Expert: Jessica - 10/14/2009

Question
My 3 month old cat has fleas and so I submerged his body in water for a while to drown them out, and plucked out the ones that I could from his head. I doubt this flea and tick spray is working. Is what I'm doing effective?

Answer
Hi Anna.  Flea and tick spray can help treat fleas around the house, but it's vitally important to put a safe topical flea treatment in your kitten as well.  I must stress SAFE.  The only topical products that I can personally support as safe are Advantage, Frontline and Revolution (Revolution is by prescription only).  I don't feel others that are considered "safe" by the Environmental Protection Agency quite cut it.  These products are generally less expensive, but as always, you get what you pay for.  They cause more application site reactions and are far more likely to cause serious toxicity-related symptoms, including convulsions or even death, if licked off.  For liability reasons, I won't mention the brand names here, but if it's not one of the three I mentioned above, I wouldn't use it.

Once one of these products is applied, you shouldn't bathe the kitty.  Within 24-48 hours, depending on the product you use, your kitten should be completely flea free.  During the first day or so, it may appear that your kitten has MORE fleas.  This is because the fleas' nervous systems are being affected by the flea treatment.  Rather than staying close to the skin, hidden under the fur, the fleas begin coming to the surface of the hair, where they will fall off and die.

These treatments need to be applied monthly to keep the kitten free of fleas.  I would recommend to continue using a flea powder or spray around the house, and vacuum as much as possible.  Recent studies suggest this is the single most important step in keeping your home flea free once a treatment is applied to pets.  This is more important than using a powder or spray.  Additionally, wash any bedding your kitten lies on in hot water to kill flea eggs, and try to clean hard flooring with a bleach and water mixture where possible.

In case you're wondering, I don't really recommend flea shampoos as the primary treatment for fleas because they don't tend to have a lasting effect.  They can kill fleas on the pet, but fleas jump back on just a couple days later.  Additionally, they often contain ingredients that are not as safe as Frontline, Advantage and Revolution.  And flea collars are pretty ineffective.  They can protect the head and neck area but rarely keep fleas off the rest of the body, and skin irritation under the collar is extremely common.

I hope you are rid of these pesky and dangerous parasites soon!

Jessica