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My cat has fleas, should I bathe her? And what about wet vs. dry food?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | American Shorthair | Female | spayed | 7 lbs

How often should you wash your cat for fleas? And also how often should you feed your cat wet food? Could she only eat dry food?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Debi Matlack

Veterinary Technician

Published on February 6th, 2017

There are no hard an fast rules about any of this. If your cat has fleas, a quality topical or oral flea treatment from your vet is most effective. Treating your house and yard will also help reduce the flea population. If you decide to bathe your cat, I recommend about once a week with any pet shampoo, it doesn't have to be a flea shampoo. Trim your cat's nails and apply a drop of plain mineral oil or a small strip of plain, non-medicated ophthalmic ointment to both eyes. Use very warm water to get your cat's coat completely wet, then apply a small amount of shampoo and lather it into the coat well, from tail tip to toes to the end of her nose. The eye ointment will prevent the shampoo from stinging her eyes. Lather her well and let the shampoo sit on for about ten minutes to kill any fleas that are on her. Rinse her well, making sure to get in all the nooks and crannies like her armpits and under her belly, otherwise any shampoo left on can irritate her skin. Towel her off thoroughly and, if she'll allow it, you can use a blow dryer on her on warm, not hot, and keep the dryer moving at all time so you don't make one area too hot and burn her. As far as food is concerned, wet, dry or some combination is between you, your vet and your cat. Some people with fat cats feed exclusively wet food because it contains no grains and therefore has fewer carbohydrates than dry foods. Other cats do perfectly fine on only dry food. My cats are mainly dry food eaters, but I do give them wet food sometimes as a treat.

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    Answered By Angel Alvarado, LVT

    Licensed Veterinary Technician

    Published on

    A monthly topical preventative would be more convenient, more effective and less stressful than bathing. Consider a product such as Frontline or Revolution. You can purchase either from your veterinarian. You can feed a canned food twice daily. Choose a high quality canned food with a named protein source of animal (not plant) origin. The food should come from the can looking like a hockey puck. No minced or diced food and no sauces or gravies. All those tend to have high carb content. Cats have no dietary requirement for carbs. If you choose a dry food, find one that is high protein and low carb. Stay away from store or discount brands. These typically contain low quality ingredients and more fillers.

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