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What to do when your cat has fleas: litter box, Capstar, bathing?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Mixed Breed | Female | unspayed | 3 years and 2 months old

If your cats have fleas what should you do about the litter box I use coopable litter what kinda litter should you use or what should you do or don't you need worry about litter? Also should you give your cats capstar before giving flea medication and if so how long before flea medication should you give to them and do I need to give them a bath or wash them with soap and comb with flea comb after giving them the capstar and before giving the flea medication or what should I do?

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on December 10th, 2019

1. You don't need to do anything about the litter box 2. You can give them a Capstar and then the next day you can apply a topical flea medication like Advantage II. 3. You need to treat all animals in the house with a flea medication 4. You need to treat the house. I recommend Knockout Spray ES (see below) 5. You do not need to bathe the cats. It is actually better if you don't. 6. If you have a yard, I would treat the yard with Advantage Yard Spray (see below) 7. Monitor the cats for tapeworms. Cats get tapeworms by ingesting infected fleas. It may be a few weeks before you see them, if you are going to see them. ( https://www.allivet.com/p-1389-knockout-es-area-treatment.aspx ) ( https://www.allivet.com/p-8109-advantage-yard-and-premise-spray-32-oz.aspx?SearchTerm=yard%20spray+Auto ) ( https://www.hillspet.com/cat-care/healthcare/dealing-with-tapeworms-in-cats )

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