flea infested kitten...please help!

my friend has tons of cats, mostly outside cats. One of his cats got pregnant. She was only a couple months herself(pretty young) she didnt really take care of her kittens. i ended up with one of the kittens and when i got her she had fleas. it wasnt a big deal(or so i thought) because their were only a couple. well, before i knew it eggs were hatching and she couldnt stop scratching. I made plans to see the vet but i live in a VERY small town and i guess shes has a VERY long waiting list. So i went to Petsmart to see what i could pick up but everything was for older cats. Im not even sure how old my kitten is. The last "owner" told me she was 6 months but hes not sure and that was 4 weeks ago. i recently picked up a flea collar. and it says she has to be 12 months to use it. but im running out of ideas. I read the box and it says in bold letters "kitten must be 12 weeks or older" I tried just giving her normal baths but they dont stay away for long!! Should I put the collar on? or Are their any other methods i can use..

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!

PLEASE do not put anything on this kitten but get her to the vet quickly. She needs a safe flea treatment and your vet will have this. My vet in a standard check-up for kittens includes a dose of kitten flea treatment free of charge. If the kitten is to young you can do her great harm by using flea soaps, flea treatments or flea collars. Flea collars are generally quite toxic and the best use for them is to cut them up in small pieces and put the pieces in your vaccum bag.

You can bathe the kitten is warm water and Dawn liquid detergent, just a little bit though, and the Dawn does not kill the fleas, but it does stun them. Then you use a flea comb to comb out the kitten to remove the fleas,dunking the comb into a jar of hot water.

It really depends on the age of the kitten though

Welcome to the board....I second what Hissy is saying about the kitten.

BTW..if your friend needs a low cost clinic for the mom cat...here is a list of low cost clinics in New York. I would highly recommend he have her and the other outdoor cats spayed/neutered.

NEW YORK...Low cost or free spay/neuter programs:


Pet Pal Mobile Spay/Neuter Clinic
Schenectady County NY
518-374-3944
www.animalprotective.org
For pets of county residents with financial needs.

Statewide: New York State
Pet Population Control Program
Dept of Agriculture & Markets
Division of Animal Industry
1 Winners Circle
Albany, NY 12205
518-457-3502
Thanks to pet friendly car license plate sales, spay/neuter surgery costs about $30 and vaccinations cost up to $10 each -- from veterinarians participating in the state's program. Contact DOAM office for the most recent listing of participating vets.

New York...arranged by area code


Bide-A-Wee
410 E. 38th Street
New York, NY 10016
212-532-5884



ASPCA
Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital
424 East 92nd Street
New York, NY
212-876-7700 ext 4200
Low cost spay/neuter and low cost rabies vaccinations.

ASPCA Care-A-Van
212-876-7700 ext 4303
Mobile van goes to low income neighborhoods and provides free spay/neuter and vaccinations. Suggested donation $25. Call for the van schedule and to make an appointment.

Have-A-Heart Spay and Neuter Clinic
Fund for Animals
355 West 52nd Street
New York, NY 10019
212-977-6877 for appointments
Low cost spay/neuter for all.

Feral Cat Friends
PO Box 236
Weedsport, NY 13166
315-252-2406 Call 6 pm to 8 pm only
Email [email protected]


Central New York SPCA
5878 East Molloy Road
Syracuse, NY 13211
315-454-4479

Pet Outreach Inc.
PO Box 312
Syracuse, NY 13211
315-469-6569 or
315-478-6900
[email protected] email

Wayne County Humane Society
Lyons NY
315-946-3389


Laura Gay Senk, DVM
Farmingdale NY
516-626-3090
www.myvetonline.com/drsenk
Low cost s/n and veterinary care for feral and stray cats.

Bide-A-Wee
3300 Beltagh Avenue
Wantagh, NY 11793
516-785-4687

Spay Today Inc.
300 Horseblock Road
Brookhaven, NY 11719
516-286-4965
Low cost spay/neuter for all pets, strays, and ferals.

SPCA of Nassau County
516-794-0831

New York State
Pet Population Control Program
Dept of Agriculture & Markets
Division of Animal Industry
1 Winners Circle
Albany, NY 12205
518-457-3502
Thanks to pet friendly car license plate sales, spay/neuter surgery costs about $30 and vaccinations cost up to $10 each -- from veterinarians participating in the state's program. Contact DOAM office for the most recent listing of participating vets.

Adirondack Humane Society
PO Box 1704
Plattsburgh, NY 12901
518-561-7876
Low cost spay/neuter for pets of low income people.

Animalkind Inc
PO Box 902
Hudson NY 12534
518-943-7654


Columbia-Greene Humane Society
Hudson, NY, Columbia County 518-828-6044
Athens, NY, Greene County 518-945-1286
Low cost spay/neuter and vaccinations.

Greene Animal Welfare Alliance
PO Box 209
Athens, NY 12015
518-945-3218
Spay/neuter discounts for all pets.

Humane Society of Rochester & Monroe County
Fairport, NY
585-223-1333 ext 36
Low cost spay/neuter for pets of qualified low income people.

SPCA of Tompkins County
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-257-1822
Discounted spay/neuter program for qualifed low income.

Project Paw
Binhamton NY
607-724-2241

Finger Lakes Humane Society
Bath NY
607-776-3039

Animal Care Council S/N Program
Endicott NY
607-786-7729


Bide-A-Wee
188 Old Country Road
Westhampton, NY 11977
631-325-0280

Little Shelter Animal Rescue
33 Warner Road
Huntington, NY 11743
631-368-8770
Low cost spay/neuter van visits twice a month.

Suffolk County SPCA
145 Pigeon Hill Road
Huntington Station, NY 11746
631-549-SPCA
Free spay/neuter for feral cats.


League for Animal Protection
631-757-4517

Island Rescue
Bay Shore NY
631-968-8700

Erie County Spay and Neuter Assistance Program Buffalo NY area
716-652-1359 or 716-821-1827

Animal Birth Control Society of Western NY
Buffalo NY
716-873-4500
Provides discount certificates for pets of low income residents. Call for information.

Muffin's Pet Connection
9728 3rd Avenue
Box 125
Brooklyn, NY 11209
718-833-7988
www.muffins.org
Gives certificates for low cost spay/neuter at over 60 participating veterinarians In New York City and Westchester and Long Island.


S.A.V.E.S., Inc.
PO Box 453
Greenport, NY 11944
Email: [email protected]
Serves the North Fork of Long Island only. For feral cats, low cost spay/neuter and vaccination certificates, plus twice yearly free spay/neuter clinics for ferals.

Animal Emergency Fund
Saugerties NY
845-247-6211
For residents of Ulster County, sponsors low cost s/n including feral cats.

Furever Animals Inc.
Montgomery NY
845-457-8147

The Animal Rights Alliance Inc PO Box 346
Westbrookville NY 12785
845-754-7100
Mobile van s-n clinic operates one day a week in Orange, Ulster, and Sullivan counties.

Animal Welfare League
White Plains, NY
914-948-2094


________________________________________________________________________________ _

He can also contact one of the groups in the list below to see if they can help him:

http://www.animalalliancenyc.org/abo...nts/nycfcc.htm

It will be best for the cats if they can be spayed/neutered.

Follow the advice from the other posts until you can get the kitten to the vet. Once you do they will be able to get you some advantage or another similar product. You'll put that on her and the fleas will be dead almost immediately. It's amazing. You'll also want to treat your home or she'll just getting reinfested. You can buy sprays or powders (depending on you flooring) at Target or walmart. Just make sure not to allow her into the area you are treating. Good luck!

You do need to move quickly. Flea-borne illness and anemia is a real danger to the kitten's life.

I also adopted a stray kitten that was flea infested. He was so bad, that not only did he have fleas and eggs. He had, was the vet said was "flea poop" The vet gave me prescription flea medication called revolution, which is also a 3 month supply and costs about $50. He told me sadley that my kitted would have to stay in the bathroom for 24 hours and to remove all the rugs, towels etc. Because the fleas would start to jump off. (which they did) He told me that if he was to go in the rest of the house while being treated he could become infested again and that was why he had to be secluded for 24 hours to make sure all the nasties were killed dead. And it worked!!!!! He is now flea free!. I did have to give him a bath and a good grooming to get rid of the "flea poop" and dead fleas. But he is now as clean as a whistle. And my cat appears a whole lot healthier and happier! Point is VET knows best. He'll tell you which treatment to use. The over the counter stuff won't really work when there is a really bad infestation.