A cat forum. CatBanter

If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Go Back   Home » CatBanter forum » Cat Newsgroups » Cat health & behaviour
Site Map Home Register Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Kitten, Fleas, Ear Mites....or both!?!



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old October 21st 04, 07:17 AM
Gary
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 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  
Old October 21st 04, 01:05 PM
Wendy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"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  
Old October 21st 04, 01:05 PM
Wendy
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"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  
Old October 21st 04, 01:44 PM
Ivor Jones
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"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  
Old October 21st 04, 01:44 PM
Ivor Jones
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"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  
Old October 21st 04, 02:13 PM
GW
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

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  
Old October 21st 04, 02:13 PM
GW
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

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  
Old October 21st 04, 03:19 PM
Phil P.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"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  
Old October 21st 04, 03:19 PM
Phil P.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"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  
Old October 21st 04, 06:00 PM
Sara
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

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
 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
stupid, stupid neighbor -L. : Cat health & behaviour 51 August 30th 04 05:21 AM
Man Accused of Throwing Kitten Out of Car Jay Cat health & behaviour 8 July 20th 03 02:02 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 03:23 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 CatBanter.
The comments are property of their posters.