Cat Fleas: How do you tell if your cat has them?

Question

How do you know if your cat has fleas? How can cats get fleas? My friend thinks my cat might have them but she doesn't go outside much. Maybe once every three or four days. And she doesn't go far from our step. She rubs on the ground though. Could she get them from that?

Answer 1

My cat doesn't go outside at all and she got fleas. It sounds to me like your cat has fleas. Go to your vet and ask to have the cat checked. The vet will most likely give you Frontline Plus For Cats. It works very well. My cat got fleas about a month ago and they are basically gone. You just apply a little tube of this oil to the cats neck and it works. You do this every month for six months. This ensures that your cats fleas are completely gone.

Answer 2

Fleas hitch a ride in on our pant legs or shoes sometimes, so even totally indoor cats can get fleas occasionally.

Best way to tell is to get a really fine toothed comb and comb the head/shoulder area of the cat, and then comb the area over the hips. Do two or three strokes in one of these areas, stop and pull the fur off the comb and look for moving fleas or small grains of black 'sand'. The grains are flea poop, which is dried blood they've digested and excreted. If you rub these between wet fingers it'll turn red, a sure sign that it's flea dirt.

Moving fleas, well you'll know if you have them. Kill the flea immediately before it jumps away. Easiest way to do this is to break the flea head/thorax off completely, or to shove the flea into a glob of vasoline where it will suffocate.

Some cats only get a few fleas, some get infested with a lot.

Answer 3

Someone told me this, run a flea comb through the area at the base of the tail, and under the armpits, I'm guessing groin area too, if you pick up fleas then you have fleas, if you pick up black stuff, wet it to see if it turns red, if it does this is flea dirt, digested blood, and you have fleas. My cat had so many I actually saw a few run across her belly when she rolled over. Inside cats can get fleas, you could bring one in. You say your cat goes out every few days, that's plenty of opportunity to get fleas. My cat only went out on the front porch and she had loads of them. You might want to put advantage on your cat if it goes outside. EDIT if it turns out your cat has fleas you are going to have to treat your house as well, because there definitely would be eggs and fleas in the house.

Answer 4

yeah they can get them without even going outside, just from siting in windows, or we can bring them in the house too without knowing it, especially near the beach.

actually, the best way to tell is by taking your cat over somewhere white..like the bathroom sink, and combing or shaking out their fur. if they have fleas dried blood (actually the flea poop) will come out in little tiny flakes. it is very dark, but once it hits a wet sink, it will turn in to watery little blood spots. then you will know for sure. just itching and scratching alone don't mean they have fleas. they could have a skin condition. and i would also suggest advantage flea medicine. put it on the back of the neck once a month and no fleas. kitty will be happy! and your home will be flea free!

Answer 5

Check deep in her fur, especially around the head and neck and the belly. Even if you don't see fleas you might see 'flea dirt' (droppings) which looks like pepper ground into the fur. In the wild, fleas hide in leaf litter, mulch or anything with numerous crevices and some moisture. Once inside they can set up in your capets, upholstery, or wooden floors. If in doubt it's best to treat the cat for fleas; they can carry tapeworm and Bartonella, aside from being just annoying and gross. And if you get enough fleas in the house, they'll start biting people.

Answer 6

Unless your furry friend is in a sealed environment she can get fleas. Some cats are not allergic to the bites and show few symptoms, maybe some flea dirt. Others are allergic and look like they have mange and nasty bloody welts on their necks. If in doubt always go to the vet. Advantage does wonders.

Answer 7

They will scratch a lot and you will notice scabs especially around the neck. Fleas don't care about species, color, gender or creed they want blood. They are black or red when they have consumed blood and are about the size of a pin head or smaller. If a stray cat with fleas walked by your door one could have jumped off and jumped onto you or your cat. If your cat goes outside get them flea treatment especially in summer.

Answer 8

You will see that the cat will start to scarth him or she hair then you will soon find out that he or she has flea's and then you will take him to the docter or do the hot bath to kill the flea's. Email me if it works [e-mail] see ya also keep him inside if you want him to not have flea's.

Answer 9

its possible she has them. you can usually see them b/c they're black and pretty big and easy to spot. if you want to be really sure you can check over your cat really well and take it to the vet.