Why does my cat have brown specks in fur despite flea medicine?

This could be due to different causes such as fleas, an allergy, an infection or mites. First of all, in order to rule out skin parasites, you will need to treat with a high quality flea treatment, then ask the vet to perform a skin scrape - this might reveal an infection or a mite infestation. If all of those came back negative, the next step is to treat the allergy symptomatically and try to discover the cause of the allergy. Three main type of allergies are usually affecting pets: food allergies, flea and parasite related ones and environmental type (allergens coming from trees, pollens, dust etc etc). Some medications can be given by the vet in order to repair any possible skin lesions (like steroids and antibiotics). Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

It sounds like this brown stuff is flea dirt. I'm not sure if you were already treating her for fleas but if you aren't, I recommend giving her capstar. It's a one time pill that starts killing fleas in 30 minutes. Then follow up with a spot on treatment such as advantage or revolution. This is a treatment that has to be used once a month. You have to disinfect the home as well. Wash your bedding in hot soapy water, and vacuum the carpet and furniture services. I would use a spray such as Indorex to kill the fleas in the house, or you may have to use the flea bomb to kill them all.

You can also check for little black specks on his fir closest to his skin called flea dirt. Likely though if you apply flea prevention and the doctor found no evidence he should be ok but if you find these little black specks of dirt, a way to conform if it is indeed flea dirt is take a paper towel, wet it, and smear the dirt specks around. Normal dirt will not look any different after doing this however flea dirt will have a reddish color to it

Fleas hatch from larvae and then still grow to adult size, so you are seeing fleas of different ages. Unfortunately fleas only hop on the body of your pet when they want to feed, then they hop off again and stay in your pet's environment. So you need to treat all pets in the household as well as the environment (which contains the fleas, their eggs and larvae). Flea treatment:  1) Get some flea medication such as a Flea spray or a spot on from a pet shop or your veterinarian and apply monthly 2) get flea powder, put some in your vacuum cleaner bag and vacuum your house and furniture and also non-carpeted areas frequently to remove flea larvae and eggs which live off house dust., Dispose of the bag in the trash outside. Hot-wash all the pet's bedding, If you do this diligently for a few months you will get rid of the fleas. Flea products: Spot-ons and/or chews Advantage, Advantix Advantage Multi (Advocate in the UK) Frontline (ticks as well) Bravecto spot on (ticks as well) - for cats, in tablet form for dogs Simparica, Nexgard Revolution (stronghold in the UK) Tablets: comfortis (will only kill fleas once) Collar: Seresto (ticks as well)

Hello. Fleas would be moving, & moving very quickly, so no apparent fleas in either picture. To tell if you have flea dirt ( which is actually flea feces ), drop some of the debris on a damp paper towel. If it is flea dirt, then a reddish brown to rust color will leach from each spot. If the debris just sits there with nothing happening for several minutes, then it is just run of the mill dirt. Thanks for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

The way to tell if it is flea dirt is to put the specks on a wet paper towel and if it is flea dirt it will turn red. If it doesn't leave red on the paper towel than it is not flea dirt. Flea dirt is basically flea feces so it does not actually turn into a flea. The eggs that a female lays will develop into fleas and one flea can lay a lot of eggs. Use a monthly flea prevention, like Frontline, Revolution, Advantage, etc. Also treat your house with a product that has a growth regulator if you see any live fleas.

The best way to determine if the dark specs are 'dirt' versus 'flea dirt' is to collect the specs on a clean white paper towel and apply hydrogen peroxide. If it turns rusty colored, it likely flea dirt. Flea eggs are very small and you are not likely to see those with the naked eye. Also, the best place to look for fleas is on the lower back and between the hind legs on your dog. If you determine that you are seeing fleas or evidence of fleas, I would recommend talking to your veterinarian about switching flea products. Hope this helps.