Hi

My sister has just got a 9 week kitten and it is covered in fleas. She has treated it with petshop spray and will be taking it to the vet as I have adviced her to worm it as it has a very round tum.. But she needs to get proper stuff from the vet as it is so young. In the mean time though she is worried about her two dogs. Can cat fleas live on the dogs and what is she best to do with them.?

Thanks

Wendy

Hi, we got a kitten last year, which was only tiny, but covered in at least 30 fleas!  I used the Frontline spray on him, and it took all evening to get the fleas off him - obviously some did jump away, so I also put Frontline drops on our dogs and our other cats - didn't have any further problems!  And yes, fleas on cats will also go on dogs!

Cat fleas will go onto dogs and carpets, so you need to treat the cat, the dogs and the carpets!!  :)

Thinking about carpets does anybody know of a solution to put into a carpet cleaner that would kill any stray Fleas ?

o joy:rolleyes:

I have told her this and said with stuff from the vet not petshop spray as it wont be strong enough. Told her wash all bedding the kitten has been on to including the kids beds as I am sure they will have had it in their rooms. I am scratching just at the thought of it.

Wendy

An onto humans One of my lovely kittens was having a big fuss with me yesterday around my head. She jumped off and a few minutes later felt something in my hair, had a feel and picked off a flea Oh had a good look at the rest of my head and looks like just one citter but I can't stop scratching now :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Off out later to get a job lot of front line and also they will start to have some garlic in their food from now on. The joys of cats starting to catch mice :rolleyes:

>Can cat fleas live on the dogs and what is she best to do with them.?

Studies show that 90% of fleas on dogs are actually cat fleas! So yes, the dogs will catch fleas off the kitten, and her house will now be flea-contaminated.

Pet-shop flea sprays are pretty well useless - she needs something from the vet for the kittem, the dogs and also a household spray such as Indorex to spray the whole house.

The vast majority of Fleas on Cats and dogs are Cat fleas (dog fleas are much smaller and far less common) as these are happy to live on any host unlike for example hedgehog or rabbit species which tend to be specific to the host species.

Your sister will be best advised to get a spray for the house that stops the flea larva from hatching as most of the problem tends to be off the dog.  Many sprays cannot be used on kittens or pups under a certain age.  she will need to get the appropriate treatment from the Vet.

>Many sprayus cannot be used on kittens or pups under a certain age.

I think Frontline is the only spray that can be used from 3 days of age.

JG is right -pet shop flea sprays are useless, Frontline is the one to use. Also do no use pet shop wormers -they can actually cause strokes and/or fits in cats, I have had it happen to one of mine and have been in touch with several other people whose cats have had the same reaction to a particular brand -and it didn't even killl off the worms. Frontline and Drontal are needed. :) And soon, as a heavy worm infestation and a heavy flea infestation can actually kill.

Having just treated my new cat with Frontline spot on at the beginning of November and now having a cat that has scratched all around her neck since, taking out large amounts of hair, I would say use Stronghold rather than Frontline if you're going for a spot on treatment.

I would echo the advice not to use a pet shop wormer/flea drops.

I used them one one occasion and very sadly both my cats had an allergic reaction to the flea drops i used, Henry unfortunately didn't survive.

K

We had the same problem, our poor babies were covered in fleas when we got them

Echo what everyone else has said she will need to treat all animals and house!:rolleyes:

dont forget to worm everyone (well, dogs and cats... though its not impossible to need to worm humans).. as fleas are a host for tapeworm.

I may be being stupid!! :D

But why is all the cats people brought covered in fleas? and why it being excepted as the Norm??
The breeder should have de fled and wormed these kittens before even selling them, Same for a rescue etc, I would be very worried about the kittens health had I brought it and it was covered in fleas! As we got our boy and he didnt have one on him!

Am I missing something? Or have cat breeders just given up on clean kittens!

There is a big difference between a cat breeder and somebody who has let their cat get pregnant and have kittens instead of getting them spayed :) Alot of these kittens are free to good homes.

Thats a good point!
But still, why not at least de flea the poor kitten before he goes to a new home?!

Why bother spend the money when they never intended having the kittens. So long as their cat is ok the kittens will be the new owners problem.

Its so sad, but I suppose selling them in a state is better then doing the unthinkable.

Its great people will take these poor kittens and give them a good home with flesa or not!

>I may be being stupid!!

>But why is all the cats people brought covered in fleas? and why it being excepted as the Norm??
>The breeder should have de fled and wormed these kittens before even selling them, Same for a rescue etc, I would be very worried about the kittens health had I brought it and it was covered in fleas! As we got our boy and he didnt have one on him!

>Am I missing something? Or have cat breeders just given up on clean kittens! 

My moggie kittens didn't come with fleas or worms & they still don't have either. As they are semi long coats they get groomed most days

Ours were from people that advertised their kittens as free, we gave a donation to help with the cost of spaying mum. To be honest they were very ill when we got them and it has cost us around £400 to get them better so for us the fleas and the worms were the least worrying thing! Of course had we bought them from a breeder then we would expect all the neccessary to have been done prior to homing them.

It was a smashingly good deed that you took the kittens AND help to pay for the mum to be spade, thats out of this world kindness, wish all people were lile you then these people may not even exist.

Its little lives and souls theyre playing with, from the smallest mouse to the largest dog they should all reciev the same level of care and attention.

I agree, there are alot of people who don't really care about their animals or what happens to them. I came across a lady whos cat was pregnant 2 weeks after giving birth and i can tell you i honestly felt sick for the poor thing. I wanted to catch her and take her home with me!