Fleas on Kittens

lyle91

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I heard that baby powder helps bring the fleas to the surface. Is this true?
 

strange_wings

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Not that I know of. If you can get human food grade diatomaceous earth you can dust kittens with that. You can also use the manual method of combing them out with a flea comb and emptying the fleas (from the comb) into a bowl of hot soapy water.

BUT, mother cat needs to go to the vet anyways. Why not take the them all in, that will split the cost of an office visit, and the vet can dose them with Revolution for you. Do not attempt to do so yourself because dosage will depend on kittens weight and health - a vet can make the decision if it's safe to do so. Mother cat can also be treated with a tube of it while she's there.

This will help treat roundworms that they likely have.

Do not attempt to use OTC flea products like Hartz, Biospot, Zodiac, - shampoos or powders etc out of desperation or in order to save money. You'll risk poisoning them all and possibly causing their deaths.
(and if you do know better, just consider this a warning that's going to get tagged onto all post about flea topicals
)
 
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lyle91

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We've gotten rid of most of them, but some of the pesky ones get really deep, that's why I asked.

We went to the vet and they were out of flea products for kittens under 12 weeks, so they told us to use the comb method you described, I just wondered if anyone knew if the baby powder myth was true, since that would make it easy and faster.

I'll try that stuff you mentioned though, thanks
 

my4llma

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You can try bathing them in Dawn, for 10 minutes. The vet at Pet Smart told us to do that with Luna. It didn't kill all of them, but it did kill most of them. Then the vet told us to us Revolution Kitten and that took care of the problem.

You said that your vet was out of flea products for kittens. What if you tried another vet in your area? Check out VCA Animal Hospitals they seem to be in most states. That's where my cats are going and they seem to be good.
 
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lyle91

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Thanks, I'll see if they are in my area, and I'll try using dawn.

Would getting a hair dryer be a smart idea so they don't get cold? They always seem cold after getting wet, and I don't want them to catch anything.
 

Willowy

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Dawn just stuns the fleas, doesn't really kill them outright (though some do drown in the bathing process), so make sure you pick them off and do something to kill the fleas. . .put them in hot water or soapy water to drown them.

Most cats freak out at hair dryers. Just towel dry them really well and put them somewhere warm and draft-free.
 

my4llma

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With Luna we towel dried her, then used the hair blower on low to completely dry her. We lucked out with Luna because she's part Turkish Van, and Turkish Van's are known for liking water. She didn't fight her bath. She liked the water. She also didn't mind the dryer. Then we spent the rest of the night flea combing her. We did get a lot of dead ones off of her, but it won't kill all of them. That's why the vet gave us Kitten Revolution. Once the kitten Revolution was on her, we never saw another flea. All the clothes we wore when touching her, we kept tied in a garbage bag and washed them, threw out the garbage bag. That way there were no fleas left over. We've been lucky when it comes to fleas. Lynxx had a small flea outbreak, and Luna had a major 1, but the Revolution was able to kill them without us having to flea bomb the house. Talk to your vet, or go to another vet.
 
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