Hi, well to start I usually feed any cat that came to my house, and a pregnant cat start coming around 2 months ago but unlike the others cat, she remained on my yard and basically she lives here.
At some point, when I realized that she was pregnant, I started to lock her on my house where she can give birth and be safe.
Just some 3 days ago, she gave birth to 2 completely black kittens (she is black with white points) and one white kitten with black points. But when I was looking closely at the white kitten, I realize that he had fleas, and obviously all the kittens and the mother have, but they are too dark to watch the fleas.
I read that an easy way to remove the fleas is bathing the kitten, but ironically I also read that if a person touches a kitten too much, the mother can stop recognizing it by its smell, and even eat it, without mentioning that they are only 3 days old, so I guess that this is not an option.
I also read that fleas abhor the smell of chamomile tea, so I could do a bit and rub a bit over the kittens without bathing them, but I don’t know if what I mentioned in the previous point also applies.
For the mother, I don’t think I have to worry, because I’ll buy her a pipette,
I also want to clarify that the kittens are not infested with fleas, maybe they have 5 or 10, but they are 3 kittens that sleep one on top of the other, and I prefer to be safe rather than sorry.
(Sorry if this is not the correct place to ask such a question, but I couldn’t find an “AskVet” alternative on Lemmy)
DO NOT GIVE KITTENS A BATH
I was in pretty much the exact situation as you with two brother kittens when I was in 4th grade. They had really bad fleas, so my brother and I gave them both a bath. They both ended up going into shock from the water. One died at the vet - the other lived to be able 21.
Please don’t risk it. I’m in my 30s now and still don’t forgive myself for Ernie’s death.
Why are people upvoting you is beyond my comprehension.
The fact that you were kids and made a mistake doesn’t mean that you can’t/shouldn’t bathe a kitten!!!
Just make sure you prepare for the task: use warm water and wash the kitten from tail to neck - it’s better to avoid the head and anyway there’s little to no fleas on the head. I’m no vet, but I got this advice from my vet when I found a flea infested kitten under my car.
So, for people reding this: yes, you can bathe your kitten, but get some advice from your vet beforehand!
Personally, if there’s even a 1% chance of something killing a kitten, I don’t do that thing.
Definitely talk to your very first, if you absolutely want to give them a bath, but they clean themselves with their tongues, so absolutely not necessary whatsoever.
Then again almost everything has a 1% of killing anything, the world’s pretty dangerous. So - with a vets opnion - bathing a kitten to remove discomfornt isnt all bad news.
Great example is im sure many kittens have died eating before, but of course we still feed them
I’m sorry to hear that, I don’t think it’s your fault either, many times a person acts on their own because they think they are doing the right thing but end up doing something wrong, and unfortunately as human beings we learn from mistakes.
And not worry, after reading several comments here, I will not bathe them.
Seems like you didn’t have the water at the right temp and didn’t dry them quickly enough or put them back on a heating pad. Which is fully understandable because you were 9 years old. If you know what you are doing it’s perfectly safe to give them a bath but it’s not recommended unless they are infested with fleas.
I once found an abandoned kitten and gave it a gentle wash and he was fine. Did you use cold water or something?
Nope, warm water. Sure, they can come out fine. One of the two lived a very long life afterwards. Personally, if there’s even a 1% chance of something killing a kitten, I don’t do that thing.