what's making my new kitten itch? (not fleas)

[alltoomuchrightnow]

Only been with me since yesterday
He's never been outside
I can see black crawling insects on him, on the skin rather than down the fur length and he keeps scratching. I try and pick them off him but they are right on the skin and they move so fast
Not fleas and they don't jump
Could they be mites???
How do I rid them?
Am assuming he got them off his mum who was going outside?

he's white so i can see them really clearly, he's sat by me asleep and i can see them moving quickly through the fur

Actually, it sounds just like fleas to me. (They like to hang around at the base of the fur.)

How old is he?

oh no!! i just assumed if were fleas, they'd jump.
but i think mites are a lot smaller??? these are very visible and dark
He's three months old on October 4th
Can I use most shop bought treatments on him?

he must've got it from the adult cats then :-(

Be very careful about OTC meds and definitely don't use Bob Martin's which can be quite dangerous. I'm guessing that he's not had his shots yet (?) if he's so infested with something so I'd be tempted to vet him fast and get the fleas treated there while also making arrangements for his shots/having them done. You'll also need to have him wormed early on because the odds are that he has those also. Poor wee stick.

You need to get the fleas sorted fast though. They can be quite dangerous to a young animal because they suck their blood.

no shots no

He needs to be started off on those then. (It's a two part course.) Have you identified a decent vet yet?

(By the way, many/most kittens have fleas and worms although I'm surprised that his mother's owner didn't notice it especially if he's white. Any vet you go to should be completely matter of fact about it.)

Oh - and if you start a thread about a new kitten here, I'm afraid that you have to post a picture of him so that we can all drool. It's the law.

will update later and with pix, thanks, really need to deal with the fleas asap, will be back later

well that was quite an ordeal :-(

Went to Pets At Home for advice, they told me to bathe him in warm water then check through with a flea comb later
Said the water would make all the fleas come off him
Not so... only about ten left him in the bath water. He was quivering and kept farting, so traumatised he didnt even meow at all :-(
Kept seeing them on him so had to keep re dipping him (including head)
He was so stressed I couldnt do any more (it had been a few minutes) so got him out and it wasn't until then that i could see how bad it was
Sat for about half an hour pulling fleas off him with tweezer. They were still super fast. He still didnt meow, seemed very shocked
I've stopped now as he's had enough and I can still see a few on him. obviously no idea how many are left
do i need to keep repeating the bathing?

these are more recent ones (I've known him from the start.. my friend had two litters from two sisters)

baby pix (ok he's still a baby..but when really weeny!)
love the third one.. cutest ever.. he looks like a Hello Kitty triangle head. he was all head then... he's very long now

I feel really guilty as he's now washing himself and purring his head off at me, forgetting i put him through such an ordeal! better than cowering in the corner i know!

got little blood spots all over his lovely white fur.. but I know it's where I pinched the fleas... I don't think i got his skin at all

the water DID make them surface, which helped. but it didnt drown them.... how tough are those bastards??!
yes i think vets is going to be answer

Oh they are tough. Luckily pets at home are open tomorrow.

See what they can prescribe because he'll feel soo much better afterwards.

Yes - vets as soon as you can find one to get his first round of shots at the very least and book his final round. (Pets at Home have vets as well if I recall? Someone could put me right on that.) You really don't want him to get any of the illnesses they vaccinate against - very nasty.

He's just gorgeous by the way. Golden eyes?

he's just had a scratch. thankfully, only ONE scratch since the bathing. and he seems to have forgiven me. just caught one more flea. cannot believe how stubborn they are.. :-(
I'm just waiting on some info from an acquaintance of mine who is a vet and owns a practise. I would register with her but she's a bit too far (to be with long term) however if she can recommend treatment to me i will drive to her tomorrow

His eyes are brownish amber. Dark amber I guess. His mum is half persian with proper yellow amber eyes . He looked like a china doll when tiny, so white with blue eyes!

don't worry Cozie... he won't be going outside until he's had his jabs. I've just got to save the rest of the money up. Basically if i hadn't taken him he'd have gone to Cats Protection, i wasn't really prepared but will be a responsible owner (I actually used to work in a cattery in the 90s..bit embarrassing I was unsure re the fleas, but we never had cats in with fleas , and I don't remember my childhood cat ever having them. Basically, i'm more experienced with older cats, hence needing kitten advice). This little boy was always my favourite of the 8 kittens. He has two black spots on his head (hard to see cos of flash) that look like budding horns!

A friend who's a vet with her own practice? You're in! (And she could always start things off and then fax the records to a new, closer vet once you've found one. I've had that done many times.) Good to have a backstop source of advice anyway.

If you haven't seen signs of flea dirt (like ground black pepper near the base of the fur) then it may be a fairly recent infestation so they may not have taken too much blood yet. Lots of luck to both of you.

I think it would be extremely frightening for a kitten to be bathed, and absolutely bloody useless in getting rid of fleas.
Take him to the vet asap who will weigh him and prescribe the correct flea treatment.
If you were taking the fleas off with tweezers what were you doing with them?
Kittens can become anaemic very quickly if not treated for flea infestations.

yes i did see flea dirt
I was removing the fleas with tweezers in the bathroom. Ran the hot water in the sink, chucked them straight down the plug hole each time. I was sitting on edge of bath with him, by the sink so easy access

Are they going to neuter the mom cats?.

If you recieve benefits you might qualify for financial help from pdsa.