The cat has moved the kittens to a closet

[conuly]

From my perspective this is GREAT because I can see them without having to lie on my stomach. I doubt her perspective will stay the same.

One of them is starting to open one eye. Very adorable. AND one is starting to purr! If you've never heard a newborn kitten's first purr, you've missed out. This one is a little early for it, next week we should hear all of them starting to rattle away.

In the bad news front, the kittens have fleas. I picked them each up and checked them all over, and found one or two on each of them. (Tip for kitten wrangling - always keep a secure hold on the neck. They'll reflexively still, and if they're not crying for their mom their mom is much less likely to get concerned.) One of the calicos especially has a lot of flea dirt on her tail - not good, not good at all. Fleas kill kittens. I should've been more on top of this when their mom was still pregnant, and I dropped the ball.

They're a little young for flea medications, and even though I'm upset and concerned the outbreak doesn't look that serious yet (one reason I wasn't more on top of it before is because the mom didn't seem to have a flea problem - I found one on her in the past month, but now I'm remembering that if you bring an indoor-outdoor cat indoors totally the fleas explode), but I'm going to pick up a flea comb and start checking them daily. Good thing their mom is willing to let me handle her babies. I wouldn't let a giant cat handle *mine*!

Comments

[azarias.livejournal.com]

Food-grade diatomaceous earth kills fleas and is safe for kittens, within reason. It's very finely ground fossilized shells, so just dumping a boxful onto a kitten will mess up her respiration. Rubbing small amounts into her fur, though, and into mom's, will kill fleas. Once the kittens are eating soft solids, you can also mix a bit into their food to kill internal parasites -- again, you can start that with mom right now. The key is to use small amounts and monitor the kittens for any irritation or sneezing/breathing problems, same as with anything.

I buy it at bulkfoods.com, but there are a ton of places online selling it, and given that you live in New York I can't imagine it'd be *that* hard to find a local shop with some. It also works on ants, things that try to eat my housemate's rose bushes, and is safe for human consumption.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

Removing Fleas From Young Kittens (http://www.vetinfo.com/kitten-flea-control.html)

The safest way to remove fleas from kittens younger than eight weeks of age is to give them a bath. Use warm water and Dawn® dish-washing liquid, not flea shampoo! Dawn® dish-washing liquid is very mild and safe for use on your kitten.

It's often easiest to bathe your kitten in a sink. Make sure the water isn't hot enough to burn by testing it on the inside of your wrist. The room should also be as warm as possible so your kitten doesn't get too cold.

Immerse your kitten up to his neck and carefully wet his face with a small sponge. Lift him out, place him on a towel, and then massage the dish-washing liquid into his fur. Be as thorough as possible and remember that fleas will escape to your kitten's face and head. Rinse the kitten and then gently dry him.

After the Bath

After the bath you can further remove fleas from your kitten by combing his fur with a flea comb. You can catch fleas with a flea comb in one of several ways:

While combing him, hold your kitten over a sink full of water so the fleas will to drop into the water.
Catch the fleas with your fingernails and drop them into a jar of very hot water or mineral oil.
Catch the fleas and press them onto a piece of sticky tape.
Rub some petroleum jelly onto the base of the flea comb's teeth to help prevent fleas from escaping.


....Don't use toxic flea-control products: diatomaceous earth (http://www.richsoil.com/flea-control.jsp) is the stuff you need.

Good luck; snuggles to your baby kitties, and may all fleas perish!

[conuly]

Oh, I have some in my house! I still want to comb the fleas out if possible - if nothing else, using a comb is the most efficient way to get a small quantity thoroughly mixed into the fur.

[conuly]

I don't like giving kittens baths this early unless the flea problem is VERY severe. I find the risk of a chill is not worth it. I could do it if necessary, I've certainly done it before, but right now I'm in "cautious monitoring" mode. Baths on week old kittens are just... they're not as bad as poison on them, but I'd rather pick the fleas off by hand if it came to that.

[beezelbubbles.livejournal.com]

Yup! This is what I was going to recommend.

[azarias.livejournal.com]

Yup. Being handled and combed will also stimulate the kittens' neural growth and socialization with humans, so good plan all around.

[conuly]

I like to wait until they're a bit bigger before I handle them too much, because moms are still very protective with their newborns, but needs must.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

I didn't know you could do that with diatomaceous earth powder! I use it to kill cockroaches!

[conuly]

Oh, any bug, and if it's food grade powder you can use it to kill off intestinal worms as well.

[ksol1460.livejournal.com]

Well, there are fleas in our house thanks to the little homeless cat we brought in (since de-flead and gone to a foster home) and we are going to the health food store ASAP! THANKS! to all recommending this.

[houseboatonstyx.livejournal.com]

Another safe way to kill fleas on kittens is with cooking oil. Put some oil on a paper towel, so it's just sort of 'damp' not dripping, and gently polish the kitten in selected areas: under arms/legs, lower belly, root of tail, forehead. Don't get the kitten all soppy 'wet' with oil or someone may get a loose stool.

Also make a 'flea trap' on the floor near their bed. This is a bowl of water with a few drops of oil in it. Works better if heated (like by a table lamp right over it or a heating pad right under it). Might be good to have some sort of grill over the top so the kittens can't fall in.

Good luck.

[conuly]

Cooking oil? I hadn't heard that one, but it makes sense.

Mom is determined to hide these kittens well (although she's also lazy and disinclined to move too far from human affection, so mostly she just moves them around wherever she is and hopes that we'll look elsewhere instead. This would work better if she didn't jump to attention and try to distract us when we glanced over at wherever the babies are located), so I don't know if a flea trap will work until they're bigger.