Flea Prevention for Cats: Even Indoors
Protect Your Indoor Cat Against Fleas & Ticks in These 5 Scenarios
Do you need flea prevention for your cat who lives indoors? The answer is: sometimes. At Grady Veterinary Hospital, we’re in the Cincinnati area, so our advice is for pets in the Midwest. We encounter five common scenarios where you’d want to consider flea and tick prevention for an indoor cat.
- Your cat shares a home with a dog
- Your home is in a wooded area
- Your human family are active outdoors
- Your home is an apartment or multi-family unit
- Sometimes, your cat goes outside
Flea Prevention for Cats Indoors Reason 1:
Shares a Home with a Dog
When your family has both a cat and a dog, then both animals need flea prevention year-round. Although your dog may be on preventatives for fleas and ticks, these pests can jump on the dog and then to your cat without first biting the dog. Pesky!
Flea Prevention for Cats Indoors Reason 2:
Home is in a Wooded Area
If your home is in a wooded area or near fields, fleas and ticks can hitch a ride inside on your clothing and shoes. Once inside, they will find your cat and make a new, parasitic home. An adult female flea can lay up to 50 eggs each day. At the end of a month, you could be facing down hundreds of fleas.
Flea Prevention for Cats Indoors Reason 3:
Owners are Active Outdoors
If you or your other human family spend a lot of time outdoors, say hiking or camping, fleas and ticks may migrate into the indoors when you come home. While you certainly do a tick-check on human hikers after your fun, it’s pretty easy to miss fleas.
Flea Prevention for Cats Indoors Reason 4:
Home is an Apartment or Multi-Family Unit
Now, this may sound strange, but it’s true! Fleas can migrate through ventilation systems from one apartment to another. We’ve seen at least one case of this happening, where an apartment was infested with fleas, but a pet didn’t even live there. The trouble was fleas in the downstairs unit. So you may consider putting your cat on flea preventative if you live in a multi-family dwelling.
Flea Prevention for Cats Indoors Reason 5:
If, Actually, Sometimes, Your Cat Goes Outdoors
If your cat lives mostly indoors but goes outside every once-in-awhile, you’ll want to protect your cat with flea and tick preventatives. We understand the appeal of taking a nice nap in the sun or exploring the yard, but your cat is also very appealing as a host for fleas and ticks. Take the worry of a flea infestation away and use flea and tick preventatives.
For more information, visit our Fleas, Ticks & Heartworm Resources. If you’d like to learn more about flea and tick prevention for your cat, contact us.