How to treat fleas on kittens

Treat fleas before they get out of hand!

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Bringing home a new kitten can be fun until you discover that your precious little baby is riddled with fleas! They infest everything and make everyone generally miserable. The problem is, many over the counter and even prescription treatments can't be used on kittens under 12 weeks, and by then you will have been eaten and chewed out of house and home!

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Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

ivory dish soap
clear sink or bucket of warm water
heavy gloves
kitten (of course)
bedding/carpet treatment (optional, but reccomended)
flea comb

Step1

You'll want to flea comb out as many of the fleas (outside or they'll just bounce right back onto your kitten!) as possible. Good flea combs are easy and cheap to come by.

Step2

Ivory dish soap does a great job killing (and repelling) fleas! MUST be Ivory brand. After flea combing as many fleas off the kitten as possible, bath time! Don heavy gloves to protect yourself from being scratched beyond belief. Wet kitten thoroughly, and add enough Ivory Dish soap to scrub the kitten well.

Step3

Avoid eyes and mouth, but make sure to flea comb out any fleas that crawl around the face, and suds up your kitten. Allow the suds to soak in as long as possible, at least a couple of minutes, five if you can get the poor kitten to hold still long enough.

Step4

Rinse THOROUGHLY! Kitties self-bathe and who wants a mouth full of ivory dish soap? Yuck! Dry kitten as much as possible, and wrap in a towel for snuggles.

Step5

Before allowing kitty free reign in the house again, consider treating the carpet/bedding of the kitten with something that is safe for kittens less than 12 weeks old. Ask your vet for help selecting a product.

Tips & Warnings

Gloves aren't strictly necessary, but I would certainly reccommend them. Kitten claws are sharp!
Bathing can be repeated up to once weekly until kitten is old enough for conventional treatments.
Severe flea infestations are DANGEROUS to young kittens! It can cause anemia, and in some cases, death.