This happened a year ago when we had to travel and leave Sophie alone for a couple of days. When we came back from our trip, we found out our cat has fleas in the most embarrassing way (to me) and I decided to tell you my story so you can learn from it. In this article, I tell my story as it happened and at the end, I make a list of the signs my cat showed at the time.
Suspecting the scratching is a food allergy
We noticed Sophie scratching her chin occasionally but didn’t pay much attention to it thinking it was normal for cats to scratch their heads sometimes. Time passed and a few days before our trip we noticed that our cat’s scratching was much more energetic and more often as well. I thought it could be some food allergy because she hadn’t taken a break from chicken for a while. This way before our trip I bought chicken-free dry cat food and a chicken-free cat canned food. We asked a neighbor to feed our cat and so we left hoping for the best.
The warning signs of fleas
When we came back from our trip and entered the house I knew something was odd with our cat. Sophie was not even waiting at the door to say “hi”, but instead, she was scratching her head, her back, and also licking her paws repeatedly, like trying to get something off her paws by her liking them. I must say that we never suspected Sophie of having fleas because we were treating her monthly with medication for fleas (I won’t mention the brand). The last straw was our Sophie losing a lot of hair due to the scratching. This fact made me decide to get an appointment with our Vet. Definitely was not a food allergy, at least to chicken.
The Vet Visit
When we arrived at the Vet and told him all about Sophie’s symptoms the first thing he did was grab a fine comb and comb the back of our cat’s neck, slowly and firmly. To our surprise, from the comb came out 3 fleas! Our poor Sophie with a serious case of fleas and we never even thought about it because we totally trusted in the treatment we had been given her. I felt so sorry for our poor baby, I felt like a horrible mom, and also embarrassed that we couldn’t figure out something like this.
The treatment
Our Vet told us that sometimes cats get a type of flea that is more resistant to treatments and the only way to eliminate them for sure is by applying the strongest medication. So he recommended we treat Sophie with Revolution. The Vet did the first application showing us how to do it. We had to apply this to Sophie for the following two months, once a month.
The results with Revolution in treating my cat’s fleas
I have to say that our cat was a new feline after we got rid of her fleas. She was much more relaxed and happy and her fur started to grow back and look much better. Get Revolution topical solution on Chewy here with free fast shipping so your cat can be free from fleas once and for all.
What we learned from this experience
The cause of Sophie having fleas was that I used to walk my cat on a leash every day and that’s how she got fleas, even when being treated with medication for it. After this experience, we decided to keep Sophie 100% indoors because it was not worth it having to apply this strong medication Revolution on her all the time. All these anti-flea medications are excellent for getting rid of the parasites, but they are still toxic to the cat’s body and I don’t think it’s healthy for felines to use this in the long term. The following two days after the Vet applied Revolution on Sophie’s neck she was quite lethargic and showed less appetite. The same behavior happened when we applied the medication in the following two months as well. I have researched this topic, and I don’t believe is recommended to apply products like this in cats with weak immune systems, senior cats, cats with a tendency to allergies, or felines that are fighting infections. I am unsure how strong my cat’s immune system is, but just in case I don’t want to bet on it.
How you can tell if your cat has fleas
To make our experience a way to help other cat owners, I made a list of the signs that our cat showed at the time:
1. Scratching constantly on her head and back
2. She was playing or dozing and suddenly turned to bite her sides.
3. Licking her paws obsessively, not in the same way when a cat is grooming himself. This licking is not relaxed, is like trying to get the fleas off the fur.
4. Hair loss in a way that is noticeable. You will find clumps of fur on the floor and a lot of cat hair on the couch.
5. After the Vet diagnosed my cat with fleas, he showed me little black specks when he opened my cat’s fur with his fingers. This is supposed to be like the flea’s poop. So if you find this, is another sign of fleas.
You need to treat the areas as well
The Vet recommended not only applying Revolution to our cat but also treating all the areas where our cat has been lying down and hanging out, which is pretty much the entire house. The trick is to kill not only the adult fleas but also the larvae that are ready to be born inside the couch, carpet, rug, etc. The Vet recommended us a spray called Knockout Spray and you need to leave the house (including your cat) for at least 3o minutes after you spray all the surfaces. Once the spray dries it won’t cause toxic effects on humans or pets. You must spray only the cloth material surfaces and not hard surfaces where the spray can’t be absorbed. If you don’t treat your home your cat will get fleas again and will be a non-ending cycle. This is the spray my Vet recommended and so far it has had great results. What I suggest is spraying and next day vacuuming the carpet to get the larvae to get to the surface where they will die faster.
I suggest you get a flea comb to find out if your cat has fleas. If he or she does, the best medication is Revolution. However, I don’t believe it’s healthy for cats to be treated with Revolution every single year. That’s just my gut feeling as a cat’s mom. To get rid of all the fleas and eggs from your home, what worked for us 100% was Virbac Knockout spray. Get Knockout spray on Chewy here and apply 9% off, with free fast shipping for over $49 purchase.
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