flea and ticks on kittens

[snowballs4kitys]

I was just wondering id anyone knows if i can treat 2 weeks old kittens for ticks and fleas ? Queen has them and needs to b e treated as well please someone help me i am from Ontario and i need to know if there is anything i can treat them with ?

 

[tnr1]

Welcome to TCS..I would suggest you follow the advice of Hissy in the attached post...these kittens are too young to have any flea product used on them.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...t=fleas+kitten

Katie

 

[hissy]

You cannot treat them safely, especially the ticks issue. Please get the kittens to the vet quickly. Lyme disease and anemia are a real concern.

 

[dr. doolittle]

There are pruducts in Canada that you can use safely on mom. Treating her will greatly reduce the number of fleas. Call your vet and ask. Do not use anything over the counter! As for the babies I would buy a flea comb and be persistant. Comb them a couple of times a day. As hissy said they are at a huge risk for anemia if not treated soon.

 

[semiferal]

I have used Advantage on kittens as young as 1 week old. Just measure the dose very, very carefully. I would use about .1 cc on a 2-week-old kitten (ask someone to show you how much that is if you don't know). This is off-label use but that simply means that formal, controlled studies to prove its safety have not been done - it does not mean that it is unsafe. Even if there were some risk from the Advantage, the risks from flea anemia or hypothermia caused by flea dipping are definitely much worse.

Ticks can be pulled off with tweezers. Again, ask someone to show you if you have never done this before. It is very important to pull the tick out by the head.

 

[sydbear20]

I had a simular problem with some stays i found at about 3 weeks. took them to the vet and he said to bathe them with a dish soap like dawn for example. also to use a flea comb. He said not to use anything over the counter on them (way too young) good luck they will put up a fight

Also make sur that they are warm when you are done dry them off very well and turn the heat up in the house till they are dry.

 

[kittymeri]

if u were to use the product on the mom while shes nursing, wouldn't it rub off onto the kittens too??

 

[semiferal]

Originally Posted by sydbear20

I had a simular problem with some stays i found at about 3 weeks. took them to the vet and he said to bathe them with a dish soap like dawn for example. also to use a flea comb. He said not to use anything over the counter on them (way too young) good luck they will put up a fight

Also make sur that they are warm when you are done dry them off very well and turn the heat up in the house till they are dry.

My vet told me specifically that since Advantage, et. al., were invented, kittens that would have otherwise died are easy to save now. A full immersion in a soapy bath is dangerous because it can make them hypothermic and possibly kill them. Advantage is considered to be safe and is certainly far less risky than immersing a tiny, possibly anemic kitten in a bath.

 

[semiferal]

Originally Posted by KittyMeri

if u were to use the product on the mom while shes nursing, wouldn't it rub off onto the kittens too??

Yes to some extent, but it does not harm the kittens.

 

[gayef]

While there may be a few who have used certain products off-label with success, I am just not comfortable with it. There is more to it than it just wasn't tested that way. Many cats have reactions to the spot-on flea treatments and if you put it on kittens that young, it is a certainty that Mom is going to lick them and ingest the chemicals.

Hissy's advice in the post that TNR1 left is, in my opinion, the only safe way to remove fleas and ticks from the babies. Do NOT bathe them in Dawn or any other kind of dishwashing liquid ... the risks of hypothermia and other issues are far too great! I cannot fathom that a vet would recommend that!!!

You must be very persistant in tweezing, combing and making certain you've removed as many of the fleas and ticks as you possibly can several times a day. This also has the added benefit of allowing you to bond more closely with the kittens in that they come to recognize your smell, your touch and your sounds.

Best of luck,

~gf~