Help! Something Was Crawling On My Kitty!

Ninipow13

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Im relaxing in my bed with my 6 wk old kitty and all of a sudden I see something crawl on his fur!!! My husband tried to catch it but it was fast! It was the size of a lice bug and a dark color, brown or black. Didn’t get a close up of it and it’s still on his body! I only saw one. Wth could this be???? Please help! Should I bath my kittens? But if it’s some kind of parasite would it even help?? What’s the best way to wash them?

(Picture because he’s so cute)
 

Jayne89

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Im relaxing in my bed with my 6 wk old kitty and all of a sudden I see something crawl on his fur!!! My husband tried to catch it but it was fast! It was the size of a lice bug and a dark color, brown or black. Didn’t get a close up of it and it’s still on his body! I only saw one. Wth could this be???? Please help! Should I bath my kittens? But if it’s some kind of parasite would it even help?? What’s the best way to wash them?

(Picture because he’s so cute)
Probably fleas. Cute baby :D at 6 weeks you would need special flea treatment for kittens.
 
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Ninipow13

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I keep searching and searching and I’m not finding anything. His fur looks clean. And he just licked it before he fell asleep.
Btw him and his sister are isolated from our other kitten but they’re all inside cats. No other pets and no lice either. We’re upstairs and it’s winter. I have no clue what this could be.
We’ve had these new kittens for a week and a half. They were found underneath someone’s house but they looked healthy to me and the vet. They were too young for their first set of shots and dewormer.
 
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Ninipow13

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Probably fleas. Cute baby :D at 6 weeks you would need special flea treatment for kittens.
He’s not itchy and the bug was fairly big like a lice you find in people hair. I thought fleas are way smaller. And I only found one. No matter how much I search, I can’t find anything else.
 

Wile

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He’s not itchy and the bug was fairly big like a lice you find in people hair. I thought fleas are way smaller. And I only found one. No matter how much I search, I can’t find anything else.
Fleas are about the size of a pin head or slightly larger. They are brown, fast, and can jump. Your description of the brown fast bug sounds spot on for fleas. I'd talk to your vet about treatment options for fleas and tapeworms, because fleas are carriers for the other parasite.

A lot of cats who are good groomers will clean up all evidence of fleas. You can look for flea dirt though. Put a white piece of paper under your cat and ruffle his fur to shake loose dirt. Then drop water on any dirt that shakes loose to see if it streaks red. If it does that's proof you kitten has fleas.
 
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Ninipow13

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It’s only one. It’s the size of a tiny ant. Any pic I found of fleas looks smaller. But he’s going to the vet soon anyway so I’ll ask him.
 

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Get a flea comb at Walmart or any pet section and see if you capture anything. Finding only one means teh infestation is not great and should be easier to control. The best way to find fleas is to stroke the kitten until they turn over and then search the area where their hind legs meet their body on their abdomens. The hair is much thinner there and they are easier to see. They are very fast! It could be some kind of other parasite, fleas spread very quickly so be on the lookout. Definitely have your vet look when you bring them in. all bedding will have to be washed and then rewashed in two weeks to catch any that have hatched in the meantime. There are powders and sprays to put around to kill any that are in the room. i would definitely treat these little ones with a vet approved method, the kittens are too young and can be overdosed easily. Bless you for helping them!
 
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Ninipow13

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Get a flea comb at Walmart or any pet section and see if you capture anything. Finding only one means teh infestation is not great and should be easier to control. The best way to find fleas is to stroke the kitten until they turn over and then search the area where their hind legs meet their body on their abdomens. The hair is much thinner there and they are easier to see. They are very fast! It could be some kind of other parasite, fleas spread very quickly so be on the lookout. Definitely have your vet look when you bring them in. all bedding will have to be washed and then rewashed in two weeks to catch any that have hatched in the meantime. There are powders and sprays to put around to kill any that are in the room. i would definitely treat these little ones with a vet approved method, the kittens are too young and can be overdosed easily. Bless you for helping them!
Ok I will do that this evening. Thanks!
 

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You may have got lucky and it's only the one. I unknowingly brought in 3 on my pants/shoes from a park one time. They went straight to one dog. I killed them and have not seen a flea since. This was 4 years ago so I know there are no more. I got very lucky, I've been through a flea infestation before, it's not fun.

Just to be safe though, get a flea comb and have your vet suggest a safe flea treatment. Also, be sure to look under each leg, in genital area and in the ears. This is where they like to hide. If you find what looks like 'dirt' on your kitten, you probably have fleas.
 
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Ninipow13

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You may have got lucky and it's only the one. I unknowingly brought in 3 on my pants/shoes from a park one time. They went straight to one dog. I killed them and have not seen a flea since. This was 4 years ago so I know there are no more. I got very lucky, I've been through a flea infestation before, it's not fun.

Just to be safe though, get a flea comb and have your vet suggest a safe flea treatment. Also, be sure to look under each leg, in genital area and in the ears. This is where they like to hide. If you find what looks like 'dirt' on your kitten, you probably have fleas.
See that’s the thing. There’s absolutely no dirt on him, anywhere. I’ve seen pictures of fleas or flea dirt before and I don’t see anything like that on him. And he’s white so it’s so easy to see dirt if there were dirt. I’ve searched and search his body in those spots. Just that one stubborn lice looking bug that I can’t seem to remove. I checked his tabby sibling and didn’t see any on her but she’s brown and black so they can hide better. I’m definitely going to comb them and treat them this evening, just to be on the safe side.
But they’re on the second floor. Unless they had them when we got them, I don’t see how they could have caught anything since they’ve been with us. Chances are slim because we have a strict no shoe policy unless he got it while playing with my husbands shoelace.
 

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It may have just been a regular bug, one of the Cats I was fostering had something crawling on her fur so I grabbed it thinking it might be a Tick but it turned out to be just an ordinary Beetle. I've also seen Ants and Spiders crawling on Cats, if they're in the way of where a bug is going it may try to climb over the "obstacle".

You should still check with your Vet though just to be safe.
 

jen

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And he just licked it before he fell asleep.
Consuming a flea is how they get tapeworm. If the flea is infected with tapeworm. Which is fairly common.

It’s only one. It’s the size of a tiny ant. Any pic I found of fleas looks smaller. But he’s going to the vet soon anyway so I’ll ask him.
Where there is one, there is more. They also lay eggs everywhere and can stay dormant in your home for months or more.
 

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When I have had kittens, I would put flea powder under a folded towel that I had under their bedding. This really helps but I would use a vacuum cleaner with a small attachment and vacuum their bellies when they got big enough to not get sucked up. Don't hold it too close on their skin as you don't want to create a hickie. It would get the fleas off. Be sure and put flea control in the vacuum so the fleas don't jump out after turning it off. Or just sit the vacuum outside.
 

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You can wash the kitten using either Dawn dish detergent or a unscented baby's shampoo. I've used Johnson & Johnson. The soapy water will drown the fleas since the soap lowers the water surface tension. To wash the kitten, have at least two towels handy. I fill the wash basin with very warm, almost too hot to touch water. I put a few drops of soap on the kitten, between the shoulder blades, dribble some water over the soaped area, and the rest of the kitten. Then gently rub the soap and water all over the kitten, avoiding her eyes and ear openings, making sure that you get the mixture down to the kitten's skin. You can use a cup to pour the hot, not soapy water, over the kitten to remove the soap. When the kitten is soap free, use one towel to dry the kitten, and then the second towel to make a kitten purreto to eep it warm. Do not unwrap the kitten until it is dry. Then use a flea comb to comb out the dead fleas. This will nrt kill flea eggs, as far as I know. But it will kill fleas and larvae. It only takes about 3 or four minutes to wash and towel the kitten. To completely dry will take a half hour or so.

When the kitten is dry, comb out the fur with a flea comb to remove the dead fleas. Good luck. Then change out the bedding before returning the kitten to it's nest. Good luck!
 

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Did you look real close at the bug? One sure way to tell if it was a flea or a gnat is if the bug in question had wings. If you live in the SW US, it could have been a gnat. I see them all the time on my pets and freak out until I get a real good look and discover wings. The ones we have here are the same size, shape and color of a flea.
 
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Ninipow13

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You can wash the kitten using either Dawn dish detergent or a unscented baby's shampoo. I've used Johnson & Johnson. The soapy water will drown the fleas since the soap lowers the water surface tension. To wash the kitten, have at least two towels handy. I fill the wash basin with very warm, almost too hot to touch water. I put a few drops of soap on the kitten, between the shoulder blades, dribble some water over the soaped area, and the rest of the kitten. Then gently rub the soap and water all over the kitten, avoiding her eyes and ear openings, making sure that you get the mixture down to the kitten's skin. You can use a cup to pour the hot, not soapy water, over the kitten to remove the soap. When the kitten is soap free, use one towel to dry the kitten, and then the second towel to make a kitten purreto to eep it warm. Do not unwrap the kitten until it is dry. Then use a flea comb to comb out the dead fleas. This will nrt kill flea eggs, as far as I know. But it will kill fleas and larvae. It only takes about 3 or four minutes to wash and towel the kitten. To completely dry will take a half hour or so.

When the kitten is dry, comb out the fur with a flea comb to remove the dead fleas. Good luck. Then change out the bedding before returning the kitten to it's nest. Good luck!
Thanks! Will try that!
 
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Ninipow13

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Did you look real close at the bug? One sure way to tell if it was a flea or a gnat is if the bug in question had wings. If you live in the SW US, it could have been a gnat. I see them all the time on my pets and freak out until I get a real good look and discover wings. The ones we have here are the same size, shape and color of a flea.
I live in the Midwest. I didn’t see any wings but I’m thinking it could be a beetle like someone else mentioned.
 

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Flea's do get as big as an ant after they've been drinking blood. It could have been any kind of bug, but I would flea comb and give the kitty a bath with dawn dish soap just in case. Flea's are no fun. If you've never bathed a kitten before, google it on youtube. Your baby is very cute!
 
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