Found a friendly stray cat with fleas. Help?

Question

Yesterday I found a stray cat and she is the sweetest thing ever. She's in need of attention, and I really want to keep her, but I'm going to wait a week to see if any lost posters come up. I found small fleas on her and I was wondering if they could easily get onto my clothing and into my house if I pet her. I've heard a lot of about fleas infesting the house and I'm kind of paranoid that I'll bring it inside with me. (I'm going to bring her to the vet and give her Frontline in case nobody claims her, but I don't want to spend the $ if she is somebody else's cat already)
Can anyone give me helpful advice? Also how much does deworming and frontline and all that stuff cost?

sorry i forgot to state this, but i didn't let the cat into my house yet. she has just been sitting in front of my door since yesterday

Answer 1

A 3 month supply of Frontline at my vet costs $35. Rabies shot $10. Worming $12. Sometimes it's cheaper if you get it all done at once. Plan on $50 for her 1st visit to the vet. Also, she will need to be spayed ASAP if she's not already. That's $65. I got the whole package done at once and it came to $90 + cost of Frontline. Call around to vets to check prices. You can give her a bath in Dawn dishwashing liquid right now if you can get her into the bathroom. Dawn will kill her fleas. Be prepared for a fight if you give her a bath! Don't wait too long to get her to the vet. If no one calls you in a couple of days go ahead and get her seen about.

Answer 2

Fleas are what come with summer, and not all cats get them. Some taste bad to the fleas, some seem to be flea magnets.

Advantage is $10 a dose from the vet (if you buy it at the store you have to buy a multipack, they don't divide them up). It goes on the back of the cat's head near the shoulders, so the cat can't lick it off. We've found that even in a hot summer (flea weather) one dose lasts close to two months before fleas show up again, so you don't have to dose every month. The less the better, as this is a pesticide you're putting on them.

The fleas start dying within 3 hours and are supposed to be all dead within 24 hours. I've found that it could take up to 2 days before all the fleas are dead and fallen off. That's ok though. Dead is dead, and the ones that lasted 2 days were not moving very much at the end of day 1.

If the cat has flea dirt on her (comb her, you can tell with little tiny bits of dark dirt come up) then she's got a good amount of fleas on her, so she should be treated. A thin toothed comb is the best way to check a cat for both fleas and flea dirt.

Flea eggs need moisture in the air to hatch. If you worry about the home, a dehumidifier can get the air dry enough that the eggs dry out and die. Once a hard frost happens outside usually flea season is pretty much done till the next spring. Unless you live in the south and don't get hard frosts or snow.

Deworming is pretty standard. The vet looks at a poop sample to see which parasites to treat for and recommends the right medication. Less than $20 I've found.

Answer 3

You should take her to the vet and ask if the cat has any abnormalities or some infections and ask if they could clean her completely or bring her to a pet store and ask for a clean there. All of the deworming and frontline stuff could cost you about 100 dollars or less because frontline is pretty expensive. I suggest just get a shampoo that kills fleas and ticks. I use that shampoo on my dog and it works. She will only catch fleas if she goes outside.

Answer 4

Haha good luck with trying to give it a bath. I'd just apply the flea medicine. Frontline Plus is expensive, but an excellent product for removing fleas and ticks. Some of the less expensive products aren't even worth the money because they don't work.

Answer 5

Well, first off: She's probably not going to be claimed. So you've got yourself a new cat.

As for fleas...your house is probably already infested, just by having her there overnight. You need to start a monthly flea prevention (NOT Frontline, it doesn't work and our clinic doesn't bother selling it anymore. The only product that currently works for felines is Revolution. It also protects against heartworm, will treat earmites and roundworms, and kills fleas) and make sure to do it EVERY MONTH. As long as you're regular with it, the fleas in your house will die off on their own without having to have the place sprayed. If you have other pets, they also need to be on flea prevention, or you're wasting your time.

You're probably looking at about $50 for just the exam, deworming and deflea-ing....our clinic is $30 for an exam (free exam with vaccinations, which you will want to get ASAP), vaccinations about $20 for rabies, Feline Leukemia, and the feline 5-in-1. Revolution is about $13 a dose. Deworming is extremely inexpensive...$10 at most, probably. You probably will also want to have her tested for Feline Leukemia, which is a $30 test.

Answer 6

It's expensive to have it all done at the vet, but I'm sure she'd be worth it. After she's all cleaned up, keep her inside. I drove 1,500 miles to pick up a kitty I found on a ranch in Western Colorado! She needs to get to the vet right away. Fleas can infest your house and make kitty very sick. If she belonged to someone else (which I doubt) they weren't taking good care of her anyway. Claim her as your own.

Answer 7

You will need to spray your house and treat the kitty with adavantage or other treatment. You can also wash her with dawn soap and that will help kill her fleas but can be upsetting to her. I have 3 cats and lots of flea treatment and spray. Its hard to get rid of them once you've got them but you can get rid of them. cost differs but i pay like 22 for a tiny bottle that lasts a few months

Answer 8

First wash it with a flea shampoo. Have someone help you hold the cat down when washing.