My sitter just called me and said her friend's 3 day old kittens have fleas. Is there a safe way to get rid of them? The mother cat was Frontlined a month ago.
Back in the day when I worked as a vet assistant, we had a foster mom come in covered in fleas. All the vet would do was flea-comb and wash the kits in water on a daily basis to get as many fleas as possible off. With the little ones, death through anemia is possible if the fleas aren't taken care of. This method was successful enough that they all thrived.
PLEASE be sure they use NO chemicals or commercial remedies, they are deadly!
I bred Maine Coons for some time and the advice about the DAWN is 100% correct. It is often used as a primary shampoo even.
Another good trick in very small doses is a cotton swab of alcohol as it immobilizes the fleas for easy removal.
Keep them(the kittens) on something like a small fleece snuggle bed that you can change daily, washing it and ridding it of any flea larvae. A week should do it. While it is important to rid them of the fleas fast, its best to do a bit at a time and not stress the babies too badly. Just give them a quick bath with the dawn and be sure to dry them well. Pick off the fleas as soon as you get done washing as the ones still living wont be moving much. Just do a little bit each day and in the meantime give them a little bit of vitamalt or something similar to keep their iron up and they will do just fine. I can not stress enough the danger with anything commercial, even things that say "safe for kittens" should not be trusted. I am making such a big deal about this because I lost a very precious kitty to toxicity many years ago after just ONE bath, and he was an adult.
Best Wishes!
Annie
I agree with Annie ...DO NOT use anything over the counter....Like bio spot..we too lost an adult cat because I thought I could save money by using a cheaper product that came highly recommended by my groomer and friends..and little ones are very frail..DAWN dish soap is used to help animals exposed to oil spills so it is probably ok..just go lightly and rinse well to avoid skin irritation...good luck.....
No, its not nec and would be much easier to wash out of delicate kitten fur if it is diluted a bit. It doesnt exactly kill them, well..i guess it may suffocate some, but more than anything it seems to put them in a coma:)I think it works similar to borax not letting them breath.
I have lots of experience with kittens with fleas as my parents are habitual rescuers:) They are constantly bringing in new litters to raise and re-home and some come in such bad shape it breaks your heart. In my parents neighborhood there are some vacant lots and people have just abandoned their cats there...the population explosion is insane. They do the trap and spay program but some are so feral that they never catch them. I would say they took care of three different litters last year.
Same as our dogs, just feed the momma well, keep her inside and clean and i hope you will post a happy note about them later on that they are all doing well:)
Annie
