Home Remedies for Cat Mites & Fleas

Signs and Symptoms of Ear Mites

• If your cat or kitten suffers with ear mites you will notice your cat scratching her ears and shaking her head as if trying to shake off something. The more severe the infestation, the more you will see your cat shaking its head and scratching. If the infestation is severe, you may see fresh or dried blood in the ear canal. Dried blood will look more like coffee grounds (small black dried particles). Ear mites are very common in cats, but if it is left untreated the mites can cause hearing loss to your feline.

Signs and Symptoms of Fleas

• Fleas can cause more problems than just itching, scratching and skin irritation. If ingested, they can cause your cat to have worms. Cats can easily ingest a flea by accident when doing their daily cleaning habits on their coat. It can be difficult to discover the infestation if the cat ingests the adult fleas so you may need to look for insect bites on the ankles of the humans in the household.

  You will also notice that your cat has intense scratching episodes where he or she is getting bit and they are trying to scratch away the offender that is irritating the skin.

  It is good to groom your cat regularly with a fine-toothed comb so that you can easily find active adults and to see if your cat has dried blood in its fur from the flea infestation. If you think that your cat has dried blood from fleas you can take a clean, wet, white cloth and wipe the cat's fur with it. The dried blood will turn the cloth a red or bloody color, indicating that there is a flea infestation.

Remedies for Fleas

• One of the best home remedies is an herbal shampoo that has one or more of the following ingredients: lavender, rosemary, bergamot, pine cedar, citronella, eucalyptus or geranium. In order to get rid of the fleas in the home you will have to treat the furniture as well as the flooring. You can do this by mixing up 1 1/2 pounds each of borax and diatomaceous earth as well as 1 cup of salt. You can sprinkle a light coating all over the house to kill off the fleas. For the best results you should leave the mixture to sit on the flooring for a few days before you vacuum it up.

Remedies for Ear Mites

• If your cat suffers with ear mites then you will first want to make your pet more comfortable. In order to relieve some of the pain you can try using a needleless syringe to insert some olive oil to help relieve some of the pain. Once the oil is in the ear canal you can massage the area to help get the oil deep into the canal to help loosen up any dried blood from the mites. Once you have the debris removed then you can treat the ear to kill off the mites with some home remedies such as 1 tablespoon of water mixed with 9 drops of Yellow Dock Root Extract. It is best to use a dropper to insert the drops into the ear and be sure to massage it into the area thoroughly. Do this one time every third day for approximately six weeks.

  Another great treatment for mites is a mixture of 400 IUs vitamin E and 1/2 ounce of almond oil. The treatment needs to be at body temperature and dropped into the ear canal every day for six days straight. Leave it in for three days then let drain out and repeat the process.