Guide

The indoor cat myth

The most common sentence in flea forums is some version of: "But she never goes outside." Indoor cats get fleas anyway, and the routes are mundane — fleas ride in on trouser cuffs, dog fur, secondhand furniture, and through the gap under a porch door.

A flea that makes it inside finds an ideal climate: stable warmth, carpet to lay eggs in, and a host that sleeps sixteen hours a day in the same three spots. One pregnant flea is a colony by next month; the sunny patch your cat loves most is also where the eggs concentrate.

Indoor infestations tend to be discovered late, because nobody is looking. By the time you see a flea walking across a pale blanket, the population behind it is established. Scratching around the neck and tail base, tiny black grit in the fur, and restless sleep are the earlier signals.

Treatment is the same as for any cat — a dose of Cheristin starts clearing the adults within the hour — but the household matters just as much indoors: hot-wash the bedding, vacuum the favorite spots daily for two weeks, and empty the vacuum outside.

The six-week tail of each dose is what keeps the cycle from restarting while the environment catches up. For an indoor cat in a flea-prone building, many owners simply keep the monthly rhythm year-round; there is no outdoor season to wait out.