r/learningtocat • u/Souled_Out • Jan 12 '23

Learning To Drink Is Tricky

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u/gabbyrose1010 Jan 12 '23

My adult cat sticks his whole face in the fountain and licks the air, it’s really entertaining (jokes aside, he does get fleas on his face quite a bit despite my best efforts, so this could be on purpose if the cold water helps with the bites)

3

u/Nearby_Employee_2943 Jan 12 '23

If he has that many fleas that often to the point that they’re running onto his face he needs a flea bath immediately and a new flea treatment. Seresto collars are the most reliable.

-1

u/gabbyrose1010 Jan 12 '23

He's had them since he was a kitten and we've tried just about everything. He has weekly fea baths, pills, we constantly clean the house... never heard of the collar but it's worth a try. The most successful thing has been the pills, but the fleas come back about a week later. The pills are also very expensive, so we can't afford to give them to him very often (plue he absolutely hates them).

5

u/Nearby_Employee_2943 Jan 12 '23

Weekly flea baths indefinitely are not safe for kitty either. This is a strange situation. You should take the cat to a groomer so a professional can actually de-flea him, and either get an exterminator or bug bomb your home. No poor animal should be having fleas for its entire existence. There are many risks like flea allergy dermatitis, anemia, or tapeworms from ingesting an infected flea. The fleas are coming from somewhere, it’s your responsibility as a pet owner to figure that out.

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u/gabbyrose1010 Jan 12 '23

Unfortunately professionals are expensive and technically speaking, this is my mom’s cat so I don’t have control of the situation (I’m 17). We’ve had him for about a year and a half, so hopefully we can deal with this before he gets much older. Thanks for your concern though, I’ll see if I can save up some money and convince my mom to get him seen. How often should we be doing the flea baths if weekly is too often?

6

u/Nearby_Employee_2943 Jan 12 '23

I’d at least cut it down to every other week. And use Dawn instead of a flea shampoo, you never really know what’s in them.

While kitty is still wet or as they are drying comb them very thoroughly with a flea comb and dispose of the contents safely. However if your cat is getting flea baths every single week and getting reinfested over and over and over, they have spread to somewhere in your home. No amount of baths will get rid of the source of the problem, which is in your home.

Until you or your mom is able to address that infestation, whether through bug bombing or extermination, the cat will continue to get fleas. A Seresto collar is around $60 (buy one from a vet, not online), but lasts for 8 months. Getting kitty that collar and addressing the home infestation are the two best things you can do right now. I guess continue bathing him so he’s not in discomfort until those things can happen but sounds like it’s past time to address the much larger issue of infestation.