Questions about my cat

Kenosha WI

Description

This last spring I was at my northern place, which is in middle of now where, and I see a little kitten, a few hundred yards away, coming towards the house. Once it got to the house it wasn't too friendly but I was able to get it into a 5 gallon bucket. I fed it some milk and the cat got it into the house. Over the next couple of days the cat started to get familiar with me and became friendly. So now I have this cat and I'm not too sure what to do regarding fleas and ticks. But first, let me say that the cat would howl very often. I assume the cat was lonely and wanted to go outside. So I started letting it outdoors. At times it would stay out for only a few minutes and now overnight. If it was only an inside cat I wouldn't worry about ticks and fleas. But since it is outdoors I expect that some medicine is necessary to prevent fleas and ticks. So what do I use? One reason why I wanted to keep the cat is to help control the mice at my northern place. And sure enough, there are no mice around. So the cat has earned his keep. Again, what type of preventive medicine do I need to help with ticks and fleas? Once I bought a collar and got it on the cat but then for the next day the cat acted very strange so I removed it. I say this because I don't want to put on any type of flea or tick collar. Also, I have not taken this cat to the vet. I never declawed the cat. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks