Our cats often serve as "meals on wheels" for fleas, ticks, worms, and other parasites. Unchecked infestations of fleas can cause anemia, and can be fatal, particularly to kittens. Fleas also carry "hitchhikers," subjecting your cat to tapeworms or Haemobartonellosis.
Ticks are in a class of their own, sometimes carrying deadly diseases.
Learn the steps you can take to keep these parasites from preying on your cats.
1. Don't Flee the Flea!
Photo Credit: © iStockphoto.com/Copyright: Carolina K. Smith,M.D.
Fleas are nasty little buggers that like nothing better than a feast at your cat's expense. The fact that they often leave "gratuities" in the form of tapeworms and other parasites makes them dangerous as well as annoying.
If you have a bad flea infestation in a multiple-cat household, you've probably been bitten yourself by these voracious feeders, and you may even have seen them hopping through your carpeting. (Did you know a flea can jump 33 cm. in one leap - over a foot?) I'm here to tell you - cat flea control is not only possible, it's relatively easy.
2. Flea Control Products for Cats and Natural Flea Defense
Gone are the days when a flea collar was the standard "cure" for fleas on cats.
Topical cat flea control products work by affecting the nerve receptors of the flea. They are usually applied to the cat's skin at the back of the neck, and are collected in the cat's hair follicles, from which the product is slowly released. Topical flea control products are relatively safe, effective, and easy to use, provided you closely follow the label instructions. The EPA closely monitors these products, and I scrupulously follow their guidelines with my recommendations.
For consumers reluctant to use chemical products on their cats, there are also a number of natural flea control products available now.
3. Safely Remove a Tick From a Cat
Photo Credit: © iStockPhoto/David Parsons
