Found a weird crawling creature in kittens fur.

[meloraspalm]

I have a four month old kitten. She hasn’t been outside yet as i’m waiting until she’s neutered. A couple of days ago she escaped through the front door and I little to the right are out bins. She ran behind and was ferritin around for ages. Finally managed to coax her out and bring her in. Today having cuddles and this brown louse looking thing was burrowing around the white fur near her mouth. Tried to get it but it escaped into her black fur and I couldn’t find it....any ideas what it is?? My poor kitty 😩

It's a flea. Has she had flea treatment?

Or a tick. Do you have a nit comb? You could try gently grooming her with it and seeing what turns up.

You can neuter from 4 months. Could be a flea. Do you flea treat?

It’s not I tic, I know what they look like. I thought fleas were tiny? This thing seemed to be a bit under a cm long. It had segments on its back which tapered off. Slithered along quickly through her fur. I thought kittens had to be 6 months before they could be done? She’s not had anything yet, I was waiting until I booked her in for her snip in August. I’m going to take her to the vets if I can get in this week. It just really freaked me out as i’v never seen anything like it before and I hate the thought of it being on my poor little girl!

Earwig?

Could it have been a ladybird larva which has fallen onto her fur? They are weird little critters.

Flea, some of them are big fuckers.

Have you got a nit comb? Give her a good going over and see if there are any more. You’ll know if it’s a flea as you’ll probably find quite a few.

And flea poo comes out with a nit comb, another sign.

Sounds like an earwig from your description.

1cm is too big for a flea unless it's Attack of the Giant Fleas!!!

It wasn’t an earwig (too light brown, segmented and short). Lady bird larvae have red on. Was more in that category though. Great suggestions! I have some knowledge of bugs and this has stumped me. 😮 at the flea suggestion. That would be a scary beast!! 😂

Unfortunately I don’t have a nit comb. I’ll have to wait until I can pick the vet’s brain I guess. And get the full arsenal of chemicals whilst i’m there. She’s desperate to get out.

Wood louse? They are light greyish/brownish and segmented

My boys were done at 4 months as that's what's advised. Wood louse is segmented

Ladybird larva has red on as it matures but not to start with.

Thanks for all your input. I’ve learnt she can be done now (wahoo!) so not a waste of time. Will see what the expert says next week. Knowing my luck it’ll be fleas (monster ones 😂)

Yes cats should be neutered at four months. It doesn't really matter what the insect was - it obviously landed on her accidentally and won't be taking up residence.

Cat fleas can grow up to 3.5mm so quite large looking when you find one, especially on a kitten! There's a really good picture of one on this page:

entomologytoday.org/2018/07/11/17-years-1800-tests-researchers-find-cat-flea-pesticide-remains-effective/

If your cat has a flea infestation, you'll find flea dirt next to the skin as well - it's tiny black flecks (dried blood basically), looks like crushed black pepper