Fleas on newborn kittens! What do I do??

[hburnette3]

My cat had kittens a few days ago. Right beside my computer. I thought they were rats at first glance! Well today I noticed they had fleas. I did some searching and can't find a solution. Any help?
I moved everything outside. The mama will not nurse outside.

HELP! :hectic1:

[TBEventer2002]

Well she got them from somewhere, which is the mom, who has been in your house. You might end up with a serious infestation problem.

You can very carefully bathe the kittens using Dawn dishsoap and warm water. Give Mom a bath if she'll let you, but you'll want to consult your vet in regards to applying topical flea meds to Mom -- they have very differing opinions. Go over everyone with a flea comb. Vacuum your house and throw out the bag. Repeat in two weeks.

Adult fleas which are what you are seeing only spend about 10-25% of their time on the host (your cats). The rest of the time is spent laying eggs in the environment (your house). The eggs can remain dormant in the environment for up to a year or more. I would also be concerned about tapeworms in the Mom; tapeworms are contracted by swallowing an infected flea when they groom or eating dead animals. Tapeworms are NOT contagious to humans unless you actually eat infected stool from the cat, so don't be too worried about that. ;)

Good luck, and the best bet is to just call your vet. :)

[mommy_debella]

tbeventer2002 beat me to it... Dawn dish soap. I usually leave it on kinda thick for a few minutes. help suffocate the little buggies.

[Virginia13]

A retired vet told me to use dial bath soap. It works as soon as it hits the fleas. It won't keep them off but I will not use flea shampoo. Friend of mine used Hartz and it killed her cat in two hours.

To help keep them out of your house get a white plate and put it on the floor. Fill it with water and put a few drops of dish soap into the water and stir. Get a light and shine it over the plate full of water. The fleas will jump in and drown. I do this a night once in a while to make sure I don't have any in my house. The dish soap breaks the tension of the water so the fleas will sink to the bottom. I have one of those clip on lights for this. Strange but it works.

[Lmnde]

You can't put over the counter flea stuff on the nursing mom, they [hartz is the worst!] can kill adult cats and will certainly damage the kittens. Go to your vet and ask for a capstar pill [or two]. This will kill the fleas on the mom - within an hour or so they are all dead, and it will continue killing fleas that hop on her and bite her for another 24 hrs or so. And then ask for a safe topical to put on mom only. Spray underneath her bedding area, but not on the bed due to the kittens. You'll need to treat the entire house for fleas.

In this weather it is not nice to bump a housecat that is raising kittens to the outside, just because she has fleas [not her fault]. While you are at the vet, get a dewormer for her as well; if she has fleas, she also has tapeworms [or will have them soon]. Take responsibility for your pet!

[hburnette3]

Originally Posted by Lmnde Take responsibility for your pet!

That is exactly what I'm doing. The easy thing would have been for me to just dump them all off down the road somewhere. I posted this b/c I needed help finding a solution to get them all back in the house.

The mama cat is not a 100% house cat. She has always gone in and out. It is no unreasonably hot or cold right now. If it had been there's no way I would have put them outside.

[Isis123]

Buy a fine toothed "flea comb". You can "catch" the fleas and crush them with your thumb nail!

[Lmnde]

I'm sorry if I offended you - but kicking a nursing mom with kittens outside because she has fleas, I don't consider that responsible pet ownership. If it were - she'd be spayed and on flea stuff in the first place if she gets to go outside. Not looking to pick a fight with you, and I'm glad you are taking care of the problem.

Newborn kittens that live outside that have fleas [and it's only going to get worse for them, as fleas multiply daily in hot and steamy/wet weather like this time of year] have less than a 50% chance of surviving and if they do - they will need a lot of deworming, treating and more expensive TLC as kittens that are well taken care off. We rescue kittens almost every year that take weeks to heal off from flea bites, recover from hair loss, or to gain the weight they should be due to anemia and internal tape worms, and to become decent looking enough to be placed into a loving pet home...

[Rene S]

IMO, I would not bathe a young kitten unless it was at least 4 weeks old. The only thing you can do right now is use a flea comb. Then they are at least two pounds, a vet can give you Kitten Advantage topical.

Have a small container of water and dish soap nearby. As you comb the kitten, flick the fleas into the water.

We had a kitten with lice last fall--and I spent hours using a nit comb. Time consuming but it's much safer for the kitten!

[beth119]

I have learned something rather interesting about fleas this year (I have dogs)...

Fleas are becoming resistant to the topical treatments.
We had always used frontline plus, and it eventually stopped working. K-9 advantix wasn't doing so great either. My vet told me they stopped selling Frontline altogether because the majority of pet owners were finding very little result from it anymore. I swear here in SE GA, we have MUTANT fleas or something!
We are now on a great (miracle) pill called Comfortis. I don't know what else is available for cats, but ask your vet.

Just because someone's animal has fleas, doesn't mean that the owner WASN'T treating them. It just may not have been working.