The Dreaded F-Word: Ivy's Experience with Fleas

Welcome to the Wednesday Cats of Catster! Every week, we share a story from one of our cat-loving Catsters. This week is about Crystal and her soul cat, Ivy.

The last time we spoke, I shared some of my favorite memories of Ivy during her first couple of months with us.

This week, I wanted to touch on one of my not-so-favorite memories: Ivy’s flea infestation.

Have you ever seen one of those buggers up close in one of those extremely zoomed-in images? Those things are straight out of a nightmare! And, very difficult to get rid of.

Ivy is a rescue kitty, and seeing as though she was still a kitten when she was given up, she didn’t have any vaccinations and wasn’t spayed. As I’ve mentioned before, she got her vaccinations, and was fixed before I picked her up.

It honestly never occurred to me that her previous family wouldn’t have given her tick or flea medication, either, but it should have!

One morning, I awoke and had some cuddle time with Ivy in bed. She was sitting on my chest purring away, and all was well.

That’s when I spotted it. A tiny black fleck moved across her little white chest. I initially thought it was just a speck of dirt, but upon closer inspection, I saw that it was definitely moving. I parted her fur and surprise, surprise: there were more!

Also worth mentioning here is that since we got her, she was very energetic and did strange things. Some things in particular stood out and made more sense upon my flea discovery.

In the previous days, she would scratch herself against every surface in the house. She would be laying calmly, sleeping soundly, and then suddenly wake up, ferociously lick herself and start darting around. What seemed like normal, kitten behavior at first (which I’m sure some of it was), actually was her trying to rid herself of the itching the fleas caused. Knowing what signs to look out for when it comes to your cat having fleas is very important!

Panic mode ensued. She had been on every surface in the house by then, exploring and snoozing on the couch and in bed with us.

I immediately went to our local pet store and got the necessary supplies to get rid of these horrible little critters.

She got flea and tick medication, and within a couple of hours, the fleas were dying off. I could literally pick them out of her fur with a tweezer—which I did—and she was already acting calmer.

It hadn’t occurred to me to check her fur when I first got her because I was just so overwhelmed by the excitement that the thought didn't even cross my mind. I felt horrible for a while about it, knowing that she was probably extremely uncomfortable and itchy, and we didn’t do anything to help sooner.

After the flea-bus (Ivy) was treated, it was time to tackle the rest of the house. I put everything she had touched in the washing machine and disinfected all of the surfaces, including the couch and the bed. My skin was crawling at this point, and it felt like the fleas had infested me, too!

After scrubbing the house, myself, and medicating Ivy, things calmed down. For the next couple of days after that, Ivy had her fur parted and checked hundreds of times a day until, eventually, there were no more signs of fleas, including the poo and the dead ones.

It was also evident that she was much more comfortable, and she no longer jumped up when sleeping or scratched herself against surfaces as often. I told Ivy to please speak up next time something was wrong, and she replied with silence. As expected.

PSA to all cat owners, new ones and seasoned ones: check your cat for fleas regularly, be consistent with their tick and flea medication, and don’t ignore behavior you think is even a little bit out of the ordinary.

If the fleas remain untreated, it can lead to serious health problems and even death for your kitty. Fleas can also be harmful to humans and carry some diseases.

In this case, it’s absolutely better to be safe than sorry.

Have you ever had to deal with a flea infestation? I sure hope not, but feel free to share your story with us if you have!

Thanks for reading, Catsters! We’ll catch you next time on Catster.com!

CHECK YOUR CAT FOR FLEAS!

Okay, bye!