# Nursing ferals & flea treatments



## meenoo (Feb 21, 2005)

Hi there.I'm sorry I haven't properly introduced myself before starting to post questions...

I have two nursing feral mothers inside my house that I managed to trap after they had the kittens outside.Mother Number One has 3 week old kittens.Mother Number Two has 2 day old newborns.

Would it be safe to apply a topical flea treatment? I know that fleas can weaken kittens and don't want fleas in my home at any rate but I've never been in this situation before.The 3 week old kittens climb all over mom and could get some of the flea stuff on them.Another question is: If the flea treatment is in mom's bloodstream,wouldn't it also be in her milk? Could this harm the kittens,especially the newborns?

I'm going to ask my vet about this on Monday but she tends to be very gung-ho about these flea treatments and I think she will advise me to treat the moms...Does anyone here have experience flea-treating nursing ferals whose kittens haven't had the benefit of good nutrition through out the pregnancy? The kittens are fine and so far thriving and I want to do what is best to keep them that way.Like I said,I'm just not sure what is best to do and would really appreciate any feedback one way or the other.The cats aren't crawling with fleas but I have seen some flea eggs on their bedding and if I'm going to treat them,I need to do it soon.Thanks!


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## Hippyhart (Jul 4, 2004)

I treated my Mom cat for fleas when she was a stray and nursing -- I checked with the vet, and we found the only one safe to use while nursing is Advantage. Both Frontline and Revolution said something on the box that specifically said do not use on nursing cats. Please double-check with your vet, though, as he/she may recommend something different.

I would not treat the kittens under 8 weeks -- the best bet, if you can catch them, is to bathe them using dish detergent, which suffocates the fleas.

Good luck!


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