I have a colony of rescues I take care of. I have treated the mothers but the babies still have fleas. One of them is sick the problem is if you treat kittens smaller then 8 weeks the flea medicine will kill them. I have lost kittens to both what in heck are you supposed to do. My house is kept as flea free as possible with Raid but still the babies get them. I still don't know what to do. One vet says treat and one says don't. I hate fleas.
Have you tried any of the flea powders? When fleas hit kittens they literally take life from them.
If they're still nursing, and the mother is treated with an internal med, wouldn't that be passed on to the kittens?
I'd call around. A long time ago, when I use to do a little rescuing myself, I had the best vet in all of Indiana--still do for the dogs and cats I have.
I constantly washed and deflead daily. Treating bedding and mother helped immensly.
Use Dove soap. Kittens need to be treated because fleas can make a cat anemic. Fleas can also give cats worms. Also use a flea comb. It is time consuming but it works. If possible keep the kittens isolated from each other so any renegade fleas don't jump from one kitten to another. Use Borax on carpets to keep away fleas. Springle the borax on the carpet and let it sit for about 15 min and then vacuum. Take vacuum outside and empty the bag.
Good luck. The kittens and cats are lucky that they found such a kind and caring person to take them in.
* I am not a vet but my vet told me this and I have done this with kittens. Flea powder can hurt the kittens.
The kitties are lucky to have found such a good home!
I wouldn't use any flea powders or chemicals on kittens. I would wash their bedding each day in hot sudsy water. And, use the flea comb. Our vet gave us warnings about buying any of the "over-the-counter" flea medicine. He said they have seen many cats die from people using the over-the-counter brands. When we take our kitties in next for their check-up, I will ask our vet about kittens and what to do.
We have seven indoor cats. The mommy cat was a stray that we took in and she had six kittens. We just could not break up the family, so we kept them all. We have a large house, so it is not a real problem having so many inside.
Our vet believes in the less medication given to an animal, the better. Since they are indoor only, we don't have a flea problem. We did keep the mommy cat on flea medicine for one year after her arrival here. Her kittens, who are now two, only have their regular vaccines each year. And, we had to have the mommy cat de-wormed and tested for leukemia and FIV disease, as this can be passed on to the kittens. All are now spayed and neutered . . . our animal family is big enough. Plus, we have a beagle, who is in (nighttime) and out (in daytime) dog. We have her on monthly flea and worm medicine.
Years ago, we had someone in our family that brought their dog and stayed in our guest house. It was awful. The fleas were gigantic! They had to have their house "tented and treated" and the dog dipped to finally get rid of the fleas at their home.
Use Dove soap. Kittens need to be treated because fleas can make a cat anemic. Fleas can also give cats worms. Also use a flea comb. It is time consuming but it works. If possible keep the kittens isolated from each other so any renegade fleas don't jump from one kitten to another. Use Borax on carpets to keep away fleas. Springle the borax on the carpet and let it sit for about 15 min and then vacuum. Take vacuum outside and empty the bag.
Good luck. The kittens and cats are lucky that they found such a kind and caring person to take them in.
* I am not a vet but my vet told me this and I have done this with kittens. Flea powder can hurt the kittens.
I used to use the borax on carpets years ago. So its back to the old time methods. I appreciate all your advise. I am treating all the kittens now with powder. I finally got ahold of someone. I am going to treat I used the Dove soap last night on the kitten who is getting sick and he is eatting. I am taking him to the vet.
We are also cat rescuers. I have 2 kittens that are 8 weeks and we got a pill that kills all their fleas in 45 minutes. Then they put them on Frontline. Before that, we used Dawn detergent, which is recommended by the vet. No other dish detergent or soap worked for us. The flea comb didn't work either. The poor things were miserable for weeks, but daily baths gave them some relief, I was just glad to get those pills. They cost 3 bucks a piece, but they are worth it. We are starting to treat our floors, both carpet and hardwood floors with borax and salt. But the vet told us to leave it on the floor for 2 days before vaccuming?
PS: We have 15 cats now. Anyone want one?
PSS: Someone told me to use Seven Dust on the carpets, floors and sofas and chairs. Has anyone else heard of this?
-- Edited by jdona on Wednesday 19th of August 2009 02:38:45 PM
-- Edited by jdona on Wednesday 19th of August 2009 02:40:23 PM
I am sorry your kittens have fleas. Those are the most evil things. But please don't use the over the counter powder. it makes them sick because they wash themselves and ingest it.
My cat got infested with fleas a while back and I tried all the home remedies. None worked. I had no money for a vet and tried them all.
I finally went into a vets and explained my situation, and they gave me one free treatment of advantage, and that cleared it up. But the powder is bad.
Would it hurt the kittens to use a small amount of the advantage, and not the whole vial? I would ask a vet, and do that, if they say it is okay.
We are also cat rescuers. I have 2 kittens that are 8 weeks and we got a pill that kills all their fleas in 45 minutes. Then they put them on Frontline. Before that, we used Dawn detergent, which is recommended by the vet. No other dish detergent or soap worked for us. The flea comb didn't work either. The poor things were miserable for weeks, but daily baths gave them some relief, I was just glad to get those pills. They cost 3 bucks a piece, but they are worth it. We are starting to treat our floors, both carpet and hardwood floors with borax and salt. But the vet told us to leave it on the floor for 2 days before vaccuming?
PS: We have 15 cats now. Anyone want one?
PSS: Someone told me to use Seven Dust on the carpets, floors and sofas and chairs. Has anyone else heard of this?
-- Edited by jdona on Wednesday 19th of August 2009 02:38:45 PM
-- Edited by jdona on Wednesday 19th of August 2009 02:40:23 PM
Perhaps you and I can start a thread showing kittens that are up for adoption. I now have 15 indoor/outdoor and 16 ferals. I have managed to make a few of the kittens from feral mothers into adoptable pets but most don't trust us enough to have them in the house. I was lucky this year.
I used this method: http://www.catsofaustralia.com/kitten_fleas.htm
The site recommends you use a flea comb and that you place Vaseline at the end of the comb so the fleas won't jump away. This didn't work for me. Instead, I put a container with water (a large bowl) next to me and drowned the fleas when they got caught in the flea comb before they jumped away. You can buy a flea comb for less than $2 at a Wal-Mart or a pet store.
If your kittens have diarrhea or are vomiting they should see a vet. After I bathed and got the fleas off the 5 week old kittens I rescued I found out from the vet that they had intestinal parasites. They took medicine for the parasites and now are fine. In any case, they probably didn't get the parasites from the fleas but kittens can get other diseases or can become anemic from flea infestation, so it's important to get them off. Good luck!
BTW, if you have questions about feral or stray cats in your neighborhood you can try to find your city's Feral Cat Coalition. Most big cities have one. I have also found that the Humane Society hasn't been very helpful when I've tried to put kittens up for adoption. Maybe it's because I live in a big city and they have more strays than they can handle. I've had much better luck contacting no-kill cat rescue organizations that work with Petsmarts. So far this year I placed two kittens I found up for adoption with them. You can ask Petsmarts in your town about these orgs.
Same problem here Lara. There is no facility in my county that takes cats, only dogs. There are huge feral cat populations here. The Humane Society is filled to the brim with cats, I've been on a waiting list for 3 years. A car pulled up in front of our house and opened the door and set a little white kitten with blue eyes right out in the road. My son ran out and got him, so he's with us now. Its costing more money than we can afford to feed all these cats, and they just keep coming. I am working with a non profit to get them spayed and neutered and rabies shots, but every thing else it up to us. One of the cats bit a kid up the road last week, had to be taken to animal control to make sure it didn't have rabies, but at the end of 10 days, guess were he is brought back? Legally we could be responsible for all doctors bills, I don't know. I've called the law, I've called Animal Control, I've called the local vet college, I've called every vet in this county, I've called my local delegate to the board of supervisors, we are stuck. We can't let them starve to death, but we also can't afford to take all 15 cats to the vet for shots, when they're hurt, when their sick, and the problem with feral cats is they can carry disease to the ones that are our pets. Its a no win situation.
It definitely can get expensive. We called around to all of the vets in our area to get prices when our six kittens needed their first check-up. Each gave a different price, etc. We ended up with one that is great and he gave us a discount for having so many cats.
I used this method: http://www.catsofaustralia.com/kitten_fleas.htm
The site recommends you use a flea comb and that you place Vaseline at the end of the comb so the fleas won't jump away. This didn't work for me. Instead, I put a container with water (a large bowl) next to me and drowned the fleas when they got caught in the flea comb before they jumped away. You can buy a flea comb for less than $2 at a Wal-Mart or a pet store.
If your kittens have diarrhea or are vomiting they should see a vet. After I bathed and got the fleas off the 5 week old kittens I rescued I found out from the vet that they had intestinal parasites. They took medicine for the parasites and now are fine. In any case, they probably didn't get the parasites from the fleas but kittens can get other diseases or can become anemic from flea infestation, so it's important to get them off. Good luck!
I use the flea comb and then drown them in a bowl of water with dishsoap. I just bathed them and am now keeping an eye on them. I am on the look out for parasites and worms.
My vet called me and told me to use dishsoap and bathe the kittens. I just treated all of them
BTW, if you have questions about feral or stray cats in your neighborhood you can try to find your city's Feral Cat Coalition. Most big cities have one. I have also found that the Humane Society hasn't been very helpful when I've tried to put kittens up for adoption. Maybe it's because I live in a big city and they have more strays than they can handle. I've had much better luck contacting no-kill cat rescue organizations that work with Petsmarts. So far this year I placed two kittens I found up for adoption with them. You can ask Petsmarts in your town about these orgs.
I am actually in contact with the humane society. I have an officer that is going to work with me for the spray/neuter and release program. They also check on one of the kittens who has failure to thrive he is doing fine he's just a little funny looking and he's smaller. He's a tough one though. He's not ever sick but I don't know if he is adoptable so he has a permenant home here. The humane society will place nursing orphans with me because I have a female that will nurse other cats kids. My Hillary isn't having that she nurses only her own. Hillary is feral and only likes me and my daughter. She has become a little less scary. Katrina has gone from feral to very loving. Hillary trusted me enough to turn her kittens into very loving kittens. My best friend used to rescue after she got sick I took over I spent years watching how she did it and suddenly I woke up with a whole colony of cats feral and pets. Now I can't picture life without my colony. They all have names and I don't much care if they show me affection I am happy with the fact that they do trust me enough to come to me when they need me. They will also let me help them.
Same problem here Lara. There is no facility in my county that takes cats, only dogs. There are huge feral cat populations here. The Humane Society is filled to the brim with cats, I've been on a waiting list for 3 years. A car pulled up in front of our house and opened the door and set a little white kitten with blue eyes right out in the road. My son ran out and got him, so he's with us now. Its costing more money than we can afford to feed all these cats, and they just keep coming. I am working with a non profit to get them spayed and neutered and rabies shots, but every thing else it up to us. One of the cats bit a kid up the road last week, had to be taken to animal control to make sure it didn't have rabies, but at the end of 10 days, guess were he is brought back? Legally we could be responsible for all doctors bills, I don't know. I've called the law, I've called Animal Control, I've called the local vet college, I've called every vet in this county, I've called my local delegate to the board of supervisors, we are stuck. We can't let them starve to death, but we also can't afford to take all 15 cats to the vet for shots, when they're hurt, when their sick, and the problem with feral cats is they can carry disease to the ones that are our pets. Its a no win situation.
I know its expensive and there are so many times that I have had to rescue kittens from the side of the road or I love it when they move and leave the cats and often times dogs. I used to rescue dogs but my son became afraid of dogs. Its also very difficult to catch a feral.
