Fleas ??

[AlleyCat]

Hey there, we noticed about 2 weeks ago that Abby had an icky scab on her back. Vet looked at it and said it was not infected, but gave us ointment anyway. A couple days ago, we noticed Onyx and Cleo have scabs too. And today, we see that Millie does too! At first it was our assumption that Millie was picking on the other 3 girls (she can be crabby and does bite, we have to work at keeping her away from the others) But now that we see that Millie has scabs, we told the vet and he said "maybe fleas" .. I hesitate to give them meds for fleas if I don't know this for sure. I have NO idea where they would have picked up fleas - they're all indoors! And I've come into no contact with other cats the last few weeks at least at all. Should we do the Frontline as a precaution?

[merril]

Perhaps it would be a good idea just as a precaution. It is probably more difficult for cats to pick up fleas for cats indoors but the potential is still there.

[Craftlady]

It's my understanding humans can bring ticks/fleas in on our clothes during the flea/tick season. I learned just recently after talking with gal from the rescue group at PetSmart, they had a situation with 52 plus cats that were rescued from a bad place, fleas were an hugh issue, that some died from extreme flea infestation. IF left untreated fleas can get out of control and bad things can happen.


Flea information fleas (http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2081.html)

[prechrswife]

Our cats are always indoors, but occasionally we'll get fleas in from the outside. We usually apply Frontline if we see any sign of it, but that ends up being maybe once a year.

[catmandu]

Ova Collars and Revolution work well at The Found Cat Hotel.
We hope that its not fleas,as they can be one pain in the neck,to be rid of.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v621/catmandu/Picture943.jpg

[Scooby4]

It may not be fleas. My cat has for years gotten a "scabby" buildup on the back of her ears. It happens about once or twice a year. I did get it checked out and the scabs turned out to be pimples! :o
What I do for her is use a alcohol swab and rub on the scabs. I will also rub her ears till the scabs come off. Kind of gross but she is my baby... ;) I do wait until the scabs are mostly "dried out" prior to rubbing them off. Basically, I use thumb pressure and NOT my nails to remove the scabs. The scabs are there for healing purposes and should only be removed when that process is done.
I would suggest using a spray hydrocortosine and anti-bacterial spray or ointment. You can use neosporin but not too much. I would also suspect that your cats maybe repeatedly going somewhere injuring themselves or biting eachother. If you have collars on your cats they may get them caught under something causing them to scrape their body's to get free. All of this causing the same type of scabbing or sores.
Frontline is good to use for the flea prevention and using some flea killer carpet powder as well. I'd be careful and NOT apply the frontline near the sores as that will hurt. :cool:

[AlleyCat]

Thanks for all your responses. After watching this over the last couple of days and talking with some others, we're fairly certain this is not fleas. I think this is from playing/fighting. (At least where Millie is concerned anyway.) We've been using some ointment we picked up at the vet so we'll keep a watch on this.