Flea-bitten
Another Emergency: Velvet and her kittens
The loss of Little Sweetie and Little Gem several weeks ago to flea anemia motivated us to form a Kitten Emergency Team. We promised these two dear kittens that we would help save other kittens suffering from flea infestation. We met, formed a team, assembled emergency supplies and educated ourselves so we would be ready for the next call.
We were out straight with work that day but all our daily plans came to a halt when we got the call. A woman in Sanford read our feature in the paper about fleas killing kittens and she said she had a flea infested apartment and several cats. One of which was a stray that gave birth 2 weeks ago and the kittens were all flea infested. I asked the woman what color the kittens gums were and she said “white” She had no money, no vet. I told her we would be coming to her house.
We packed our supplies in the van and drove to Sanford. It was 95 degrees and the apartment was 2 flights up. We carried our gear up the steps and walked into an apartment that was so hot and still and small. There were no fans and no air conditioning. The kitchen window was open but no breeze came thru. It was sweltering. The woman had 5 cats of her own and a family dog, and there on the floor in the kitchen was a cardboard box. Inside, a beautiful grey female momma kitty and her 5 two week old kittens. She was nursing, and panting. The kittens hot little bodies made her even hotter but she was a good momma kittie and her kittens came first!
We comforted mom kitty, and checked her flea condition. Then gently examined her kittens. Dozens of fleas scurried over their bellies and around their eyes. Their gums were stark white from anemia. They were undersized, had no body fat. The fleas were draining them of nutrition, energy and life.
We got busy. You have to be careful. Weighing between 7 and 8 ounces, they were too little for any flea preventative. We gave momma kitty a flea treatment safe for nursing moms, then got busy on her babies.
- We bathed each little kitten quickly but thoroughly and rinsed them as fleas fell to the bottom of the basin. About 50 were on each kitten.
We set up our emergency station in the woman’s tiny, hot kitchen. Due to an electrical problem, the woman had no hot water so we had to boil water on her stove in pans and tea kettles so we could bath the kittens in warm water. The steam of the boiling water added to the heat and humidity in the apartment.
We mixed the warmed water with cold to make comfortable baths for the kittens. We carefully bathed them one at a time. A dab of Dawn dishwashing detergent in warm water rubbed around their necks stopped fleas from traveling to their heads. We bathed their bodies, then their faces. Dozens of fleas fell to the bottom of the basin. We rinsed them again and again from the neck down. More fleas fell dead into the water.
The fleas were everywhere. On the towels, jumping on the kittens faces and on us.
I washed, Janet dried
It took three hours to de-flea five kittens. The sweat poured down our faces and stung our eyes. But we got it done!
We carefully dried off each kitten before bathing the next. Even on a sweltering day like this, they could easily catch a chill. We blotted them with paper towels, then hand towels, then used a low-noise, low-heat hair dryer to make sure each was totally dry.
Afterward we checked the kittens again. There were still fleas, but not as many. But even one flea can kill a fragile kitten. The mom cat and kittens couldn’t stay in a flea-infested home so they were surrendered to us and we took them back to the Safe Haven Adoption Center.
Beautiful Velvet
Three volunteers, Janet, Lynn and I, worked until 2:30 AM on the mom and kittens. We wouldn’t sleep until all the fleas were gone. Mom purred and kneaded with comfort. The kittens nursed. Two were so weak they had to be syringe-fed. We picked and picked at fleas for hours. Lynn even stayed overnight.
To monitor them we wrote up charts for each, gave them names and ID collars.
- Puddin’ and Winky were the weakest. We supplement fed them with kitten formula but Winky was so weak. The next day we rushed him to the vet and were told to tube feed him every 3 hours. Velvet and her kittens went into Janet’s foster care. Winky was responding to tube feeding and ate well at 1 AM but at 4 AM Janet found little Winky had passed away. We were devastated for this loss. We tried so hard to save them all and to lose one was such a great loss. It is especially devastating when flea infestation is totally avoidable. Velvet and her 4 little kittens are all doing fine. They are no longer in a guarded condition and are eating well and the kittens are already playing. We are thankful to our emergency team members who give up sleep and meals and for the honor of being able to do the work we do to try to save these dear kitties who are so very desperate and deserve so much. Please help support Safe Haven. We can not continue this work without your financial support. Please dedicate your donation to our darling little Winky. Thank you.
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Winky will never be forgotten
The kitties thank you!
