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#1
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Kitten, Fleas, Ear Mites....or both!?!
Hello,
We took our 7 week old kitten to the VET yesterday to get registered and have its first checkup (it was previously checked when it lived with its mother). Our VET used a Flea comb on the kitten and found fleas, she shook the contents of the comb onto the table, and a flea hopped backed onto the kitten. Needless to say she sold us every drug under the sun for our kitten and two adult cats, as well as various house hold treatments for the furniture etc. Whilst at the VET the lady applied a small tablet and asked us to keep an eye open for the dead fleas which should appear sometime in the next hour or so. We had the kitten in its cage on a light blue blanket, and by the time we had got home could find no fleas on the blanket. It then lay on our couch for about two hours asleep, and again we could find no dead fleas once it had moved. I woke this morning to find the kitten sitting on our bed, scratching behind its left ear and then shaking its head as if to try and get something out. My Girlfriend gently dabbed a small piece of tissue around the inside of ear and there appears to be small black specs on the tissue. Dabbing the ear with tissue seemed to upset the kitten, it let out a yelp and tried to get away. Our two adult cats, we have taken the flea comb to them and they are spotless, and they are not itching at their ears. The kitten is going back to the vet when it opens in an hour, I am still trying to figure out what the hell is going on. To summarise: - Only one flea found, at the VET, no dead fleas dropped off the kitten as far as I can tell. - My two adults cat are free of any visible fleas when using the flea comb. - The kitten and its two brothers and mother were tested for fleas at the local PDSA only 7 days ago, before we had it. No fleas found on any of the cats. - This itching of the ear and shaking of the head. - The little specs which come from the ear. Anyone care to help me draw a conclusion? Regards, Gary. PS - The kitten was found abandoned in a box, in a bin, with its mother and 4 siblings. Unfortunately, 2 of them had passed away. The other two and the mother are now being well looked after, and our one is having a blast of a time here, ignoring this little flea / mite hiccup. PPS - Sorry for the X-post. |
#2
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"Gary" wrote in message . .. Hello, We took our 7 week old kitten to the VET yesterday to get registered and have its first checkup (it was previously checked when it lived with its mother). Our VET used a Flea comb on the kitten and found fleas, she shook the contents of the comb onto the table, and a flea hopped backed onto the kitten. Needless to say she sold us every drug under the sun for our kitten and two adult cats, as well as various house hold treatments for the furniture etc. Whilst at the VET the lady applied a small tablet and asked us to keep an eye open for the dead fleas which should appear sometime in the next hour or so. We had the kitten in its cage on a light blue blanket, and by the time we had got home could find no fleas on the blanket. It then lay on our couch for about two hours asleep, and again we could find no dead fleas once it had moved. I woke this morning to find the kitten sitting on our bed, scratching behind its left ear and then shaking its head as if to try and get something out. My Girlfriend gently dabbed a small piece of tissue around the inside of ear and there appears to be small black specs on the tissue. Dabbing the ear with tissue seemed to upset the kitten, it let out a yelp and tried to get away. Our two adult cats, we have taken the flea comb to them and they are spotless, and they are not itching at their ears. The kitten is going back to the vet when it opens in an hour, I am still trying to figure out what the hell is going on. To summarise: - Only one flea found, at the VET, no dead fleas dropped off the kitten as far as I can tell. - My two adults cat are free of any visible fleas when using the flea comb. - The kitten and its two brothers and mother were tested for fleas at the local PDSA only 7 days ago, before we had it. No fleas found on any of the cats. - This itching of the ear and shaking of the head. - The little specs which come from the ear. Anyone care to help me draw a conclusion? Regards, Gary. PS - The kitten was found abandoned in a box, in a bin, with its mother and 4 siblings. Unfortunately, 2 of them had passed away. The other two and the mother are now being well looked after, and our one is having a blast of a time here, ignoring this little flea / mite hiccup. PPS - Sorry for the X-post. http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_ear_mites.html Some info on ear mites. It probably wasn't ear mites that you saw on the tissue as they are very small. Not to say that the kitten doesn't have ear mites but it would take a microscopic examination of wax removed from the ear to confirm the diagnosis. Did the vet check the kitten for ear mites when you were there? What products exactly did they send you home with? W |
#3
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"Gary" wrote in message . .. Hello, We took our 7 week old kitten to the VET yesterday to get registered and have its first checkup (it was previously checked when it lived with its mother). Our VET used a Flea comb on the kitten and found fleas, she shook the contents of the comb onto the table, and a flea hopped backed onto the kitten. Needless to say she sold us every drug under the sun for our kitten and two adult cats, as well as various house hold treatments for the furniture etc. Whilst at the VET the lady applied a small tablet and asked us to keep an eye open for the dead fleas which should appear sometime in the next hour or so. We had the kitten in its cage on a light blue blanket, and by the time we had got home could find no fleas on the blanket. It then lay on our couch for about two hours asleep, and again we could find no dead fleas once it had moved. I woke this morning to find the kitten sitting on our bed, scratching behind its left ear and then shaking its head as if to try and get something out. My Girlfriend gently dabbed a small piece of tissue around the inside of ear and there appears to be small black specs on the tissue. Dabbing the ear with tissue seemed to upset the kitten, it let out a yelp and tried to get away. Our two adult cats, we have taken the flea comb to them and they are spotless, and they are not itching at their ears. The kitten is going back to the vet when it opens in an hour, I am still trying to figure out what the hell is going on. To summarise: - Only one flea found, at the VET, no dead fleas dropped off the kitten as far as I can tell. - My two adults cat are free of any visible fleas when using the flea comb. - The kitten and its two brothers and mother were tested for fleas at the local PDSA only 7 days ago, before we had it. No fleas found on any of the cats. - This itching of the ear and shaking of the head. - The little specs which come from the ear. Anyone care to help me draw a conclusion? Regards, Gary. PS - The kitten was found abandoned in a box, in a bin, with its mother and 4 siblings. Unfortunately, 2 of them had passed away. The other two and the mother are now being well looked after, and our one is having a blast of a time here, ignoring this little flea / mite hiccup. PPS - Sorry for the X-post. http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_ear_mites.html Some info on ear mites. It probably wasn't ear mites that you saw on the tissue as they are very small. Not to say that the kitten doesn't have ear mites but it would take a microscopic examination of wax removed from the ear to confirm the diagnosis. Did the vet check the kitten for ear mites when you were there? What products exactly did they send you home with? W |
#4
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"Wendy" wrote in message ... [snip] http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_ear_mites.html Some info on ear mites. It probably wasn't ear mites that you saw on the tissue as they are very small. Not to say that the kitten doesn't have ear mites but it would take a microscopic examination of wax removed from the ear to confirm the diagnosis. Did the vet check the kitten for ear mites when you were there? What products exactly did they send you home with? Don't know about ear mites, but the best products on the market for fleas are Advantage and Stronghold. both available only from your vet. Stronghold also handles roundworm. Spot-on liquid to the back of the neck once a month. Brilliant stuff, never seen a flea in this house :-) Ivor PS *NEVER* buy a drop-on preparation in a store or anywhere except from a vet, you don't know what's in some of them... |
#5
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"Wendy" wrote in message ... [snip] http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_ear_mites.html Some info on ear mites. It probably wasn't ear mites that you saw on the tissue as they are very small. Not to say that the kitten doesn't have ear mites but it would take a microscopic examination of wax removed from the ear to confirm the diagnosis. Did the vet check the kitten for ear mites when you were there? What products exactly did they send you home with? Don't know about ear mites, but the best products on the market for fleas are Advantage and Stronghold. both available only from your vet. Stronghold also handles roundworm. Spot-on liquid to the back of the neck once a month. Brilliant stuff, never seen a flea in this house :-) Ivor PS *NEVER* buy a drop-on preparation in a store or anywhere except from a vet, you don't know what's in some of them... |
#6
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It probably wasn't ear mites that you saw on the tissue as they are very
small. Not to say that the kitten doesn't have ear mites but it would take a microscopic examination of wax removed from the ear to confirm the diagnosis. Vet checked, and your right, no ear mites! Did the vet check the kitten for ear mites when you were there? Nope, not on the first visit yesterday. What products exactly did they send you home with? Advantage Tabs and Stronghold neck squirt things. And a big giant yellow spray for the house.! Cant recall the name PS *NEVER* buy a drop-on preparation in a store or anywhere except from a vet, you don't know what's in some of them... The VET also warned against this! Thanks, Gary. |
#7
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It probably wasn't ear mites that you saw on the tissue as they are very
small. Not to say that the kitten doesn't have ear mites but it would take a microscopic examination of wax removed from the ear to confirm the diagnosis. Vet checked, and your right, no ear mites! Did the vet check the kitten for ear mites when you were there? Nope, not on the first visit yesterday. What products exactly did they send you home with? Advantage Tabs and Stronghold neck squirt things. And a big giant yellow spray for the house.! Cant recall the name PS *NEVER* buy a drop-on preparation in a store or anywhere except from a vet, you don't know what's in some of them... The VET also warned against this! Thanks, Gary. |
#8
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"Wendy" wrote in message ... Not to say that the kitten doesn't have ear mites but it would take a microscopic examination of wax removed from the ear to confirm the diagnosis. The mites can easily be detected on the dark brown background of the wax (cerumen) with an otoscope. The mites start walking around when they're warmed by the light of the otoscope. This way of detecting earmites is almost foolproof and more reliable than microscopic examination of a cerumen sample. Phil |
#9
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"Wendy" wrote in message ... Not to say that the kitten doesn't have ear mites but it would take a microscopic examination of wax removed from the ear to confirm the diagnosis. The mites can easily be detected on the dark brown background of the wax (cerumen) with an otoscope. The mites start walking around when they're warmed by the light of the otoscope. This way of detecting earmites is almost foolproof and more reliable than microscopic examination of a cerumen sample. Phil |
#10
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I know that the black spec could be two things:
1) ear mite 2) excess ear wax By the way it sounds my guess would be ear mites. Those are fun to deal with, I fought with ear mites for over two months. Is there any black specs in the other cats ears? If so they would most likely have them too, just not bugging them as much. HTH Sara |
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