Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Today I discovered that my indoor only kitten (10 months old) has fleas, which undoubtably means my other cat has them too. I am reluctant to use frontline or anything along those lines on them because I know that they are essentially toxins. I'm going to go buy a flea comb tomorrow (I didn't discover the fleas until 11:30 at night, and I resisted the urge to run to the store and ge one right then). One thread mentioned bathing the cats in Dawn dish soap- will that really work? What is the best non-toxic way to get rid of them.

I also know that fleas can pass worms to cats. Do all fleas carry worms? How worried should I be that they have now transmitted worms?

Tapeworms are transmitted by fleas, but this does not mean that all fleas carry tapeworms. You can bathe the cat in soapy water to kill the fleas on her, or you can use a flea comb and swish the comb in a dish of soapy water each time you catch a flea in the comb. The real problem is that if the indoor cat has fleas, you have fleas developing in your house. At a minimum, spread borax on the carpets and upholstered furniture, places where flea larvae develop. You will need to comb the cats each day to remove fleas. If this is not working satisfactorilly, you may need to bomb the house or use Frontline on all the animals.