I know the rules. Sorry the pics aren’t great, the new cat family is staying in a room in our basement (which was painted that color when we bought the house, I haven’t gotten around to fixing it yet) and the lighting in there is awful. All three kittens are gray tabbies.
Anyway, ten days ago we agreed to take in this mama cat (Gem) and her three kittens, which are two weeks old today. The guy who found her was moving and couldn’t keep them. All seemed well, everyone is healthy and happy and friendly, until I found a flea on one of the kittens today. I’m not sure what to do about this.
It doesn’t seem (yet) to be a major problem. I looked closely, and only found the one flea (which I couldn’t catch with no one else here to hold the baby) and no flea dirt on either mom or babies. The mom is super-sweet and has not had any qualms about us messing with her offspring, but I haven’t tried to remove them from the nest area, and I’d rather not just yet. Still, bathing might be the best way to deal with this. I dunno.
Right now, the whole family is quarantined in a room (concrete floors with rugs but no furniture) in the basement, so I’m not too worried about this spreading to the other pets at this point. If they were going to get fleas, I’d think they would have by now, anyway; we live in a very rural, wooded area and they spend a fair amount of time traipsing through the woods.
Fair enough, but if I were in your situation, I’d say to myself, “Self, I guess it’s time to move finding a vet closer to the top of the to-do list.” You’ve got a situation now, and if you’re not familiar with how to handle extremely young kittens, you’re going to need professional advice. You could start with the phone book.
I’d go with a flea comb. Comb all of the cats, keep a bowl of water nearby to drown any fleas you find. I don’t think there is much you can do with a 2 week old kitten from a medical standpoint. If it’s OK to bathe them, you can bathe them in soapy water, leaving the suds on for 5 minutes to get the fleas to detach, then rinse them off. focus on the neck and base of the tail areas.
Do they still go outside? If so, there’s not much you can do to avoid the fleas, unless a vet recommends an anti flea medication that is OK for a kitten so young. I wouldn’t use anything OTC.
2 weeks old is too young for flea killing products (IIRC, 7 weeks is the youngest you’re supposed to go with the Rx ones, and 12 for OTC). Also, flea collars are pretty much useless.
There are no flea-killing products you can use on kittens that young.
You can use a flea comb or you can bathe them with something like a little baby shampoo. For one flea, and with a mama cat that doesn’t know you, I’d try the comb first.
As long as you keep them warm and out of drafts and get them completely dry, they should be fine.
I once bathed two-DAY old kittens because they were crawling with fleas. As long as you use a little care and common sense, you won’t kill them with a bath.
Can you get Frontline spray? It’s very effective, and safe to use in puppies and kittens from 2 days old (assuming it’s the same as the UK version, I know the spot ons are different).
Diatomaceous earth. Get the food-grade, not the stuff they sell for pools. 100% non-toxic. Spread it around the room they’re confined to and around the door. Does little to nothing immediately, but a good insurance policy against future infestation in case there are eggs lying in wait.
Mom cat needs to have a topical applied - of course it would require a vet visit, though! The OTC stuff you can get at pet supply stores is toxic - a lot of it has pyrethrin or a derivative, and even though they’re labeled for cats, it’s toxic. I’ve seen lots of cats with uncontrollable tremors and seizures from OTC stuff.
In the meantime, Dawn Original dishwashing liquid is the industry go-to product. Every shelter and vet’s office has a bottle under the sink! Fine for little baby kittens, and mom, too - though she could prove more difficult to bathe. Just make sure it’s body-temperature water, not too hot and not too cold - baby bottle temperature - and bundle them up until they’re dry.
Kittens can get flea topical if they weigh a pound - usually that’s not until a month old - and only the plain Advantage is safe that young. Spraying the environment with flea products is also a no-no. Still toxic.
The Diatomaceous Earth is a good idea, though. A little goes a long way. Just a very light dusting is all that’s needed - and mom cat can get a dusting on her coat, too.
The other pets in the house would all benefit from a dose of topical flea treatment at this point, too, or a dusting of the DE. As soon as you can do the vet visit and get some topical flea treatment, do that, though. Flea life cycle is 100 days, so if everyone is protected when eggs hatch in a few months, then the fleas will be truly gone.
I used to have a flea trap that was a light over a sticky surface. You leave it out at night and the fleas go towards the light and get stuck on the sticky surface. You could make your own trap with some upside down tape and a light. You put it near the floor, not on furniture. You might have to figure out a way to keep the kitties from the tape.
Some ACE Hardware stores used to sell them I think.
When you bathe kitty use a mild soap. The suds on the soap will block up the breathing tubes and kill the adult. You should leave the suds on about five minutes.
This wil kill flea and nymphs but not eggs. They will survive, so you need a flea comb.
Diatomaceous Earth (DE) works by having insects crawl over it. It cuts their exoskeletons and they die. It takes awhile. I would use this to prevent any adult flea from crawling out of the room.
You can use DE (make sure it’s not pool grade which is hazardeous to people) on the cat, but it will not work if it gets wet. Mama cat may just lick all of it off her.
But definately sprinkle it around any rooms as a barrier. DE won’t harm the cat if she licks it or eats. They even put it in animal feed. If you order DE you can get it cheap from Ace Hardware Online. No charge for shipping if you ship it to the store and pick it up there
So soapy suds to kill adults, dry, comb. Then repeat every five days when eggs may hatch.
The flea life cycle is: fleas jump on kittah, bite, eat blood, pop out eggs. Eggs hatch, larvae wiggle around on floor/carpet/bedding eating dried blood poop from mature fleas. Larvae pupate, morph into adult fleas, then the cycle starts all over again.
To break this cycle on kittens so young, you need to kill as many adult fleas as you can using the flea comb and then prevent any larvae from growing. To do this you need to change the kitty bedding every day! This needs to be done without fail. You must wash it immediately without shaking it out too.
I’ve actually had success with this method on a flea infestation in my grown cats. Since fleas love warmth (and carbon dioxide), and my cats love warmth as well, I put a heating pad under a blanket, and then a bedsheet on top of that for all my cats to huddle up over. This made it exceptionally easy to change out their bedding every day where all the flea eggs were concentrated. After a couple of months, I went from a heavy flea infestation to zero fleas (these are all indoor cats) without pesticides or excessive flea combing.
Worked pretty good.