One Single Flea

Does anyone have a quick trick for catching, grabbing and killing one flea from a kitten without bathing him in liquid detergent water? We just adopted one of our foster kittens. He went back to the shelter for neuter and came back today with fleas.

We've given tons of flea baths for our former fosters so I know that works. HOWEVER I don't want to do that now because his neuter stitch is fresh and will sting. We tried a partial bath by pouring detergent water over the area where we spotted the fleas. It got rid of all but one stubborn little booger.

After the partial bath, we rubbed coconut oil on a flea comb and combed through. This one flea just keeps crawling away. We tried dabbing liquid soap directly onto it and thought we got him, but he crawled away AGAIN! I dried the kitten then sprinkled the kittens fur with diatomaceous earth an massaged it in, but he gets away each time and burrows himself so deep in the kitten's fur that we can't find him until he resurfaces an hour later. Then we go through the same frustrating drill. We've been at it for the past 5 hours. It's absolutely maddening.

I realize we may just have to wait a few days for his stitch to heal then give him a full bath, but does anyone have any other ideas to get rid of the flea quicker?

A vacuum cleaner is what first popped into my mind, but too traumatizing. How about a turkey baster or an ear bulb syringe and catch it in a suction type deal. Sounds like a super flea. Good luck & keep us updated.

Have you tried a flea brush? I always have a cup of water with soap in it when I need to brush for fleas. The brush will capture the flea, and then you can put the flea in the cup.

Diatomaceous earth, food grade. Google it, it works well if you can’t give meds

If he's big enough to be neutered, surely he's big enough to be Capstar'd or Advantage'd?