just one flea?

hi all - so in the past week i had noticed that hector was scratching a bit more frequently, so i gave him a good comb, and noticed some flea dirt (confirmed by putting it on wet paper towel - went red). so i made an appointment to take him and olivia in to the vet. i was combing him again the next day, and found a live flea. since then, i hadn't combed him, because i was a little freaked out by the flea i found (this was around wednesday). so saturday was the vet appointment, and the vet checks for flea dirt, and finds nothing. at all.

she gave us some advantage anyway, and i applied it to both cats, and then vaccuumed the entire house and threw away the bag. they're indoor cats so the vet said if there were fleas, my partner and i probably brought them in from outside on our shoes.

but my point is, i felt like such a fool that the vet couldn't find any dirt or anything. could there have only been the one flea???

Don't feel bad - fleas actually don't live on the cat, they live in the environment, and jump onto the cats (or humans) for a meal. It's common for cats to have fleas without the owner ever seeing one - you'll just the flea dirt, and your cats acting jumpy & itchy. You've done well to take them to the vet & get started on Advantage.

Cat Fleas

I was always told that for every flea on the cat, estimate at least ten in the house! They only jump on the cat to feed. so Advantage will kill them as they try to attach themselves.

thanks so much for your help. i just felt so silly, like maybe the vet didn't believe me that i had seen a flea. not that she did anything to make me feel like that. anyway, thanks!

ugh, the thought of ten more fleas somewhere....*shiver*

Don't worry - the flea killer will zap them as soon as they jump aboard.