Oh shit fleas

[Ohnocats]

Adopted two kittens last week but realised they have fleas and I've definitely seen one crawling one of the kittens. DC has what looks like a couple of bites on the ankle.

AIBU to be absolutely sickened by the thoughts of a flea infestation. It's triggering my anxiety so badly and my skin is crawling. Ordered flea spot on and household flea spray. What on earth do I do? 😧

I've never used a flea comb. I use a monthly flea treatment from the vet

Oh goodness I feel so sick and itchy. Is it possible to get fleas living on humans? No. They'll bite you but will drop off after one feed - cat fleas can't live on you and human fleas aren't common nowadays and won't be brought in by a cat.

The thought of combing out the fleas and drowning them is making me want to drown myself! It's a quick way to relieve the kitten of its flea load while you're waiting for the flea treatment to work. You don't need to look too closely - you'll comb out some fluff too, and the fleas will be entangled, so you just dunk the whole lot.

wow, as easy as that hey? who knew 😆 We didn't have our own cat, so there wasn't anything bringing in new fleas to replace the ones I'd got rid of.

and douse myself with Domestos. Don't! Shower gel will be equally effective and a lot better for you.

Thanks! I was beginning to wish I'd not posted. I wasn't quite prepared for the barrage of incredulity and horror.

Also put a white towel down if you have an old one. For some reason fleas jump on to it. Likewise spray in your car footwells/carpets.

That's interesting! Will they jump on to white paper too?

We gave up and got the house professionally sprayed. I had a big house at the time, with rural scabby farm cats who generally weren't as much hassle as the flea-infested rabbits and vermin that they brought it.

@MereDintofPandiculation possibly - think they are attracted to the colour

Oh I feel your pain! When we got our kitten from a friend of mine, she said the kittens had all been treated and they probably had but whatever flea treatment she used just wasn't effective. When we realised we had fleas, I was beside myself!!!
Looking back, I can be rational. I spent a small fortune on Indorex and sprayed all around the skirting boards and everywhere else to be honest! I washed cushions and throws etc regularly and sprayed all the furniture too. I also used a nit comb with a bowl of soapy water and that was strangely satisfying to comb them out.
Like I said, I was beside myself but you do get out the other side eventually, you just have to systematically do all of the above and eventually you break the cycle.
Oh and make sure you buy flea treatment from the vet going forward and don't forget to apply it every month! Good luck!

Please do not use domestos on yourself.

A fabric spray and some spot on will rid these tomorrow.

Experienced fleas for the first and hopefully last time a few months ago. Vet’s flea treatment plus Indorex (sprayed everywhere), vacuuming and washing of bedding - all gone within a few days of the visit to the vet. We were warned that we may still see fleas over the following weeks as new ones hatched, but nothing. I was so stressed and depressed disgusted when I saw flea dirt and fleas crawling in my cats fur, but getting rid was much easier and quicker than I expected. Don’t despair!

I hate to gross you out but kittens need regular worming as well as flea treatment.

Are they your first ever pets?

It's a bit worrying how dramatic you're being.

Yes definitely.

You can get white sticky bug trap paper from Amazon.

Nope ironically I grew up in a crazy cat house, with dogs too. I can only recall seeing fleas once on one of the dogs. Treated promptly with spot on and trip to the vet and never saw fleas ever again.

I've never had to deal with this before alone as a single parent, being the only adult in the house responsible for anything and everything.

Sorry if my anxiety is bothering you, I came here for support not judgement.

It's ok I was kidding about the Domestos. My skin is crawling though.

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

I've ordered Indorex, kitten flea shampoo, flea powder and spot on. Vet visit tomorrow was booked anyway.

First load of washing gone in at 90 degrees with a good splash of zoflora. Good job my washing machine is very quiet as I may be up for a while this evening.

I'll definitely try hoovering with a flea collar in the hoover.

Currently the kittens are happy in their cat tree. Suspect that will need to be decontaminated too at some point.

I posted a near identical thread a few days ago!

Spent the time since vacuuming, spraying, washing, combing...Cats need to be treated at the vets with prescription stuff, apparently fleas are getting immune to otc treatments!

Thankfully, within a few hours of vet treatment, everything seems to have calmed down and haven't found any since.

Make sure to spray close to skirting boards & nooks & crannies & empty the vacuum into a bag each time- take straight to outside bin.

Vet also advised giving next months dose of treatment a week early (so in 3 weeks instead of 4) to be safe. Indorex last 2 -3 months and I'll be spraying early next time as well for the same reason.

I am starting to climb down after the stress of it!

I don’t know how effective it really is but I’d be bathing the kittens too in the hope that it would drown a number of fleas.

My cats have have brought fleas into the house for the first time since 1996 this autumn. I’ve barely used flea treatment on them for years so I wonder if this year has been particularly bad. Treating, washing and hoovering has been exhausting and expensive!

I wouldn't wash the cats if they have been flea treated as you will wash the treatment off again

My kitten had fleas when she arrived. Tried everything, indorex, advantage, shampoo, flea comb. The fleas were invincible. Bravecto finally sorted it out. It did take months but only because I had to wait a set amount of time between types of treatments.

My recommendation would be to do nothing until you get to the vets for this reason.

Bravecto flea treatment from the vet is fab - no idea if it is suitable for kittens but fingers crossed.

We got away without having to indorex the house (had crawling DC so not keen) with an adult cat with fleas by using bravecto and furious hoovering - daily for 2 weeks. No combing of cat either.

Cat fleas would MUCH rather bite a cat than a human so better to treat the cat effectively the let it wander through the affected areas of the house poisoning the fleas.

😂 Honestly, I'm not being pedantic - I really did have to read the post to understand! I was expecting to learn the difference between ordinary fleas and shit fleas!

On another thread, people were talking about turkey teeth. I thought they meant some kind of cosmetic dental work that made their mouths look like turkeys'. No, they meant teeth done in Turkey. For the sake of a capital letter...

I wish more people would realise that these basic errors DO impede understanding! And waste people's time!

Definitely get vet advice for kittens
My puppy has never had fleas because she takes an oral tablet against fleas ticks and worms every month. ( from vets) she’s 3 yrs now .

Over the counter stuff is generally useless.

You definitely don’t want fleas in your house as they are very hard to get rid of .
The larvae lie dormant for months .

Just use a damp flea comb ( a bowl of soapy water to frown the fleas in from the comb)
Bathing cats is pretty unpleasant for them.

Cat fleas also carry worms.

@Ohnocats Worm the kittens as well
a friend had a rescued kitten that was extremely wormy. ( Roundworms)
She’s now regularly wormed.

This Zero In has never failed me. We have 3 cats and had 2 rounds of fleas. One because we just got a new kitten and didn't know, second was because I was in hospital for 3 weeks, then recovering at home slowly for another 6 - so we missed their flea treatments for 3 months in a row! Oops...

It felt disgusting to me! I felt like Cleatus on the Simpsons.

You need to make sure all their food, water and any glasses and mugs are out the room. Basically anything that you or they will drink or eat out of needs to go outside. Otherwise the spray will settle on it and it's poisonous to injest. The kittens need to be out of the building for at least 2 hours I'd say. Maybe put them in a cat carrier and have them in the car for a this time. Then spray car after BTW!

Close all windows and doors, spray around the room. Exit the room and leave it for 30 mins. Then come back in and open the windows as wide as possible. I have a small house so I did the upstairs, then the downstairs - so I could sit in one place at a time.

If you have a big wardrobe (I converted a large cupboard into one) then spray this too!

You also have to wash all the blankets and change your bedding! Don't worry though, that Zero In will absolutely decimate them! 💀