What do fleas look like?!

So I just got a new kitten from a coworker a couple days ago.. introductions appear to be going fairly well and today I notice a small jumping insect on my bed? I took a photo as best as I was able. I'm going to call the vet on Monday to see if they can take me that day. She doesn't seem overly itchy but I've never dealt with anything like this before.

If they're like a piece of black pepper jumping around (and they're fast) then it's a flea.

I would immediately quarantine the new animal (which should have been done already) & get her into a bath with Dawn soap or any other liquid hand soap. Put her in the sink, use a little water & lather her up real good starting with the head, chin, ears, cheeks & then work your way down. Fleas always run up, this way when you rinse, hopefully you'll see some go bye bye. After you get her all soaped up, you can fill the sink up with warm water & keep her in there & see if you see any fleas running up to the top of her head.

I would also get a flea comb & comb the crap out of that cat. If you get fleas started, you're gonna hate it! They live in carpet & then you'll have to bug bomb the whole house.

So I don't know what magical world you live in where a cat can be bathed, but despite how skeptical i was I decided to try it. It went horribly. There is water everywhere and she would not hold still long enough for me to get her even relatively wet and lathered. I've only seen the one potential flea, nothing on her coat that seems like it could be flea or flea excrement. I have quarantined her officially until I make sure, I guess. I'm a bit of a clean freak so I'm not terribly worried about having to do full apartment cleanings. Do you think I should vacuum already? Is this something you take your cat to the vet for? I've never dealt with this so I'm just trying to get sorted.

my cats haven't ever had fleas but I've been around other house holds where when you walk in, your legs will be crawling with them. it's disgusting & they lay a lot of eggs. That's good you got her in a separate place. Do you have a flea comb? Can you get one? Every pet store sells them. It's a super fine toothed comb, you can brush her with it & see if any fleas or black poop come off in it.

I don't have a problem bathing a cat. If they're a kitten you just hold them with one hand while the other hand lathers. Then when you turn the water on, you can get the right temp & then use both hands to wash the soap off. Or for me, I like to dunk. I would rinse the kitty, hold it in the sink while it fills up & then try to get it's head as close to the water line as possible. I had to bathe 3 kittens I was fostering once, I just did them one at a time.

I guess the key is to use a tiny amount of water with the soap, if you try to squirt a cat down, that's usually when they flip out. The kitchen sink is also a good spot if you have one of those squirter things. Then you can lift her body up & squirt her belly.

If you want to vacuum I'm sure it wouldn't hurt, but I think you're gonna be good. If you didn't see them running around on top of the kitties head, there might just have been the one that jumped off. The right picture looked like a flea, the left one didn't.

It was the same bug just different angles. She got fairly wet and there wasn't anything visible. I'm going to vacuum her room really quick while she's in the bathroom with her litter box and food and then I will go get a flea comb. I will try the bath again when I get back. She clawed me quite a bit while I was trying to hold and lather her though. I can't imagine having a flea infestation.. just finding that one made me about lose my mind with worry. Thank you for the replies though!

keep us posted of any updates

So I vacuumed my whole apartment and plan to every other day for a while. I bought a flea comb and combed her. I got a few small black specks but not very many and no living fleas or anything. I also did my best to bathe her again (it still did not go well at all, she kept clawing her way over my shoulder and stuff when I was trying to hold her). I texted her previous owner and she told me she "just treated her for fleas". I'm not sure if she meant prophylactic treatment or what. She says there is no problem with fleas in her home but she owns like 2 other cats and a dog which is why she was getting rid of the kitten in the first place. I plan to flea comb the baby again before bed, she tolerates it fairly well. I admittedly haven't kept her in that separate bedroom anymore because she is literally destroying the carpet to get out and I live in an apartment. I'm planning to call my vet tomorrow when they open to see if I should bring her in. I realized I had also visited my roommate the day before I noticed the one potential flea in my apartment and she has a dog. I don't know if they get the same type of fleas, though. 

yeah a flea is a flea, dogs & cats & other furry animals have them.

Gosh you are on top of it! You're being so diligent, that's excellent. Fleas like to run all around. I used to put my cat on his back & look at his belly & see them running around through the fur. He was white so it was easy. I don't know what color your kitty is.

Fleas tend to be around the ears, armpits, belly, area where legs connect & on the tail. They run up & can stay right by the nose/mouth, can be under the chin. If you have time, just look at your cats fur, like use your fingers & pull it away so you can see her skin. If you see one of the little buggers grab it! Either put it in the toil & flush or pull them apart.

I have a tortie (the one I just got, I think she's a tortie) and a tuxedo cat so. Not super easy to see. But I did comb through her hair with my fingers a bit while she was sleeping in my lap and didn't see anything. I'm just so nervous about the possibility of it getting out of hand so i wanna nip it in the bud if she does have any! The only worse thing I could imagine is a bed bug infestation ugh. Thanks for all your helpful advice, though. 

If you've washed her twice, vacuumed & don't see anything crawling around on her, I don't think you're going to have an infestation. I think you're good!

Use the little bathroom with all the hard surfaces.  Fill bathtub about 6" deep with soapy water and mix some Harts Flea "DIP" in the water also. 
Since you've never done this before, and are more concerned with just a "dip" than an all out "wash".....Set cat on a towel, and wrap towel tightly around the cat, leaving just the head poking out. 
Now isn't the time to be stupid.  You're a smart person and you know this is going to make a watery mess.   SO, it would be best to dress accordingly.  I suggest nothing more than shorts and a t-shirt since you're going to get drenched anyway.

Grab the towel above cats back and roll/wad it up tight so that you can just push the cats body down into the water/soap/dip in the bathtub.

Dunk cats body a few times.
Remove cat, remove wet towel, proceed to dry off cat.

Nothing to it.

Afterwards, sit down with a stiff drink and make a list of things you missed.

Such as...

The video camera.
Cats can get out of a towel wrap in a split second.
If a soaking wet cat can climb a wall mirror?  Same cat will have no problem climbing every wall.
Cats can SCREAM LOUD! 
When finished climbing all the walls, and the mirror, while screaming like on fire....there's only one thing left to climb.  And that's the huddled up mess of human (with no clothes on) in the corner of the bathroom.

On your way home from the Emergency Room, stop by the store and pick up a new shower curtain and toilet seat.  That will get you by until the contractor gets there to repair and repaint the sheetrock.

AND...In all seriousness.  That is FASTER, CHEAPER, and EASIER than ridding your home of a flea infestation.