Flea medicine for kittens?

[NovelNerd]

Man, I don't want to get into details since I've never been w cat person! Somehow I ended up going to eat birthday cake with my family and returned home with two orphan barn cat kittens. They are only about four weeks and we have them a little bath. They have fleas though is there anything I am out on them? I know baby animals cannot have most stuff, but right now I made a soft area in my guest bathroom to keep them away from the other pets. I don't want the fleas spreading to the rats and guinea pigs and such you know? I'll all my vet Monday but they aren't open today.

[WhispersOfTheWind]

they are too young to have flea medicine.  i believe they have to either be 8 weeks or 12 weeks before you can safely do that.  i had rescue kittens that were 4 weeks old, and didnt realize they were infested with fleas until about a week later. i just bathed them regularly with the blue dawn dish soap and combed them.  that's all you really can do that i know of until they are old enough.

[lovesbabysquirmy]

I would think coconut oil is safe to use on them. 

[Squirrelypaws]

Seconding the Dawn bath suggestion. I've used Dawn many times on kittens that young and it seems to do a good job.

If they're super-infested, there's pills available called Capstar that will kill the adult fleas currently on them. Walmart has a generic version of the pills, but as the kittens are so young I'd wait and talk to the vet first; it's been a while since we used them and I can't remember how old our babies were at the time.

[NovelNerd]

We ended up washing them multiple times, and I even sat with tweezers and gently plucked and crushed fleas. I think we got all the adult ones for the moment and hopefully my vet has something. It's just with the rats and guinea pigs I cannot have a flea infestation. They were bad though. We scrubbed the bathroom at my parents house and washed everything in hot water and ourselves. There were flea everywhere

[TwistedRiver]

Whatever you do stay away from flea collars. The toxins in them that kill/keep away fleas can leech out of the plastic and into the poor kitties. When they are old enough (check with your vet as to what the right time is) I'd recommend advantage.
Years ago we adopted a little boy who was beyond infested with fleas and they spread throughout the house but we got advantage and within a few weeks all the fleas were gone. It basically makes the fleas sterile and since their lifespans are short it didn't take long for them to all die out.
I'm not sure if it can be used on animals other than cats and dogs though since that is all we had, so you may want to check with your vet about that too.
BTW I wanna see pics of the new babies! *is crazy cat lover*

[banditpony]

*hm*
You could probably sprinkle at little food grade diatomaceous earth around.
You might have to give the little guys another bath or two. ): 4 weeks is just so little... baby kittens with party hats <3 aww.

[Bergamot]

I don't know about kittens this young, but I had an older kitten with fleas once. It was terrible! (Special thanks to the veterinary office they came from... Poor thing was just back from a spay.) Chances are that you'll be fighting fleas on more than just the baby kitties, even if they are isolated.

We combed her with a flea comb a few times a day, keeping a bowl of water mixed with dish soap nearby to dunk the comb in after each stroke to remove the fleas that stuck to it. The dish soap breaks the surface tension of the water, drowning most fleas that touch it. They sink to the bottom. I think Dawn baths work on the same principle.

We also treated all the rugs in our apartment with a crystal / powder flea killing stuff that we got at the pet store. I think this worked by deforming the shells of young fleas so they wouldn't survive as they bred.

Linens and whatnot were treated with salt. It's the same principle but doesn't work as well as the harsher carpet stuff.

You should definitely treat your other pets with Advantage if you haven't and if they're old enough!

[Princess Lala]

Ahh! Can i see pictures of the kittens!?? I,always loce that you help so many animals out!!

 I haaaaate fleas!!! @_@ Back in high school when my indiana cat was a barnyard kitten i found when i was 13!!! Poor baby was super covered in fleas at just 5 weeks old! What we did (i assume this is safe?) was gave him a very warm but not scalding hot bath, and used antibacterial dish soap on his fur. We used tweezers and crushed/plucked the ones off his face and ears then used a flea comb with petroleum jelly to get the rest of the fleas off. We would dip the comb in pretty hot water to kill off the fleas. I remember we had to treat the rest of the house for fleas but i kept the kitty in my room. Those buggers would come back every year and bite me in my sleep! xS They used to get in the house from the dogs being outside and from there our indoor cats would get fleas every summer.

 I just HOPE that fleas arent a thing here in my apartment area because I would hate my ferret to get fleas! I have a tiny space in my door at the bottom they could crawl through...*gets heebee jeebees*

[kaoskat]

Capstar is safe for very young animals. I would not use the generic stuff however. It works amazingly well and if you get rid of the adult fleas and give them a good bathing before you get an infestation you shouldn't have too much trouble right away.

[melodys_angel]

Honestly id call the vet--they would know a lot more for pets that young <3

[Sukey]

Stay away from Sargent, Hartz and Advantix(treatment for dogs, but can be toxic to cats in same household) products. We see a lot come in with reactions to those products. One kitten was believed to be put in kidney failure by a flea collar

Capstar may be ok, but it only lasts for 24 hours- I think the minimum age is 4 weeks and 2 lbs of weight. I think Revolution minimum age is 8 weeks so that wouldn't work. Always check age requirements and weight requirements on packaging and it is probably best to buy preventative from your vet.

[DreamLight]

They are way to young for any and most products but id recommend a flea spray, I can't think of the name of the brand we used at the clinic I use to work at but it's a animal and surface spray so i'd mist it on their blankets and then on a washcloth and wipe them down. I'm like 85% sure that this is safe for tiny babies but i'd double check with the label. This will at lease kill what's on them until they turn 6 months at which point you can use a topical repentant. If they are indoor only cats you can get something otc if not i'd talk to your vet about prescription grade 

[flyawayraven]

The safest thing would be to just keep giving them baths and flea combing them until you hear from the vet. Poor little babies!

We used Siphotrol Plus II Premise Spray  on our house because dear god did we have a flea problem and that worked amazingly well. It should be safe for critters after its had an hour to dry on all surfaces but make absolutely sure it doesn't get anywhere near water. Siphotrol does need to be reapplied to the area every two weeks for about a month, but combined with topical flea medicine, it completely knocked out our flea problem. Definitely check with the vet if it's safe around small pets.

Edit: I also recommend washing anything that potentially came in contact with the fleas with hot water and then tossing those items in the dryer on the highest heat. Vacuum anything else that can't be washed and dispose of the bag or debris outside.

[CoonhoundBetty]

they are too young to have flea medicine.  i believe they have to either be 8 weeks or 12 weeks before you can safely do that.  i had rescue kittens that were 4 weeks old, and didnt realize they were infested with fleas until about a week later. i just bathed them regularly with the blue dawn dish soap and combed them.  that's all you really can do that i know of until they are old enough.

yup, too little, and agree with the blue dawn post pics!