Kitten has Fleas :[

lshaw123

Hi Guys

Yesterday I bought a beautiful kitten, 8 weeks old, Spent most of my time with her today, as I was combing her this morning I noticed Black pepper grain looking stuff in the comb, done my research and turns out she has fleas. It's been licking and scratching all day, Going to the vet tomorrow morning, What can I expect them to do? and the cost?

Will it be a case where I have to treat her myself with medication over time or will the fleas be terminated rite away?

Thanks
newbie

scaredy_cat

fleas are an ongoing problem really. It's easily treatable but you may also have to worm her as well, as fleas carry worm eggs.

Pics please.

doglover123_2

Your kitten will need to be treated regularly (depending on which brand you use this will be different but is usually about every two months)
Its also important to worm your kitten as fleas can carry tapeworm.

Use a good quality wormer and flea treatment such as frontline and drontal as cheapie brands are not as nearly effective. These can be brought from most pet shops Avoid using flea collars as they just tend to be affective on the neck area.

Also remember to wash your kittens bedding regularly at a high temp and treat the house for fleas regularly. Turn the heating up and hoover before treating the house as this will rouse fleas from their larval stage (if any are present)

Hope this helps

CDC2011

When you take her I would also suggest asking for her to be wormed too.

I would imagine you could be looking at around £20 for the consultation fee plus another £20ish for the treatments - but this all depends on your vets pricing structure and brands they use - its hard to judge really. If I wanted this level of treatment I would get a free nurses appointment so would only have to pay for the actual tablet / spot on they used.

They will administer a spot on treatment - this goes on the skin at the back of the neck. Occasionally cats may manage to lick it which can make them a little sick but that normally isn't anything to worry about. You can also get spot on wormers now, or they may give her a tablet. These should kill any nasty's pretty quickly.

You'll want to wash her bedding and maybe consider getting a good quality flea spray to treat your house to make sure the blighters can't come back. Your vet can provide more advice though.

You'll then want to be carrying out a regular flea and worming routine especially if the cat will be going outdoors. The cost will depend on brands you use for the treatments, however don't think cheaper is necessarily better and do seek advice from your vet. Flea treatments tend to be advised at once a month, worming once every three months.

I use Advocate as it does fleas and a number of other parasites, I then also use Drontal for additional worming.

Griizelda

Kittens can't have the spot on flea treatments until they weigh at least 1kg, but your vet can prescribe the spray for her. In the meantime, comb, comb and comb some more! Make sure the comb is a proper flea comb with teeth close together and have a small tub of water with a drop of washing up liquid in (the fleas sink) to drown the little blighters!

Due to her age, she'll probably be given the liquid wormer (Panacur).

Good luck and one final thing - we need pics!!

penny_pincha

lshaw123 wrote: »

Going to the vet tomorrow morning, What can I expect them to do? and the cost?

It is probably a good idea for a vet to check your kitten out for general health. Also when she is 9 weeks old you can begin inoculating her against common diseases such as cat enteritis & cat flu (both of which the can die from my vet charges (£50 for both) & also cat leukaemia (incurable & fatal) my vet charges £15 for this initial course.

lshaw123 wrote: »

Will it be a case where I have to treat her myself with medication over time or will the fleas be terminated rite away?

Fleas are easy to control but difficult to eliminate once established. However, if you have only just got her & you haven't had cats in your house before then you have time on your side.:) The key is to act immediately & then be disciplined in re administering the flea treatment monthly.

Frontline is EXCELLENT as I have been using it for £16 years & never seen a flea. For a kitten under 1kg you can use Frontline as a spray (this is a prescription only medication so you will need to either get this from your vet or ask them to write out a prescription for it, which you will get charged for between £5 - £10) then order it from on-line pharmacy, so probably not worth it for only one animal). Once over 1kg (& 8 weeks) you can use it as a spot-on treatment. The vets prices are usually high on these products, but you can buy Frontline without a prescription over the counter at many outlets. Even Sainsburys sell it!! but it is expensive there too. I buy mine from vet pharmacies on line. Look for UK based ones as non UK based ones may not sell genuine products and sell fakes which are useless. I use Vet Medic, http://www.vet-medic.com/ Petdrugsonline http://www.petdrugsonline.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ho0 & Viovet http://www.viovet.co.uk/index.html , but check out Animedic too http://www.animeddirect.co.uk/cats which I haven't used but have recently been recommended.

As for worming you can also buy Drontal over the counter & through on line pet pharmacies listed above. Do price comaprisons between suppliers as the often change prices, so it is best to check your own research. I last paid £1.62 per tablet ( a kitten of less than 1kg will only need half a tablet) but check their multi buy offers with flea & worm treatments too. I know Petdrugsonline do this. Worming needs be done monthly until 6 months of age, then every 3 months, unless it catches & eats mammals such as mice, then it need to be treated more frequently.

Hope this helps