I called my vet. They said nothing, but then again, our vet is not the greatest about caring. You just flip them over, look at thier tummies and you can see 4- 5 fleas! what can I do?
2006-07-20 05:02:02 · 23 answers · asked by Horse Lover 2 in Pets ➔ Cats
The fleas will kill the kittens! Check with another vet. If all else fails, give them a warm bath using Dawn. make sure they are kept warm . Look at the gums. if they are pale you need a vet pronto.
2006-07-20 05:07:48 · answer #1 · answered by groomingdiva_pgh 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
How to deal with Flea problems on your Kitten
First, go ahead and pick a flea medicine and get it coming to you. If you order it over the Internet, it will take a week or so to get it anyway, and you'll want to use it whenever your kitten is old enough. I recommend taking a look at Frontline, Advantage, and Program, but you can talk to your vet as well about which one is best for your kitten. Make sure to adhere to the age limits of the one you buy - they are each different, and it's not a good idea to risk using it earlier. If you aren't sure how old your kitten is, ask your vet, and play it safe by waiting a week or two after how old you think they are. With flea on kitten issues, you don't want them getting developmental problems by giving them chemicals too early. While you're waiting, you can do a few things. First, give your kitten a flea bath. Don't use any chemicals - use baby shampoo. It won't hurt them, and it will stick to the fleas and let you get them out of the fur. Water will drown the fleas and make them rush to the head. Since a kitten is pretty small, you'll need to look through the fur and try to pick off fleas as you see them. This won't solve all your problems - kittens have adult fleas, but the eggs will still be around your house, and they'll just come back in a few weeks. Vacuum, and wash the bedding that your kitten sleeps in every day or two in hot water. You can keep the flea problem down this way until your kitten is old enough to take flea medicine - then most brands will kill off the problem for awhile, as long as it's an indoor cat. Also think about taking a look at natural flea control methods until you can use the medicine.
2006-07-20 05:09:53 · answer #2 · answered by mrsdamico22 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There really is nothing you can do for the kittens that are only a week and a half old. However, you could put the mother cat on a flea preventive and it may help with the kittens. Front line in my opinion is the best. You can also pick the fleas off of the kittens. The longer the problems lasts the harder it will be to get rid of the fleas and fleas will bite humans too. You also need to vacuum out the house and the area that the kittens are in. Be careful about sprays because they can create a respiratory infection and kill the kittens. Front line is applied to the back of the neck and kittens don't usually lay in that area. Good Luck!
2006-07-20 05:12:40 · answer #3 · answered by angelsforanimals 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
MOST FLEA PRODUCTS ARE UNSAFE FOR TINY NURSING KITTENS AND THE MOTHER. DO NOT USE ANYTHING WITHOUT ASKING A VET. IF YOUR VET DOES NOT HELP, GET ANOTHER VET!!!
The mother should be grooming the babies and will eat most of the fleas herself. Help her by removing visable fleas with a comb and killing them in alcohol or bleach. Take them outside to do this or they will escape and jump right back onto the cat.
Find a spot-on treatment from the vet that is safe for nursing mothers. If there are none, consider using an herbal flea shampoo like neem or citronella. Also ask about PROGRAM, a monthly preventative that is given in food, not topically. It may be safe for mommy cats.
Wash all the bedding, clothes, etc. that may have flea eggs on and use flea powder/spray on carpet, couches, curtains, etc. Vaccuum the heck out of everything and clean your vaccuum out afterwards.
Use spot-on treatments (frontline) on every other cat and dog that has access to the kittens and keep everyone away from the kitten family until all fleas are gone. Keep in mind that it can take 3 months to kill all the hatching flea eggs in the environment. If it is an outdoor cat, consider using an outdoor lawn flea killer.
Watch the mom and babies for signs of poison reaction: lethargy, vomitting, diarrhea, not eating and take to vet if it happens. Physically removing the fleas fromthe mom and baby instead of chemically, is the safest. Do it a couple times a day, more if possible. The babies can only benefit from all that socialization!
As soon as they are old enough, treat them with appropriate meds. You may want to deworm mom and babies with regular wormer and a wormer to kill tapeworm, since fleas can carry tapeworms.
2006-07-20 06:03:10 · answer #4 · answered by Emily 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There are not any medications that you can use at this time.
The best thing to due is contact another vet for advice and if you do not have a good relationship with your vet then change vets.
There are some flea products that cna be used at around four weeks like Adams Flea Powder. the best thing to do at this time is keep the bedding clean. treating the mother for fleas may harm the kittens through contact. cats will clean themselves and this could tranfer to the kitten, And be harmful. Contact another veterinarian for more advice on the situation. they may suggest a product which is safe for very young kittens. or they may offer to suppervise the aplication of a product if the infestation is really bad. they can ofer more help then you alone can provide.
Best contact another veterinarian for help!
2006-07-20 05:51:00 · answer #5 · answered by reispinscher 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You can buy a cat "flea comb" at a local department store/pet store/dollar store.
What you do is get a dish of water, put a bit of dish soap on top, but don't mix it to make bubbles lol. Dip the comb into this mix and comb the kittens/cat with it. Look for for the fleas, comb them and then immediately dip the comb into the mix. You have to be a little quick about it.
What the soap does is keep the fleas underwater long enough to drown. May take a few times to get all the fleas tho.
Your cat is an outdoor cat ?? Fleas come to the surface when it rains so they don't drown underground. Get a flea collar for your "mom" or not let her out too soon after a rainfall.
Hope this helps
2006-07-20 05:10:59 · answer #6 · answered by Patti 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to frontline from your vet for the momma cat, not the kittens. The fleas will travel back and forth between the mom and the babies and the frontline should take care of them. You could also bathe the kittens one at a time with a mild dish detergent such as Palmolive and then pick the dead fleas off of them. Fleas on kittens can kill them pretty quickly if there are alot of them, you need to get the fleas off as quickly as possible.
2006-07-20 05:15:10 · answer #7 · answered by jane 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get the kittens and momma out of the house, put Advantage drops on momma, then flea bomb your house. I just had this happen and unfortunately I was too late, the kittens died from the infestation. If you put the advantage drops on momma, then it will also take care of the kittens without hurting them. But also remove all pets and bomb your house, it's the only way to immediately take care of the problem before it's too late and you and momma cat are watching those poor kittens suffer. Then to keep repelling the fleas, use tea tree oil and ucalyptus oil, it will help. That's what I am doing, so if our momma cat ends up pregnant again there won't be anymore fleas. Good luck.
2006-07-20 05:10:23 · answer #8 · answered by masmalan2004 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You do need to get the fleas off of them, fleas can actually suck the life out of a kitten, cause anemia and it can really die. Bathe each kitten in warm water with Dawn dishsoap. Rinse and dry well. get a flea comb and comb them several times a day if you have to. Wash all the bedding, and maybe get some cedar chips and then place the bedding on the cedar chips (fleas don't like the cedar). Hope this helps
2006-07-20 06:04:55 · answer #9 · answered by buggsnme2 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Flea control in kittens has to begin with the mom, as the kittens are obviously too young to treat. Get some advantage or frontline from the vet, and put it on the mom, that will kill all fleas. YOU DONT PUT KITTENS IN WATER... (that wasnt a very good piece of advice) they are too young!! Not to mention, it would stress the mom out way too much.
**Dont use anything over the counter, as it is harmful to animals, just get it from the vets!
P.S. please have your momma kitty spayed, there are way too many unwanted kitties in this world!
2006-07-20 05:07:14 · answer #10 · answered by Katz 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋