooks, giardia. . . A fresh stool sample to the vet and they can diagnose the type of parasite, if any. BTW - tapeworm eggs show up as tiny sacs at the bum of the pet, looking like rice, inside this sack are thousands of eggs. 99% of the time, this is the way tapeworm is diagnosed and 1% of the time it shows up on a stool check. Good luck.

2006-10-26 03:04:44 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

That is definitely fleas. The same thing (black flea turds, though I never actually saw the fleas on him) happened to my outdoor cat. I tried to treat him at home, but I ultimately had to have him washed at the vet. The spray treatment didn't take so they gave me Frontline (monthly treatments) which cleared up the flea problem, gave my kitty back his soft skin, and prevented future infestations. If you are taking in a stray, you will want to bring him to the vet anyway to check for worms and the like, make sure he's in good health. Strays, if taken care of, can make wonderful, loving pets!! Whatever you do, don't use Hartz products. The chemicals they use are harmful to animals.

2006-10-26 03:03:56 · answer #5 · answered by diggity 1 · 0 0

The black dirt is flea droppings. One of the best products on the market is Revolution for Cats. It rids the cat of fleas, eggs, mites, ticks, etc. A little pricey by worth every penny. You can get it on line at a good price or at your vet. Sometime the vet will give you an extra month if you buy it from him/her.

2006-10-26 02:55:58 · answer #6 · answered by Rea 3 · 0 0

Get one of those really fine-tooth flea egg or lice combs and use it on him several times a day. We found a stray that was like that a couple years ago. It took a week or so of combing and a few flea baths. A flea collar will also help.

2006-10-26 08:02:55 · answer #7 · answered by richkaryn 2 · 0 0

The black dirt is flea feces, flea poop! Fleas suck blood, and what goes in, also comes out, so when you bathe the cat, the cat may look like its bleeding as the flea feces dissolve in water.

In addition to flea treatment, you can get rid of a lot of the fleas with a flea comb. Prepare a little dish of soapy water (liquid dish soap works very well), comb the cat with the flea comb, and then swish any fleas you catch with the comb, into the soapy water. The soapy water keeps them from climbing, jumping out of the bowl, or sneaking out any other way and returning to where you just evicted them from.
After you're done grooming the cat, dump the dish of soapy water and its fleas down the toilet and give those fleas a well deserved swirly!

You also need to treat your house for fleas, because fleas spend a lot of their time off the animal, and also because their eggs and larvae aren't on the animal. I used Eliminator Home Pest Control this year to kill fleas in the house, that was the most effective product I found at WalMart. Pet supply catalogs or veterinarians usually have products that are good, too. If you can find it, you want a product that has insect growth inhibitor/regulor in it which will keep eggs and larvae from developing. Spray everywhere, fleas will hide in between couch cushions, etc.

You will probably have to repeat spraying the house and treating the cat for fleas, as this has been the worst year for flea problems I've seen in several years, and fleas can be tough to get rid of. But keep attacking them, and you will get rid of the fleas.

Another problem you may have, is tapeworm. Fleas carry tapeworm eggs inside their bodies, when an animal grooms itself and swallows a flea, the tapeworm eggs then hatch out inside the animal. Tapeworm requires a different wormer than those used for most other worms (Droncit, which you have to get from the vet.) If you see something that looks like rice krispies on the fur under the cats tail, that is what tapeworm eggs look like when they are dried out, (I know that sounds gross, but that is exactly what they look like.)

I hope you have your cat vet checked, because often strays have ear mites too. Ear mites create a crumbly blackish looking dirt in a cat's ear, the cat may scratch the area around his ears til its bloody, and ear mites can even cause big blood blisters (hematomas) in a cat's ear, and permanent ear damage. Diagnosis and treatment of ear mites is easy. One very effective treatment for ear mites I learned from friends who managed a nokill cat shelter, was that of using a pinch of boric acid powder in the cat's ears to kill and also to prevent ear mites.

2006-10-26 03:13:37 · answer #8 · answered by TheSnakeWhisperer 3 · 0 0

ok first off a flea comb is cheap and is a good investment - when you comb the kitty have sticky tape near by and stick any fleas you find to it for disposal...
vaccuum to remove flea eggs from your home and launder any cat bedding

second- it is illegal to find and keep any stray cat.. you must remember somebody probably lost him.. You will be covered if you REPORT finding him to your local SPCA or humane society (or both in larger cities) - otherwise keeping a pet and failing to report finding it could have you charged with THEFT...
if nobody has reported him missing (for 2 weeks in most areas) THEN you can consider him as yours

2006-10-26 03:02:34 · answer #9 · answered by CF_ 7 · 0 0

Hi

Good for yout o take him in...
Now you should take him to the VET.. to make sue he does not have any of teh Stray cat common diseases.

The black could be just dirt.. or could be feces from mites, fleas
Infection.. you name it

I would think he will need a serious bath... but NOT until you see a VET because if he bites you want to know he is ok ,..right??
I mean durig a bath.. cats can get a bit unhappy.

If you ahve other pets keep him away from them until he is checked.

Good Luck
Wismom

2006-10-26 02:57:21 · answer #10 · answered by Wismom 4 · 1 0

fedest.com, questions and answers