How do you get rid of flea on cats?

Actually, I never find ticks on the strays I deal with. But when I was in Japan, pulling ticks off dogs and cats was a regular occurance. There was one rescue cat that just became known as Tick Cat because we lost count of how many we pulled off him! Japan is very mountanous and wooded, and the climate where I was is very much like Wisconsin, with lots of snow last winter. Rhw first island south of the mainland is probably more like Florida; a pleasant winter followed by a monsoon season followed by hot weather with air you could wring out. Either is conducive to bugs.