Fleas, earmites and worm in kitten

Hi I just adopted a 10 week old kitten from a shelter.  They told me he had ear mites but after a couple days of being home I took him for a vet check up and discovered he had fleas. earmites, and a worm.  He has been/is being treated for all three and I have done every preventative measure to make sure the fleas don't come back.Has anyone else experienced all three of these at once? Any advice for me? I am really worried.  I am also worried about his current health problems as a baby causing future health problems throughout his life.  Also is it likely he will keep getting fleas? Do I keep treating him?

Thanks!

Any advice or similar situation stories would help!

All 3 of these are very common when adopting from shelters.  You will most likely have to have him treated again for parasites due to the life cycle of the parasites. 

Hi there,

Congrats on adopting your baby!  None of those three things are things to worry about - those are all things that should be part of his normal kitten vetting anyway.   It's possible he got rescued from off the streets and taken to the shelter, so maybe that's how he got fleas & earmites.   Most/all kittens are born with worms, so they must be de-wormed - that's not unusual at all.

De-worming can take 2 (sometimes 3) doses - you have to repeat the dose like that in order to catch all the parasites - the first de-wormer may only kill the adult parasites but the young ones survive - that's why you have to repeat the de-worming med.   Depending on which de-wormer you are using, your vet can answer more specific questions about how much to give and when to repeat the dosage.

Ear mites are the same - it may require more than one dose in order to make sure all the mites are dead.  (Just went thru that with a cat I rescued from the streets over here....)

Depending on your climate and the geographic region where you live (is it like Florida? warm all the time?) you may need to give a flea preventive every month.

I live in Ohio, so I only give flea meds during the warmer months.   But if you live somewhere warm/tropical you may need to do it year-round.   I give my guys Program - a once-a-month medication that keeps the fleas from being able to reproduce - it is a preventive vs a "killer."   When we first noticed everyone had fleas a few months ago, we gave everyone a single dose of Frontline to kill all the fleas, then started them on Program (I just don't like topically applying a pesticide to them every month and prefer oral meds, but there's not anything wrong with doing topicals once monthly).   If he's going to be an indoor/outdoor cat, he will definitely need flea meds every month, or he will just keep getting re-infested.    

So none of the issues you're facing are bad or unusual - just normal cat stuff    If you leave these things untreated, they will progress and cause other problems.   But none of these things will cause problems for him as an adult.   The worms and ear mites are easily resolved - fleas are something you will have to manage throughout his life depending on your climate.

While I've never dealt with all three before, I've dealt with a severe flea infestation with my kitten, and as I volunteer at an animal shelter, I've seen a few cases of ear mites and worms.  As long as you take care of all the issues, you kitten will be fine as an adult!

When I moved to a new apartment, it had a terrible infestation of fleas in the carpet that took me nearly two months to be rid of.  The problem with fleas is that it's so difficult to kill all of them, including the eggs.  Vacuuming and flea baths weren't enough to get rid of them, so I had to put my kitten on a flea preventative.

Since I live in a very warm climate, I give a flea preventative every month.  I use Revolution for my kitten, which prevents/kills fleas, flea eggs, ear mites, worms, and heart worms.  The only issue that might arise is that my vet wouldn't let me use it for my kitten until she reached 3 lbs.  There are other preventatives and medicines you can safely give a younger kitten, though.  Also, flea combs and soapy water work wonders!

If your kitten has access to outside, or you have any other pets that go outside, it's possible that your kitten could be exposed to fleas again, or you could even have one tag along on your shoes. It's up to you how often you should treat for fleas, but I would suggest occasional checks with a flea comb to make sure they don't come back.

Good luck, and congratulations on your new kitten!  I wouldn't worry too much about these issues, it sounds like your kitten is being well taken care of and will be just fine!