New Kittens!!! (pics included) got fleas

[floppybit]

Got two beautiful new kittens today, 8 week old brothers. They are absolutely riddled with fleas! I have flea combed each of them 3 times, do you think combing alone could be enough to get rid of them? I've managed to get hold of some flea drops you can use from 8 weeks old but they wash each other and I'm worried that they will lick it off each other and be poisoned! Has anyone else had kittens this young with fleas?

@floppybit Only overnight as already planned. We let him explore downstairs during the day. I just hoovered obsessively everywhere he went until he went to the vets and washed his bedding once he'd been treated.

Thanks @Prestel perhaps I will lighten up a bit and let them roam around downstairs, just keep them out of bedrooms. Guy in pet shop was telling me terrifying stories about having to strip off all my clothes when I left the room they were in and having to have my house fumigated by the council!

I recommended Advantage above as it is fine from 8 weeks, cheaper than prescription flea treatments and has a good safety record. Please don't piss about with stuff that doesn't work (eg dish soap, frontline or anything else which uses fipronil).

He was a bit of a bellend tbf

You also need to worm them ASAP as I doubt they've been wormed either. Poor kittens

I'd get some indorex spray for your house too, you treat all the carpets and then if any escape the kittens they'll not last long.

Try a local vet, ours could get us in same or next day even in the first lockdown. Ours have daft names given to them by the DC too!

I think the guy at the pet shop may have been a tad melodramatic @floppybit . As Lellochip says, at worst you may need to self treat rooms with something like Indorex, but hopefully even that won't be necessary if you keep vacuuming and manage to get them treated at the vet's soon. Just don't be tempted to miss any flea treatments in the future as they can survive quite a long time hidden away in cracks so you'll need the kittens to be walking flea killing machines for quite a while to completely break the cycle.

Our new kitten was Riddled when we got him too ☹️ I found out on the 2nd day we had him when one jumped onto me 🤢 managed to get straight in the vets day after and they treated him with frontline. Think they need to be 2lb minimum weight which they should be at that age. I also used indorex to treat the whole house and not seen a flea since! I'd take them the vets rather than anything shop bought and if it's drop on you'll likely have a mare getting the proper dosage on them (as I did two weeks later with his wormer most ended up on my hands 🤦🏽‍♀️)

Got them an appointment for tomorrow afternoon to be wormed and treated for fleas 👍. They are both hiding under the sofa. Spike eating happily but Neils not touched a scrap. Poor Neil.

That's a worry that Neil's not eating. Whiska's Cat and Kitten milk is suitable from 6 weeks so might be worth a try to get something into him as you don't want him to get dehydrated. Although he may just be eating when you're not around, of course. A bit hard to tell when you have two.

I had this with an adopted kitten once. We gave him a bath and washed him with baby shampoo. There were so many the water literally turned red with blood . He was fine after though and it was clear how unwell it was making him feel. We picked him because he seemed the most sedate of the litter... turns out that was totally wrong once he was feeling well!

@TigerDrawers so glad to hear he got better. Any chance of a gratuitous pic?

[quote floppybit]@TigerDrawers so glad to hear he got better. Any chance of a gratuitous pic?[/quote]
I'm afraid not - he was a cat I had with an ex and to escape an unhappy relationship I had to leave the cats behind (ex definitely loved those cats more than he loved me, so they were in good hands still!).

He was a very cute black and white tuxedo kitten though and was a total nutcase and adorable (when he wasn't pissing on the wiring behind the TV that is!)

[quote floppybit]@TigerDrawers so glad to hear he got better. Any chance of a gratuitous pic?[/quote]
You didn't ask but I love showing him off 😂 this is my 12 week old ball of madness called Barry. Your two are adorable! Love the names as well! How did the vets go?

Our dkitten has had a bath since we got her last Saturday, and a few at the fosterer as she did have fleas . We haven't seen any ..