Keeping your cats flea free

Is it likely that fleas will be more of a problem than usual for my elderly cat this summer? What are the best flea products? There seem to be so many, and it's confusing.

- DR DAVID GRANT

Your confusion is justified as there are many different flea products and ways of applying them.

All with a veterinary licence are effective, but only if applied correctly at the required intervals and according to the manufacturers' instructions.

Fleas are possible all year round in centrally heated houses, but there is a seasonal incidence outside.

From early summer, numbers build up and hit a peak at the beginning of August through until the end of September.

Once the cold weather arrives, they don't survive outside.

One female flea can lay 50 eggs a day, hatching out in the areas where a cat sleeps and rests.

It doesn't take long for a substantial population of fleas to build up - 95% of the life cycle being in the environment and 5% on the cat.