URGENT HELP!! Flea Infestation on 1 week old kittens (serious)

I have this 1 week 4 day olds kittens. Their mother brought in fleas. We had treated her and all our animals with Frontline but it didnt work. Now the kittens, our house, and all our animals have serious fleas. We bathed the kittens and my dad (though i told him not to) rubbed flea spray on them. We just sprayed Zodiac flea spray on the mother. What can we do?! We don't have enough money this week to take all of them to the vet. Any home remedies?

Get some blue Dawn dishwashing soap and do a 50-50 solution of Dawn and water. Go to the pet store and buy a flea comb. Dip the comb in the dawn & water solution and comb the cats. This will pick up any fleas and drown any left on the kitty. Keep the kitty nice and warm after you've done the flea water treatment using a rice sock. Just put some dry rice in an old sock, tie it off and nuke in the microwave for a minute or so. Place it next to kitty to keep warm.

I have tried this and each time they just keep getting re-infested. I am buying a flea comb tomorrow but even the house is infested now. We have lots of animals so getting an exterminator is imposible.

First, do the flea comb thing. Then, move them to an area that's flea free. Wash all their bedding in hot water. In their old room, sprinkle Borax (from the grocery store) on the floors, under furniture, and if you have carpet, brush it into the carpet using a broom. Leave it overnight, then vacuum it up the next morning. Put a flea collar in your vacuum bag. Do this for each room. You will need to repeat it often until the fleas are eradicated.

**Borax can be toxic, so be sure to clean it up before allowing the kitties back into the room.

Okay I will try this. So far, after rubbing them with the flea spray it seems no fleas have returned on them or the mother. We also steamed all our carpets and furniture which seemed to reduce the population of fleas. I'm still worried about them but I will be purchasing fleas combs and many flea products to de-bug the house. If anyone has anymore tips please post them here! One thing also was that one of the kittens eye has some brown/yellow residue around it. It doesnt looked like a fluid. Could it be from the fleas?

Do not use over the counter flea products on kittens this young - they are toxic even to adults and you can seriously harm the kittens.

The suggestion for Dawn dish soap, a flea comb, washing the bedding and vacuuming are the quickest, least expensive options for you right now. If you want to use something to treat the environment, flea sprays can be dangerous to kittens, so look into FOOD GRADE diatomaceous earth (google it). You can't buy it in very many stores and may need to buy it online. Use it as described for the Borax. Make sure you get food grade.

Hi there,

I hope this isn't a duplicated response. I wrote a large post with tips but IE timed out on me and I think I lost it.

I don't envy you here. I recall (years ago) when I was a teenager our cats (and the house) caught fleas and it was pretty unpleasent. My mum went nuts trying to get rid of them.

The kittens are too young for any topical flea treatment. I think Frontline (or similar spot on treatment) can be used on kittens 8 weeks and over. I would talk to the vet about a pill form for the kittens. Mum cat could be treated with Frontline - again a vet should confirm this is safe for the nursing kits.

If you really can't get to the vet then there are low cost flea shampoos for cats that would go a long way for less money - more work though. The kittens would be easy to treat, you need to keep the lather on them a little while for effectiveness and you should comb them through with a flea comb to remove the fleas and eggs. Rinse/ wash the comb regularly to wash away the fleas/ eggs. The main thing is to keep the kittens warm when you're done washing them and while they're drying. Rinse the bath well afterwards.

Flea sprays can cause the fleas to flee to the animal's head so I would recommend bathing/ combing mum too instead- if she will let you.

Cleaning the house is important to prevent reinfestation of the kits. I recall my mum using baking soda and salt (back in the day). Use it dry on carpets and leave over night then vacuum it off. I just googled it and found a reference to it dehydrating and killing the fleas, use judgement depending on the type of carpet you have - it could leave a residue. Vacuum regularly after that (like twice a day) until you're free of them. I like the suggestion about putting a flea collar in the vacuum bag (probably cheaper that disposing of the bag after each time you've vacuumed - which needs doing if you don't opt for the flea collar).

Vacuuming will collect about one third of the larvae and about two thirds of the eggs. By vacuuming you also remove the flea dirt (droppings) which is what the larvae eat, which in turn helps to kill the larvae - if you get my meaning.

At nightime you can set up a nightlight with a shallow tub of soapy water to catch the fleas. They are attracted to the light and drown. Here is a web reference to other 'flea traps'
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Flea-Trap . You won't catch all the fleas this way but it will be an indication of if there are any left.

I know this thread is old, but thought I would add what I did because it seems to be a common issue. A stray cat (who I took in) who had her kittens in my shed this past summer had flea infested kittens a few days old when I found them. I waited until they were about 10 days old, even though I knew the fleas were sucking them up on those poor babies, but did not want to overly touch the babies so young. First, I treated mom with one flea capsule, capstar is what I found was safe on nursing queens. This destroyed moms adult fleas, then I replaced all the bedding in the nest. Then for the kittens, I took coconut oil, and rubbed down each kitten practically saturating them except for their head and face. I could see within 30 seconds the fleas lifeless movements. Mama cat sat there the whole time trying to lick the coconut oil off of each kitten (which happens to be healthy for her), but you should wait 5 minutes to surely suffocate the fleas, and after 5 minutes kittens were still drenched in coconut oil despite moms trying to lick them clean, lol. So, I then took dawn dish soap as a "double whammy" and washed them with a washcloth in warm water and gently stroking off the oil and then drying them to not catch colds and holding them against my skin to keep warm until dry. I was going to brush with a flea comb, but the fleas all fell off in the water, the kittens were completely flea free! They still retained some oily sheen for about a day or probably until mama licked it all off, but it works so well. They never got fleas again because the coconut oil also lasts as a repellant. I purchased the coconut oil in a large jar for $5 from the grocery store. It is so safe, and 100% effective. Hope it helps you too, congrats on your new babies! PS~ capstar is sold in most pet stores or amazon.

I thought it was dangerous to bathe kittens so young? We are having this issue and I don't want to wait until they are 4 weeks to treat these fleas so I need to do something. We attempted to manually pick them of but the fleas of course run or jump everywhere. Now we have to treat all our animals and our house! Coconut oil is safe for the kittens? The mama cat won't hurt her babies because they smell different than what she is used to?

Amanda Douglas said:

I thought it was dangerous to bathe kittens so young? We are having this issue and I don't want to wait until they are 4 weeks to treat these fleas so I need to do something. We attempted to manually pick them of but the fleas of course run or jump everywhere. Now we have to treat all our animals and our house! Coconut oil is safe for the kittens? The mama cat won't hurt her babies because they smell different than what she is used to?

Click to expand...

A bath is very dangerous for a kitten that young. The best thing to do it to comb them with a flea comb, dipping the comb in water and dawn dish soap. Comb them every day and wash their bedding every day. You can also treat mom with advantage II or capstar.

Amanda Douglas said:

 
I thought it was dangerous to bathe kittens so young? We are having this issue and I don't want to wait until they are 4 weeks to treat these fleas so I need to do something. We attempted to manually pick them of but the fleas of course run or jump everywhere. Now we have to treat all our animals and our house! Coconut oil is safe for the kittens? The mama cat won't hurt her babies because they smell different than what she is used to?

Click to expand...

Yes, it is.  So IF you do it, you must be super careful with all precautions you can take.  Soemtimes you MUST give a bath, somthing may have happened. Or it may be a heavy flea infestion, and you cant get an Advantage II nor capstar, which is safe to use on mamma.  They have perhaps enen no mamma to give Advantage II to.

Or simply, the trick with constipation / difficulty to poo and pee.  Which complication is common with handraised orphans.

And the trick is using warm water.  Either submerging their rear end in warm water and massaging the tummy and genitals, or having it under running warm water, and tapping on the anus-part with your forefinger.

This maneuver is excellent and usually works nicely, but its almost the same precautions as with a fulll body bath.

Be sure there is no draught. Be sure there is warm and cosy in the room. The water lukewarm +.  Dry off the kitten thoroughly.  And let it have a nice cozy nest to rest upon, with a heating pad.   Dont risk any chilling out...

In nature, kittens arent always nicely warm and dry, they may get wet from rain etc...  But its one of the reasons quite a few out there dont makes it.  While we humans hate to lose our protegées.

Amanda Douglas said:

 
I thought it was dangerous to bathe kittens so young? We are having this issue and I don't want to wait until they are 4 weeks to treat these fleas so I need to do something. We attempted to manually pick them of but the fleas of course run or jump everywhere. Now we have to treat all our animals and our house! Coconut oil is safe for the kittens? The mama cat won't hurt her babies because they smell different than what she is used to?

Click to expand...

The mammas and their maternity insticts arent that fragile. But you may have right, it may be wise to let her know the smell of coconut oil.  Perhaps give her some the days before.

As I understand, the main trick here is not the coconut oil is poisonous to the fleas, but simply, drowning and suffocating them. Its the same idea as dropping one or two drops of oil into ears, to suffocate mites.  Works nicely with mild mite-infections, although it doesnt work well enough with heavy mite-infections.

I suspect I wouldnt use this as my first defence, but reading this tip on coconut oil, Im willingly considerig it as worth to discuss.

Although I wonder what is the different to use coldpressed olive oil?

@kittyfleas

If you treat mom with a tube of Advantage II, it usually kills the fleas on the kittens too.