New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

DH and I just got our first pet together! Disney is about 10 weeks old. My mom heard about a litter of kittens through her vet, so we went to go look at them and fell in love with her! She is such a fantastic cat and we love her! I have two questions though:

1. She has such horrible gas! The people who were fostering her were feeding her Purina Kitten Chow, so that's what we are feeding her. She seems to have no interest in the wet food when we give it to her at night, so it can't be that. She was checked and cleared by the vet. Any suggestions?

2. She had fleas when she came home (which I didn't even realize until one jumped on me a few days later). We washed her in Dawn dishwashing soap (suggested by the internet) and about a dozen came off. Her fur is so thick it's hard to see ANY. I think we got them all and we will bathe her again, but DH and I are both skeeved and want to make sure we get rid of the problem before it gets worse. She is an indoor cat. I vacuumed everywhere. Any other precautions we should be taking?

Here is a photo of her!

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Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Congrats on your little beauty!

Ok...fleas...

unfortunately they aren;t that simple to get rid of.

Have you taken her to the vet? I am not sure if she is old enough for a product like Frontline, as that would surely take care of the fleas.

the problem with fleas are they are reoccuring, they reproduce faster than you can imagine. So odds are you will need something to take care of them.

But do NOT use flea baths, anything not okd by a vet. They can be very dangerous to cats and esp young kittens. My ex BFs kitten died from a flea bath, the cat was just too small and weak. So please dont use anything not okd by the vet. The dawn should be fine but I doubt that will be the last you see of them...

As for the gas, I am not sure, never heard of that. Maybe you should have her stool tested. She may have worms? Most kittens and puppies get worms from their moms, they usually have to get dewormed.

I think a visit to the vet is very important right now and the vet will take care of these matters.

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Flea baths are a waste of time. The fleas just dig in or run up to the cat's face, and you are sure to miss one or two (which can mulitiply pretty quickly).

I would recommend going to your vet and asking for a Capstar tablet. Let them know your kitten's age and weight to make sure he is big enough. The capstar will kill all the fleas on the kitten. Then you will want to start treating with Frontline, which will ensure he doesn't get any more fleas.

You want to try to get rid of the fleas as quickly as possible, or they might inhabit your carpets, and it is a Pain to get rid of them then.

For the gas, I agree with Goobster. Kittens have worms quite often, or bacterial infections, so you want to get her feces tested. If the fecal test doesn't come up with anything, it might just be something in the pet food that is not agreeing with her. I would wait until she has settled in before making any changes to her food (one adjustment at a time), then you can slowly integrate in a new food.

Good luck!

ETA: What a cutie - I love kittens!

Message edited 11/5/2009 7:20:21 PM.

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

She is so cute. Best of luck.

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Congratulations, she is adorable!!!

My cats ate Purina Kitten Chow as kittens I remember that big yellow bag........... Anyway they LOVE Fancy Feast (mostly the grilled, sliced, and marinated morsels variety) .... One of my cats will eat anything, but the other is VERY picky and she LOOOVES Fancy Feast! She literally asks for it every night, if she thinks I am going to forget she comes into the room and meows and meows to remind me....... then runs into the kitchen to the cabinet her food is kept in!


Good luck with your new baby!!!! I love cats so much........

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Congratulations!

We have always fed our cats Iams and never had a problem with gas.

As for the fleas, I would ask the vet to recommend something.

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Actually the more I think about it, does your kitten have a bloated belly? Many kittens and puppies do b/c they have worms. Most have worms from their moms. You defiintely need to get to the vet asap. I am betting the gas is from the intestinal upset from the worms the kitten very likely has. They can easily be treated by a vet.

TheLorax wrote a great post, and as for the fleas you will have to act pretty rapidly by going to the vet to see what they can do based on the kitten's age and weight. But I repeat, do NOT do anything/give anything without consulting a vet.

Please let us know how it goes.

Message edited 11/5/2009 10:53:38 PM.

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

I don't have experience with either of your questions- sorry.
But i just had to chime in and say- your kitty is ADORABLE and looks just like one of my kitties when she was a kitten.
Gorgeous!

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Science diet exclusively. Please call the vet and ask about a flea treatment.

It needs to be treated not just washed.

How did you get the kitty to stand still for a bath?


She's beautiful.

Did you say you got her from a vet and she came home with fleas?

Message edited 11/6/2009 9:24:50 AM.

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Adorableeeeeeee.. I agree with the others take him to vet and see what they say for both conditions

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Agree with the above posters about seeking a vets advice about the fleas. They can be a pain to get rid of, and the OTC products can be pretty dangerous.

Fleas and worms go hand in hand, so check the poop for worms.

Congrats on your kitten- what a cutie!

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Thanks everyone! We took her to the vet today. She had HORRIBLE earmites. He cleaned out her ears, gave me drops, and I have to go back in two weeks. He gave me a pill for the fleas and bets she has parasites, so we will be getting a stool sample to the vet tomorrow. So hopefully this will put an end to the fleas and the excessive gas.

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Glad to hear its something that can fixed. shes adorableeeeeeeeeeeeee

Re: New Kitten Owner! With two questions.

Glad it all worked out!

Good luck. She's adorable.

Message edited 11/7/2009 5:03:10 PM.