The Home Improvement Blog

We all want out cats to have that “just walked out of a pet portrait” look, with shiny coat and bight eyes. But it is an unavoidable truth that our little heroes will, on occasion, pick up fleas. Spring is a time of year when they become susceptible to infestations, but with the milder winters we’re having, cats can be affected all year round with this problem. In some cats it can also become quite serious, causing an allergic reaction or transmitting disease.

The problem can grow quite quickly as well. In only six months, 200 fleas will have become 10,000!

To stop a flea problem becoming an infestation you need to treat your cat and it’s surrounding area. So what treatments are available to you?

Types of treatment

The treatments to choose from are; spot-on remedies, collars, ‘electric shock’ combs, sprays and tablets. The one that suits you will largely depend on you and your cat:

Collars impregnated with insecticide offer an easy way to treat your cat offering protection up to four weeks. If you cat normally wears a collar, this can be a good option, but not all cats (or owners) are comfortable using collars on cats.

Spot-on treatments require the owner to place a few drops of the liquid directly onto the skin of the cat, usually at the back of the neck to stop the cat licking off the medicine. This provides a very effective treatment plus on-going protection from fleas for up to 5 weeks, though it can be a two man job on some cats. One of the most effective is Frontline Spot-On but, like all contact medicines, you will need to make sure you get the correct type, as there is a version for cats and another for dogs. Cats can be poisoned by owners who administer the dog formula on their cat!

Electronic combs emit an electric shock to kill fleas on contact. You will need to be thorough with the comb and it can miss the eggs, so you’ll have to continue the process for it to work. A slight buzzing noise might also put off some cats.

Sprays are inexpensive, but cats need to be over 3 months or over before it’s used on them. It can also be quite difficult to treat your cat thoroughly.

Tablets are a very quick and thorough way of ridding fleas on your cat, but not everyone is as good as the vet at administering the pills!

Rob Tyrrell is pet owner that specialises in pet portraits. To commission a pet portraits from photos, go to his web site at www.robtyrrell-petportraits.co.uk.

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