Kitten Care

Fighting Fleas

If you own a cat that goes outside at all then chanches are you have had to deal with fleas already.

You're sitting in your favorite spot on the couch with your cat by your side. Then all of the sudden, you feel an itching sensation around your ankles. You scratch a few times, but this irritating feeling just persists. You look down and see little dark dots just bouncing around. Guess what? Your precious kitty has brought a present into your home, fleas! But wait a minute, you are diligent about treating your family pet for fleas. After all, you struggle with your ornery cat when it comes to baths, flea collars and topical flea treatments. What is the deal with all these hopping pesky critters nipping at your ankles?

Unless your cat is strictly an indoor family feline, chances are it has brought those fleas right inside from the outside! Even if it is an indoor cat you may have picked up the little buggers in your travels and brought them home yourself as a kinda present for your cat. Your first course of action is to treat your yard with insecticide to kill any fleas and larvae. However, that outside treatment alone is not going to eradicate those fleas inside your home. See, what happens is that these adult fleas drop off your pet and burrow into the carpet. The same goes for any flea eggs, pupae or larvae. These critters will lie in your carpet, seat cushions, slipcovers and bedding until such time that their eggs hatch and are ready to hop onto some unsuspecting victim. You have to not only treat for those adult fleas but also get those eggs as well before they hatch.

The first step and perhaps the most important in fighting these fleas is your vacuum cleaner. Consistent vacuuming is a great way to get rid of a lot of the adult fleas as well as the eggs, pupae and larvae in your carpet, bedding and really, anything else that can be vacuumed. Be sure to vacuum the areas where you cat sleeps and lounges the most. Also be sure to get into the cracks and crevices of the floorboards and corners of rooms. The key to a successful vacuum session is making sure to replace your vacuum cleaner bag regularly so that those eggs don't hatch and escape to other parts of your home. By sealing your vacuum cleaner bag inside of a plastic bag, you can ensure that those fleas will not escape.

The next step in eradicating the fleas from your home is the use of flea insecticides. These chemical treatments can be in the form of powders, sprays and foggers. In some instances, depending on the flea infestation, you might have to use a combination of products to get the desired effect you want. In regards to powders, this would be a treatment that you shake and work into your carpet. By allowing the powder to settle into the carpet fibers, it can penetrate down into the matting below. This speeds up any flea eggs into hatching, where you can then vacuum up the little critters, thus ridding yourself of even more fleas.

With sprays, flea control is short term. Flea spray really just kills the adult fleas and does not affect the eggs, pupae or larvae. Foggers can be messy and a trial to work with. You have to vacate your home for several hours or even up to overnight, depending on the amount of treatment you have to conduct. Some foggers leave a residue on the surfaces in your home. You have to take special care and put away any food products and relocate your fish tank or bird cages.

Be sure to get every single area in your home that your cat visits. Also concider that you will have to get in the closet, garage, and maybe even the basement. Any place your cat may have traveled to in your house has the potential of harboring fleas so a total sweep of your house will be nessary to eradicate the fleas.

It is important to note that successful flea eradication stems from a combination of several treatments. Vacuuming should always be the first step in the treatment process. Then the sprays, foggers and powders are the next step. After the application of these chemical treatments, you should vacuum again. This treatment cycle rarely works the first time. You may have to complete the cycle two or more times before most of the fleas are gone. You know when you've been successful because you will be able to sit with your cat on the couch without being nibbled on by fleas!

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Fighting Fleas

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