Fleas on kittens and defleaing.

chrisandpuss

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Hi all

I got a kitten yesterday and found out he had a lot of fleas when I was being driven home with him. As soon as we got home. We bathed him in hand soap water and throughly washed him, waited for his fur to dry and then put two doses of "revolution for kittens and puppies pink" and then put him in the garage in a three storey cat cage. All this time we had not entered our house for fear of spreading fleas that may have been on our clothes. So before we went into the house we stripped our clothes and placed in a bucket of soap water to go into the house to change. After that we sprayed the crap out of everything with Moreton bug spray. The car, the cat carrier, everything we thought the kitten touched.

I know putting two does of revolution was excessive but 28 hours later the fleas that remained the kitten have died I think as they don't move but there are still eggs which I'm not sure are dead either (the package from revolution said it killed eggs and larvae). The kitten seems fine as he has a strong meow and seems energetic. After checking in repeated the process of stripping my clothes, putting in a hot tub of soap water before entering my house to change.
Tomorrow I plan to take the kitten out of its cage and then throughly clean its eating bowl and litter tray before giving him another bath. Then use boiling water with soap to wash the cage cage and the garage floor to kill any remaining eggs or larvae before spraying the garage with Moreton bug spray .
However my question is
"will this method kill the fleas and its offspring completely? "
And could my kitten still be infected with fleas. I have another kitten in my house who doesn't have fleas and would not like to get infected either.
"Should I leave my kitten in the garage longer to see if there are remaining fleas?"
I will be highly receptive to ANY advice!
 
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chrisandpuss

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Oh i also left shampoo in my hair for 30 minutes in case fleas may have gotten in my hair. I also plan to clean the carrier with boiling soap water before I put my new kitten in it before I start cleaning the garage.
 

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@chrisandpuss

Two doses of revolution is a LOT.  Please watch your kitten for any odd movements or shaking.  I think you may need to contact your vet to see about a potential overdose

Normally, you would not want to bathe a cat immediately after a treatment, but bathing your kitten may remove some of the Revolution and minimize the potential for an overdose.

@catwoman707, @Margd, any advice?

You can bathe a cat in regular blue Dawn dish detergent to kill fleas.   There are several threads about this, here is one thread 
[thread="172257"]Why Dawn Soap  [/thread]
If you get a cat with fleas in the future, there is a medicine called Capstar that kills adult fleas on the cat in just an hour or so.  Capstar, followed by a bath, followed by Revolution is considered to be a very good flea treatment.
 
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catwoman707

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Hello and welcome!

You are treating the fleas as someone would a contagious virus and it's not needed to that extreme.

The fleas are perfectly happy chewing on the kitten, and would not hop off unless they were disrupted, as in bathing.

Revolution will kill the eggs and larvae as well.

If a flea were to transfer to a human they can't stay and feed off of you so they won't stay on your clothes or hair.

The worst that can happen is you might get a flea bite.

Needless to say I don't think after all of the precautions you have already taken that you have anything at all to worry about.

In the future you should know that revolution is waterproof but because it does not stay topical but goes to the organs and is time released, so doubling a dose is too much med for them to handle, and I wouldn't do that in the future.

When you bathe, unless it is hot outside and summer time weather be sure to use a toasty warm blow dryer to dry well, using your open hand as a guard in between the skin and the hot/warm air so it protects skin from burning.

To bathe a kitty with fleas, you must make a thick soap ring as high on the neck as possible prior to wetting the body down or the fleas climb up in to their eyes nose, ears etc to escape.

The soap ring acts as a barrier keeping them on the body so you can suds them up good and watch as they go down the drain :)

Oh, you can even drown all fleas off if you are able to keep the body submerged for 10-15 minutes but obviously below the soap ring to protect the head.
 
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foxden

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C chrisandpuss

Washing your clothes in hot water or warm water with a little bleach will take care of any fleas on your clothes.

If you are worried about carrying fleas into the house, put your clothes in a plastic trash bag and carry them directly to the washing machine. After you put the clothes in the washer, throw the plastic bag into the trash outside.

A way to use bleach without staining your clothes is to add bleach after the washer has filled with water. That way your clothes only get touched with diluted bleach.

I volunteered at a shelter for awhile. I never had any problems with bringing fleas or diseases home to my cats. I did put my clothes in trash bags until I could wash them if I had handled a sick cat.
 
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chrisandpuss

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Hi all I take all your advices by heart.
I just washed him again and there doesn't seem to be any live fleas except one straggler.
I've kept him the carrier now in the house. my older kitten is very curious and has been circling the carrier without little to no hissing at all after 5 minutes.
When will my new kitten be able to have direct physical contact with my older kitten, in regards to stop spreading the fleas. My older kitten also had a dose of kitten revolution pink!
 
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chrisandpuss

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Could white specs be dandruff rather than flea eggs? I bathed the new kitten for 20 minutes and scrubbed him throughly. I had read that over cleaning can dry skin and cause dandruff. Could this also be the case?
 
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chrisandpuss

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If the specks are loose on the fur and could be blown away then yes it is dry skin/dander.
I had to actually pull them off but there were no fleas. I washed the kitten again because he stepped in his own poop and all the specs seem to have come after I dried him.

As a precaution I intend to wash my floors everyday until the revolution wears off and I'll see if I have found anything.
Will this be enough to clear eggs and larvae?

I have also let my two kittens start playing and they get along famously albeit with rough play (they are both unneautered males).
 

foxden

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I had to actually pull them off but there were no fleas. I washed the kitten again because he stepped in his own poop and all the specs seem to have come after I dried him.

As a precaution I intend to wash my floors everyday until the revolution wears off and I'll see if I have found anything.
Will this be enough to clear eggs and larvae?

I have also let my two kittens start playing and they get along famously albeit with rough play (they are both unneautered males).
Watch the kittens playing. They might play very rough and you might still need to separate them if they are biting hard or scratching each other.

If a kitten steps in their poo, try wiping with a damp cloth first instead of washing them.

Washing too often is not very good for kittens or cats, because the skin will dry out. You also are exposing them to more chemicals.

You don't have to wash your floors every day. You can wash each 3 or 4 days. When you wash the floor, be sure to rinse the floor after so the kittens are not exposed as much to the chemicals.
 
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chrisandpuss

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Watch the kittens playing. They might play very rough and you might still need to separate them if they are biting hard or scratching each other.

If a kitten steps in their poo, try wiping with a damp cloth first instead of washing them.

Washing too often is not very good for kittens or cats, because the skin will dry out. You also are exposing them to more chemicals.

You don't have to wash your floors every day. You can wash each 3 or 4 days. When you wash the floor, be sure to rinse the floor after so the kittens are not exposed as much to the chemicals.
Thanks foxden!
 

catwoman707

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Core vaccines are a must.

The kitten series of 3 consecutive 3-4 weeks apart then again at 1 year of FVRCP are absolutely a must do, indoors only or otherwise.

Without that protection you can simply have walked on grass, later walk in to the house and unknowingly exposed them to cat parvo, which is so hearty it lasts a good 18 months.

I'm sure they won't neuter without vaccine either too.

Love seeing them get along so well!

Enough bathing already! lol 
 
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