AboutJana Connell RVT, CVT Expertise PLEASE READ BEFORE SUBMITTING TO ME:
I am NOT a vet and do NOT diagnose diseases. That is only for a licensed Veterinarian to do. I will give you suggestions and steer you toward calling your vet for help. You can call the vet's office and talk to the technician there or the vet at times. Don't be afraid to call them! If you have a serious issue with your pet please post it to one of the veterinarians in here- I will tell you the same thing in my answer.
IF your pet is injured or in an emergency situation, CALL YOUR VET- Do not wait and post in here. Just call the vet's office and get them in to see the vet right away. Critical treatment time is lost if you seek answers here when you should have your precious pet at the vets!! Don't sit at home waiting for an answer when your pet is critically ill or injured!!
I can answer most questions about small animal and wildlife care as well as small animal nutrition. I can also answer questions about all phases of dental care for small animals.
I DO NOT do birds (unless it is wildlife or songbirds) or HAMSTERS/GERBILS/CHINS/GUINEA PIGS/REPTILES/FROGS/RABBITS/PET BIRDS OF ANY KIND so please submit these questions to the appropriate sections. I, as well as other experts in here, do NOT do homework questions- that is for YOU to do! Please respect these rules for all of us. Thanks!
Experience I have over 35 years experience in the field of veterinary medicine. I specialized in small animals and did wildlife rehab for over 25 years, mostly raptors, squirrels and opossums. I am a Small Animal Nutritional Consultant with 6 certificates from Hills Pet Foods, CNM and Purina.
I also specialized in Small Animal Dentistry which is a field I truly love.
Organizations Audubon,World Wildlife Federation, American Society of Veterinary Dental Technicians.
Education/Credentials Licensed with California and Oregon, RVT and CVT.
Certified Veterinary Dental Technician
Have over 500 logged hours of Continuing Education Credits(that means I keep up to date!).
Question Dr.,
Recently I took in a 5-6 week old kitten. The kitten stays outside (many reasons) and this gives him fleas. He's limited to the backyard and he won't escape.
The kitten finds the fleas very irritating, and so do we because whenever we pet him we get fleas too. He even came inside and probably released fleas all over the house.
We're looking for flea treatments, but nothing seems right.
Flea collars are harmful. The cat's too young for Frontline, Advantage, Revolution, etc. Shampoos and combs won't help because the fleas will come right back. I'm at my wits ends... what can we do for the fleas?
Answer HI Alyssa,
I am not a vet but I do have a ton of information for you about fleas!
First of all you need to know that the main problem with fleas is not the adults that you see (although they are a HUGE problem) but the eggs, larvae, and the cocooned adults.
Here is a link to the life cycle of the flea: http://www.ah.novartis.com/cab/en/cat_fleas_lifecycle.shtml
Kittens are a challenge to treat for fleas but I use a spray called Ovitrol which is an Insect Growth Regulator. What those do is
target the egg stage of the flea life cycle. Quite simply, they are designed to prevent flea eggs from hatching. So, if your cat or dog does shed any flea eggs around your home, they'll just die and get sucked up by the vacuum cleaner.
However, you still need to kill the adults as much as you can. Ovitrol is safe to spray around the ground and on the floors of your house. There is a room spray just for that which can be diluted and sprayed.
You don't have a lot of options for treating the kitten itself except for bathing in a safe shampoo for cats and then using a flea comb.
You must treat your yard or you will continue to have a flea infestation that will infect your kitten. If this kitten has too many fleas on it it can get severe anemia and die from that. Fleas are more than irritating, they can carry tapeworms, plague and other diseases.
So get some yard spray and then flea comb your kitten. When she reaches 8-12 weeks your options are better. I use Sentinel heartworm prevention with Lufeneron in it to keep the fleas off my pets. I have used it for 12 yrs on four pets and even on my three acres of land I have no fleas at all. I never even think about fleas on my pets. There are none in the grass, none in the house. And that is with deer, possums and squirrels living here too.
I started my cats on it at the age of three months.
So once she gets older you can put her on that.
Good luck and let me know how she does.
Here are some more sites that describe flea problems.
