I don't know what to do with my cats!

[melizy12]

I have an 8 week old female kitten (mine) and a 7 month old female kitten (my little sisters). I just got them to both to like and tolerate each other. My family is moving up north soon and in order for me to finish my senior year without having to start over, I must stay with my grandma. The thing is, she has cats and they have fleas. I want my cats to stay with me because I am the only one who cleans up after them, takes care of them, loves them, and plays with them. I don't know if I should let my family take the cats up north with them and risk the cats not being taken care of or take both cats with me and risk them getting fleas and fighting with my grandmas cats. I also don't want to just take one cat (8 week old) because after I graduate and move up north with my family, months will have passed and they will start hissing and growling at each other again. Please help! P.S. another reason why I don't want my family to take the cats with them up north is because when my parents are stressed about money and hear that they need to buy essentials for the cats, they start saying how they will toss them outside and let them fend for themselves. Now mind you, we will be moving where it is really cold! They also say that when my sister doesn't clean her cats litter box and allows the Kitty to step in her own pee and poo!

 

[Primula]

So the main problem is fleas. Is there a good reason your grandma cannot have her cats treated for fleas?

 

[melizy12]

So the main problem is fleas. Is there a good reason your grandma cannot have her cats treated for fleas?

The thing is, she has already done every treatment for fleas. She treated all her cats, dogs, and even fumigated the place! She allows her cats to walk around the entire neighborhood and her dogs stay outside. So no matter what she does, they just keep on getting fleas and ticks! It's really disgusting! This one time, her house was crawling with ticks. They we're everywhere! I don't want my cats to get sick :'(

 

[Norachan]

Taking them both with you sounds like a good idea. What is stopping you from doing this, just the fact that it's cold? 

 

[melizy12]

Taking them both with you sounds like a good idea. What is stopping you from doing this, just the fact that it's cold? 

it's cold where my family is moving to. What is stopping me from taking my cats with me is the fact that my grandma has like 4 cats and a house that I'd infested with fleasand sometimes ticks. The last time I had a pet (besides my two cats), he had a tick and only one! He had nervous system issues!

 

[melizy12]

it's cold where my family is moving to. What is stopping me from taking my cats with me is the fact that my grandma has like 4 cats and a house that I'd infested with fleasand sometimes ticks. The last time I had a pet (besides my two cats), he had a tick and only one! He had nervous system issues!

*that is infested with fleas

 

[orange&white]

Are you talking about 2-3 months while you finish your senior year, or longer than that?

If it's a couple of months, then I would let the cats go north with your family rather than move them to a flea infested house with 4 indoor-outdoor cats who they don't know.  Otherwise you may need to confine your cats to the bedroom where you will be staying to avoid cat fights or infections, and you will need to treat your cats for fleas.

Moving can be very stressful for cats.  If they move with your parents, they are moving once.  If you take them to your grandmothers and then up north, you are moving them twice.

Your parents are "probably" making idle threats to toss the cats out.  Is there any way to make sure they have a 2-3 month supply of both cat food and cat litter before they move?  That might give you some reassurance that your cats will be ok.

I'm not sure there is a right or wrong answer here, but my advice is what I would do if it were me.

 

[melizy12]

Are you talking about 2-3 months while you finish your senior year, or longer than that?

If it's a couple of months, then I would let the cats go north with your family rather than move them to a flea infested house with 4 indoor-outdoor cats who they don't know.  Otherwise you may need to confine your cats to the bedroom where you will be staying to avoid cat fights or infections, and you will need to treat your cats for fleas.

Moving can be very stressful for cats.  If they move with your parents, they are moving once.  If you take them to your grandmothers and then up north, you are moving them twice.

Your parents are "probably" making idle threats to toss the cats out.  Is there any way to make sure they have a 2-3 month supply of both cat food and cat litter before they move?  That might give you some reassurance that your cats will be ok.

I'm not sure there is a right or wrong answer here, but my advice is what I would do if it were me.

That does sound like a good idea, but I have two younger siblings that are really rough with the cats. They squeeze them and carry them all wrong and always step on them! I am always the one to stop them and tell them to put them down. I also don't have a way to "protect" the cats from my family or make sure they have everything they need. My family will leave from the beginning of summer till around school ends which is from June 2017 all the way back to June 2018 ( a full year and A LOT can happen to them. I also don't allow my cats to go outside till they get neutered and we live near a humane society that does it for free. I have no clue where my family is even moving to:/

 

[talkingpeanut]

It sounds like you need to take the cats with you and possibly keep them in your room.  You can flea treat your cats and also vacuum your room daily.

 

[melizy12]

It sounds like you need to take the cats with you and possibly keep them in your room.  You can flea treat your cats and also vacuum your room daily.

It sounds like you need to take the cats with you and possibly keep them in your room.  You can flea treat your cats and also vacuum your room daily.

Thank you so much! All of you I will flea treat the cats and keep them away from my grandmas cats!

 

[orange&white]

Well, a year is certainly a lot longer time.  That combined with having your younger siblings possibly mishandle the cats are valid concerns you have.  In that case then, take the cats with you and plan to have to keep them separate from the resident indoor/outdoor cats.  The only other potential solution would be to try to find a very good friend (without a flea infested house or several resident cats) who would be willing to foster them for a year.  A friend who you could visit several times a week?

 

[melizy12]

Well, a year is certainly a lot longer time.  That combined with having your younger siblings possibly mishandle the cats are valid concerns you have.  In that case then, take the cats with you and plan to have to keep them separate from the resident indoor/outdoor cats.  The only other potential solution would be to try to find a very good friend (without a flea infested house or several resident cats) who would be willing to foster them for a year.  A friend who you could visit several times a week?

not an option. My mom is barely allowing me to stay with my grandma for a year without her, so visiting a friend would give her a heart attack. I also don't have family members that like animals and the ones that do, live in another state.

 

[mollyblue]

That is that quite the dilemma, how old are your younger siblings?  Are they old enough you could make one of them in charge of taking care of your baby and showing them proper way to do that before you are separated?  With your grandma already having 4 cats, and dogs, that she allows indoor/outdoor, and with flea and tick infestation... I question whether this is a healthy environment for you or for the animals, and if there should be a complaint filed, then animal control is likely to take control of the animals if they are not in good condition.  I am not sure why your parents allowed you to have a kitten to begin with if they are not willing to take on the responsibility of providing adequate food and supplies.  Have you tried sitting down with parents and talking about your concerns and asking them to help you?  As previously suggested, do you have a friend who would be willing and able to assist you by fostering your kitty? 

 

[sprin]

I think it would be a better situation to keep the cats with you in your own room at grandmas then to leave them with your family who are neglectful, but neither situation is ideal. When you say your grandma has tried everything, what solutions do you mean? A lot of pet store solutions can be pretty bad, and even the topical treatments you get prescribed by vets don't work unless you do them every month religiously. Has your grandma talked to the vet about flea treatment and kept up to date with getting them checked out? Does she regularly use a flee comb and bathe her pets? There might be things you can do for her pets and to help her clean up that will help reduce the flea and tick risk.

 

[melizy12]

I think it would be a better situation to keep the cats with you in your own room at grandmas then to leave them with your family who are neglectful, but neither situation is ideal. When you say your grandma has tried everything, what solutions do you mean? A lot of pet store solutions can be pretty bad, and even the topical treatments you get prescribed by vets don't work unless you do them every month religiously. Has your grandma talked to the vet about flea treatment and kept up to date with getting them checked out? Does she regularly use a flee comb and bathe her pets? There might be things you can do for her pets and to help her clean up that will help reduce the flea and tick risk.

My grandma doesn't really go to the vets with her cats. She gives them baths and uses the flea combs and flea shampoo and medications on the catss, but they keep on getting them. My grandma doesn't have the money to go to the vet, but she get over the counter flea and tick prevention and other things.

 

[mollyblue]

How is your grandma with cleanliness of her home?  With a flea infestation, it is important to vacuum thoroughly, daily, and to dump what the vacuum picks up right away, outside and far away from the home...

 

[melizy12]

How is your grandma with cleanliness of her home?  With a flea infestation, it is important to vacuum thoroughly, daily, and to dump what the vacuum picks up right away, outside and far away from the home...

I don't know how often she cleans, but she does clean very well. I don't think she has a vacuum though:/

 

[neely]

It would bother me as a human to stay in your grandma's house to begin with if she has fleas and ticks whether or not you had cats.  But I do understand that you want to finish your senior year and not be separated from the kitties.  I don't know where you live or if your parents are moving out of state but some school districts will allow you to finish your courses from home with proper instructors who make home visits.  That way you can move with your family and still graduate from high school.  You would need to meet with your counselor(s) and take the necessary steps in order to do this, your parents would most likely have to be your advocate but not necessarily.  Make a pro and con list of taking the cats with you vs. having them go with your family.  Then use this as a guide to help you make your decision.  I wish you the best of luck, you sound like a very responsible and mature person. 

 

[melizy12]

It would bother me as a human to stay in your grandma's house to begin with if she has fleas and ticks whether or not you had cats.  But I do understand that you want to finish your senior year and not be separated from the kitties.  I don't know where you live or if your parents are moving out of state but some school districts will allow you to finish your courses from home with proper instructors who make home visits.  That way you can move with your family and still graduate from high school.  You would need to meet with your counselor(s) and take the necessary steps in order to do this, your parents would most likely have to be your advocate but not necessarily.  Make a pro and con list of taking the cats with you vs. having them go with your family.  Then use this as a guide to help you make your decision.  I wish you the best of luck, you sound like a very responsible and mature person. 

thank you, but the only reason why I am staying down here instead of moving up with my family is because I go to a high school with the only vet program in the state. The program gives us a certificate that certifies us as vet techs. I can't do an online course with the vet program, there is no suck thing!

 

[orange&white]

There is a good chance that your grandmother bought a fumigator product that does not contain an insect growth regulator (IGR).  Without that IGR ingredient the adult fleas are killed almost immediately, but thousands of new eggs hatch every few weeks.  Could you ask her or your parents to spring for either a product called Ultracide or a product called Pivot Ultra (or any product with an IGR ingredient).  She would need to move her pets to one room and spray other areas, then let the pets back when the spray dries and spray the room where she contained them while she was spraying the rest of the house.  Those products cost $20-$25 per bottle, but they spray about 2000 square feet and should keep killing fleas and eggs for several months.  Whatever she is buying now clearly is not working so she is wasting whatever money she is spending on ineffective products.  Better to spend a little more on a product that actually works.

Fleas have become resistant to most of the over-the-counter flea products for pets.  Some areas of the country they still work, other areas not so much.  Frontline worked great for years, but then stopped working in many areas of the country...so now you see it available without a prescription.  Try to find out if there is a low-cost pet clinic in your area that offers discounts on prescription flea/tick/heartworm products for low income people.  Some of the shelters might be able to help you out too.

If your grandmother can't afford to take care of the flea problem, then your parents should help her out.  If they won't or can't help, then have you given any thought to getting a part time or full time job this summer during break?

We'd really like to see your grandmother take care of the flea/tick problem, preferably before you move in with her.