Fleas?

[ldg]

Charlie killed a mouse that made the mistake of finding its way into his foster area Tuesday night. He chewed on it, I found it Wed AM. How likely is it that he's got fleas and/or round worm from this?

He's not due for another Revolution treatment for another week, but because of the problem we've had with his diarrhea, his poop was tested 3 times and each time came back as parasite-free....

Now of course I'm worried about round worm... but I also noticed he's itching and scratching a lot. He definitely had ticks before we brought him inside, but the vet (at that time) saw no fleas.

Never having had a cat with fleas other than I assume the outside ferals... would we see any signs of fleas other than the itching and scratching? It hasn't been 48 hours yet, but I have no idea how the process works.

Food Grade DE is on the way.... wait for it to get here and treat the place with it and feed it to him... anything else I should do in the meantime? Clean and boil his brush? Buy a flea collar and put it in the vacuum and vacuum the place? And definitely give him the Revolution when it's due...

But my most basic question is - how likely is that he has fleas now?

Because of the timing, I assume that's it, but we've also been slowly transitioning him from his chicken and rice diet to cat food, and I'm also wondering if maybe he's allergic to something in the food - the cat food is now about 50/50 of his diet.

???????????????????????

Thanks!

 

[strange_wings]

It could be the food. What's the food?

It never hurts to vacuum, it's simple enough. I'd give him a thorough flea combing if he'd allow it.
Washing brushes and combs from time to time is a good idea anyways - I usually toss mine in the dishwasher.

iirc you could probably go ahead and give that Revolution now or in a couple of days. It starts to wear off towards the end of the month dose. Double check with your vet if you want.

If he ate any of the mouse, he could get round worms. If he just made a mess of it, he might not have picked any up.

Is this the first mouse to wander in? Or do they come in fairly often? Usually mice will avoid a heavily cat scented area unless something makes them come into it, such as toxoplasmosis.

 

[ldg]

I was wrong - he's due for the Revolution anyway. Put it on him today. We vacuum over there anyway, but today picked up some flea collars to cut up and put in the vacuum. DEFINITELY do not want to bring anything back here!

We'll see....

In the Winter we've had problems with mice over there when we don't get over there regularly, but it hasn't been an issue for several months. Must have been a straggler.

...and hopefully he just made a mess of it. And if he ate any of it... well... hopefully the Revolution will do its job.

Thanks for the answer though.

 

[lovewhiskers]

Before we put our kitties on Revolution ( a few years ago), our vet used to check for fleas by combing them and looking for flea poop in the hair that came off. She told us it looks like black specs.

Marina

 

[ldg]

Thanks - we'll have to get a flea comb.

 

[ryffian]

Definitely dose with the Revolution (I love that stuff). If there are any fleas on him they'll die and fall off (you'll see them, don't worry - a dead flea is a good flea!).

As was mentioned before, you can run a flea comb through his hair and tap it over a white surface (paper tower, whatever) and if you see little black specks that turn red-ish when you drip some water on them, fleas have been on your cat.

One other thing to be on the look-out for would be tapeworms. Cats get tapeworms from eating rodents and fleas. They're generally not harmful for the cat, but seeing the little segments stuck around their rear end is gross.

 

[strange_wings]

^The more common type of tapeworm only comes from ingesting fleas, not the worms or segments directly.


And you mean to say you don't already have a flea comb around?

I thought all of us that have half a dozen cats or more had a flea come or two laying around. I have two - the cheapie comb without a handle and another nicer one with a nice rubberized handle. I do regular checks on everyone with them and will also use the comb as a smooth out comb after grooming the cats with the furminator. Personally, I think it makes my sleeker DSHs fur look nice.

There's another method for finding fleas on cats but it relies on you having been around cats for a long time, knowing where to check (feel), and knowing how to feel something as small as a flea in a cat's fur. I frequently check whenever they're laying on me, they think they're getting a neck message.

 

[ldg]

Amazingly, we've never had to deal with fleas before! They always went to the vet before they went anywhere else, and always treated with Advantage (Revolution didn't exist when we started). We did have to do the round worm meds when fostering - usually panacur.

Ticks have always been a problem with the ferals - but I guess fleas just aren't really a problem around here. ???? Tapeworm - we've encountered one cat out of close to a 100 that had tapeworm. I guess we feed the ferals well enough they don't eat what they kill. ???? In fact - I've never seen them hunting anything other than bugs - and that's only when they're young

. The one cat that had tapeworm was a hunter though - she'd leave dead mice at the door from time-to-time.

 

[strange_wings]

If you're going by fecals, tapes rarely show up in them. You'd probably have to collect half a dozen full stool samples before you'd see a piece of tape from a cat with only a modest load. I think this is why people can have cats for months, no fleas, and suddenly discover tapeworms.

But, if there's no fleas around to play the part of the cycle, chances of tapeworms goes down dramatically. If you use a broad spectrum dewormer that takes care of tapes, too, on the new kitties you're likely wiping those out without even knowing they're there.

Here strays always have tapes... of course they always have fleas, too.

You're lucky to never have to deal with flea issues.

BTW, I prefer my flea comb with the handle. It's much easier to use and the teeth are in there better.

 

[ldg]

How soon would I be seeing dead fleas after applying revolution? He seems to be scratching less - but I don't see any signs of dead fleas or flea dirt on his bedding or any of favorite places to hang out... ?????? (Still haven't gotten out to get a flea comb LOL).

 

[ryffian]

Within an hour of applying Revolution, a cat with fleas will get all "extra itchy" and you'll see dying/dead fleas around where they've been laying. If you still haven't seen any, I'd say you're more or less home free as far as getting rid of any fleas is concerned.

 

[ldg]

We had him at the vet yesterday for his distemper, and she proclaims he doesn't have fleas. He's also not itching much anymore - must have just been a passing coincidence - but given we haven't changed his food, I doubt now that it's allergies.

...as he can't tell us what was up, I guess we'll never know.

 

[strange_wings]

It could have been one flea that hitch hiked in on you. In the past, I've picked up a flea (not in my yard) and been bitten - I know it was a flea because I grabbed it off of me. Of all the biting insects fleas are the only ones that cause any really itchy bite reaction in me, it makes me itch like crazy and not just at the bite - just like a cat that's sensitive to flea bites.