How To Detect Fleas On Your Cat

By | January 28, 2021
How to Detect Fleas on Your Cat

Fleas are a very irritating problem that our furry feline friends have to face. Even with the tiny size, fleas are enough potential to bring wreaking havoc into our feline friend’s life. Fleas are active insects that can cause severe itching and inflammation to pets and their owners as well. Fleas feed on blood and jump onto other pets and hide into their skin fur deeply, where they can bite and ingest blood without getting caught. Once your feline friend gets infested, they grow exponentially in numbers if not treated well.

That is why it is important to check regularly for flea symptoms in order to detect and eliminate the infestation at its starting phase.

Before we go through symptoms of fleas, have a look at how a cat gets fleas. It will make easier to prevent flea infestation.

How Cat Gets Infested By Fleas

  • Cats can get fleas while they are outside, from a flea jump.
  • Fleas can also jump to our clothes and land onto our pet’s fur.
  • While in close contact with other pets or animals, the chances of getting adult fleas are very high.

It may sound surprising that how easily our feline friends can get fleas. There is one thing crucial to remember; it is easy to get rid of fleas by following a flea preventive or treatment routine. If you do this, it will help prevent flea infestation as your cat’s flea treatments will wipe off fleas before they grow in numbers.

Every Pet parent loves to spend time with their feline friend. By spending regular time it is easy to figure out physical and behavioral changes. These changes indicate that something is bothering or irritating your feline friend.

Moreover, here are the few common symptoms to look out that can help you detect the presence of fleas on your Cat.

Intense Scratching And Biting

Scratching is the most common way to detect fleas. It can make a cat feel irritated and itchy. But, scratching, biting, and licking are the part of their grooming process, so it isn’t always an indication of a flea presence. However, excessive scratching done by cats to get relief from itchiness is a sign of potential fleas.

Behavioral Change

Most of the time, it is easy to speck fleas jumping and crawling on and off your cat. On odd occasions, you may see your cat feeling uncomfortable, agitated, and doing excessive scratching and biting on certain spots of the body. Shaking head and scratching ears frequently is an additional sign of fleas on your cat.

Loss Of Hair And Skin Infection

If your cat is biting and scratching themselves excessively, it will lead your cat to have hair loss or skin infection. It may be a sign of serious flea infestation. If it happens, consult your veterinarian.  An additional condition FAD – Flea Allergy Dermatitis is the cause of hair loss and skin infection in cats. This condition can affect both pets and people. If you and your cat are sensitive to flea saliva, the body could have an allergic response such as a rash that is itchy and irritating.

Dark Brown Spots In Your Cat’s Coat Or Bedding

You can easily know if your cats have fleas by looking at their bedding or fur for flea dirt in the form of dark brown spots. Flea dirt is the feces of fleas composed of undigested blood from your cat. Most commonly, it appears on the cat’s neck and rump area, and may you have some of these spots on your cat’s brush or comb. Consider this flea dirt as evidence of flea presence on your cat.

Change Of Gums Color

A cat with a change of normal pink color gums into pale pink or white may have a severe flea infestation. Also, it can be one of the signs of Anemia. This takes place when the loss of red blood cells is more compared to the newly produced red blood cells. Regular checking of your pet’s gum health will help you detect the problems in the early stages and can be treated easily. This is a condition that cannot heal itself; we recommend consulting a vet if it occurs.

If you notice any of these symptoms don’t wonder about the presence of the fleas on your cat. It is the right time to get vet advice and start treating your cats for their well-being, and happy lives.