Can I flea & worm my nursing cat?

[kellyannpink]

Hello, my cat gave birth to her 1st litter of kittens on Monday 24th June, she's had 2 little one anyway I flea and worm her every month, but she is due her next flea & worm treatment this week, is it safe for me to treat her while she is nursing newborns? I use frontline pippette dropper for fleas and I use milbramax worming tablets, both were approved by the vet when she was pregnant, but I'm not sure if its safe to use around the baby's? Can somebody advice me please? Thank you, Kelly

 

[StefanZ]

First, she uses to go out?  Even when being high preg?

If she is pure indoor, or even mostly indoor, you probably overdo it.  I mean, quite possible it is not necessary. 

I will google in following hours to refresh my memory, both on Milbomax and Frontline, so you probably you too, but the best is to ask your vet who knows her and her health condition...

Btw, are you weighting them kittens every day? preferably in grams?

Welcome to our Forums,

Good luck!

 

[kellyannpink]

Yes she is an indoor cat, no I haven't weighed them yet, they are only 2 days old so iv just left mummy cat to bond with them and get used to motherhood before I interfere, I have been checking their tummies to see that they are plump and round, so I know they are feeding well.

 

[catwoman707]

I also agree with StefanZ, being an indoor only cat, you are likely overdoing her a bit. At least the wormer, and probably don't need flea meds either unless they are coming inside, she should be flea free.

Since this is the case, you will not need to treat her during nursing.

Especially with frontline, babies tend to crawl on mom, like if they scoot on the wrong side of her to nurse they will climb over her and get the flea oil on them too.

 

[StefanZ]

Yes she is an indoor cat, no I haven't weighed them yet, they are only 2 days old so iv just left mummy cat to bond with them and get used to motherhood before I interfere, I have been checking their tummies to see that they are plump and round, so I know they are feeding well.

Ah, so this is it. Unless you use to clearly see worms or fleas, or have good reason to suspect a threating infection of them, you dont need to deworm her anymore now.  Perhaps the kittens with Milbomax  in several weeks.   Milbomax is rather mild, so kittens can be dewormed quite early 2+ weeks?) . But as they CANT be heavy infested, you can wait with deworming of them a while.

Most indoor only cats never need to be dewormed.  Im may be wise to deworm moms to be, but you had already done that.    Twice even.  

Almost all breeders, and most rescuers do weigh their kittens from day 1.  If everything goes well, it will be a nice memory. You can leave the diary to buyers/adopters.

But if anything goes wrong, this may be the easiest way to notice.  Do they gain properly or do they not?   You can also notice if there seems to be something wrong. Say, a flea...

You weigh them near the nest, so the mom sees what you do, and sees and hears there is no danger.

You do it quickly, max half minute each.

Dont be afraid, mom will not reject them because you touched them, it is a myth. Thrue perhaps for wild rabbits and roe deers, but not for cats.  Even fostered semiferal moms accept such handling, as long as the fosterer does it respectfully.

Good luck!

 

[kellyannpink]

I have 2 other cats that do go out, i kept my mother cat in due to her not being spayed, but while in heat she escaped via the bathroom window, and came home looking rather satisfied later on that day, so I knew she had mated, anyway I will check her for fleas to see if she's ok for the time being because I have let her out in the garden while iv been watching so she could get fresh air etc. anyway I have handled the kittens a couple of times today but they mew so my mummy cat starts to look panicked, I will get some scales that weigh in grams, as I only have large kitchen scales that weigh in ounces, and keep a record of their weight but they are definitely coming on well, they have grown a lot in 3 days, I will try and post a photo

 

[kellyannpink]

image.jpg

• kellyannpink
• Jun 26, 2013

 

[bampmama]

Aww... she's so pretty.  Congrats on the babies.

 

[kellyannpink]

Thank you very proud of her, she is being a brilliant mummy! And she's loving it she's so contented and purring all the time its so nice watching her with her babies xx