Cat Flea and Tick Infestation
Fleas are common parasites in the Naples/Bonita Springs area that affect both indoor and outdoor cats. So whether your feline companion has free roam of a yard in Golden Gate, or remains primarily confined to a condo in Estero, he or she is highly susceptible to flea infestation. Flea preventatives that can be applied to the skin on a monthly basis or once every 3 months are readily available and highly recommended to prevent fleas affecting your cat’s life.
As the adult fleas suck blood from the cat’s skin, it can become very itchy. As a result of the intense scratching, many cats develop redness, hair loss and a possible secondary bacterial skin infection. In cats, we most often observe the moving 1-2mm black bugs around the head and neck area. A flea comb can be useful to identify live fleas on your cat as well as ‘flea dirt,’ which resembles black flecks that, when moistened on a paper towel, take on a red like appearance as the flea feces consist of digested blood.
Cats with access to the outdoors are at high risk of tick exposure. When a tick attaches itself to the skin to obtain a blood meal, it creates an opportunity for blood-borne viruses to be transmitted during the feeding process. Tick preventatives don’t always prevent ticks from jumping onto our cats, but they reduce the amount of time that a tick is able to draw a blood meal, thereby reducing the amount of time needed for transmission of diseases to occur. The use of topical tick preventatives for outdoor cats is of the utmost importance.
At Town & Country Animal Hospital, we offer a variety of options to prevent and treat cat flea and infestation, as well as preventative carefor and management of many other diseases and issues, including dog flea and tick infestation and cat ear infections.
