Why Does My Indoor Cat Need Flea and Tick Prevention?

I recently wrote an article about fleas. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you can read it right here.

Fleas can be quite a problem, so it is a good idea to keep all of your pets on preventative all year round. Though you may do so with your outside cats and dogs, the truth is that your indoor cat needs to be on it too. Here are some reasons why.

Fleas are nothing more than a nuisance, especially to some pets. There are many pets that are extremely sensitive to fleas and even one flea can irritate them to no end. While they may be itching like crazy and you would think that they would have fleas crawling all over them, you might not even see the flea (or fleas) that caused that reaction.

They can also be overwhelming for your home. Fleas can lay up to fifty eggs a day, which means that you can have a flea infestation in your home in just a few days! Most people would rather treat their pets than have to deal with getting fleas inside their home.

Once you have fleas in your home, you may spend a few months trying to get rid of them. As you treat your home, you will have to repeat treatment multiple times to get rid of all of the life stages of the fleas!

You need to treat your indoor cat because your dogs may bring the fleas in your home (and to your indoor cat)! The most common way for fleas to come into your home (and get on your inside cats) is by riding on your dog (or another cat that goes both in and out).

Even if your dog or outside cats are on preventative, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it will kill them right away. Though some are helpful at repelling fleas and ticks, the truth is that many won’t get killed until they bite your other pets.

You and your family can also bring fleas into your home. They can hang on people and come right into your home, where they look for an ideal environment to live in (which would be your indoor cats). They can jump right on your clothing and shoes and jump right on your cats when you bring them into your home!

If you have a rodent problem, your indoor cat may be exposed to fleas that way. Mice and rats can bring fleas into your home, where they may decide that they would prefer to live on your cats instead of the rodents.

If you take your indoor cat to the veterinarian or groomer, he or she may be exposed to fleas while they are there. This should give you even more reasons to make sure that you keep your cats up to date on flea and tick prevention.

You may also expose your indoor cats to fleas when you move into a new home. Many people move into new homes, especially apartment buildings and find themselves dealing with a huge flea problem right away!

If you want to keep your pets as safe as possible, everyone in the household should be on prevention for fleas and ticks all year round! Even your cat that doesn’t go outside can be exposed to fleas, because you and your other pets can bring them in. You may also expose your pets to fleas when you take them to the veterinarian and the groomer. You may even find out that you have fleas when you move into a new home!

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Previously published on Medium and/or Newsbreak.