[St. Phatty]

I woke up this morning to find the 4 kittens I am fostering all scratching.

I put on my glasses and grabbed a small high-beam flashlight to look into the kitty's ear.

However that did not go too well. I have a 100+ degree fever and was wearing my reading glasses and between the kitten squirming and my glasses fogging, did not get a very good look into the ear.

In any case, I will be giving the kittens each a bath, using Apple Dawn dishwasher soap. I know 'dishwasher' sounds harsh. It's what I use for washing my hands, etc., and it's not very harsh.

That's for their body.


For their ears -

I have a small bucket full of Safer's from doing recent dips of Cannabis plants, treating them for spider mites.

My understanding of Safer's is -
* it contains potassium fatty acids
* it dissolves spider mites the way that guy dissolves in that scene near the end of Robocop, when the truck van crashes and the 55 gallon drums spill out.


I use Safer's all the time, and get it all over my hands etc., with no ill effects.

However, I'm a little afraid to put drops of Safer's in my own ear, one way to test ill effects. It wouldn't bubble and boil through, like the 'acid for blood' scenes from the Alien movies, would it ?

What do you guys think ? Have any of you gotten Safer's somewhere on your body where you weren't planning ? If so, how did that work out ?


I know I could buy over the counter remedies, or see a vet, but I have a limited budget spread over MANY interesting projects, and if I have a perfectly useful lice & mite killer all mixed up in my bathroom, it seems logical to use it to help the kitties with their bug problem.

In terms of how to apply it, I would use a clean medicine dropper (e.g. an off the shelf glass tube with 1/8 inch ID) to drop some drops of dilute Safer's into the kitty's ear.

Then I would flush gently using warm water.

Then I would use cotton (not Q-tips) to press gently into the cat's ear to soak up the moisture.

Then I would give them some time in the indoor grow room with the 1000 watt light to enjoy the heat, and dry off.

[pop_rocks]

are tehy just in the ear or all over the kitten?

[St. Phatty]

Originally Posted by pop_rocks

are tehy just in the ear or all over the kitten?

I don't know and am not sure if I will be able to find out.

The tamest kitten did not like being held firmly while I scoped out her ear with a flashlight, and then my glasses fogged up.

From experience, I think they have fleas on their body, and lice in their ears.

In any case, regardless of which is where, I think they could use a bath anyway.

We will see with the most tame kitty. The limiting factor may be the fact that I am near-naked in the bathtub with a kitten that is objecting strongly to the remedy I am trying to administer.

[Mikell]

What is safe for your hands can burn a kitten.

DIY flea control is sketchy at best. I would look for a widely used solution and throughly search for potential complications.

Or prioritize the animals.

Some vets have a sympathetic ear and will cut a discount.

[pumpkinpie eyes]

most oils are not safe for cats, so use them on your dogs and your home, but stay on the safe side and keep them away from your cats.
try apple cider vinegar...mix up with mild shampoo spray on. or diam earth

[St. Phatty]

Originally Posted by pumpkinpie eyes

most oils are not safe for cats, so use them on your dogs and your home, but stay on the safe side and keep them away from your cats.
try apple cider vinegar...mix up with mild shampoo spray on. or diam earth

What kind of oils are you talking about ?

Most of what they had at the farm supply were diatomaceous earth products.

I am very sensitive to dust and smoke myself, so I avoid bringing dusty & powdery things into the home. I don't have a place where I can isolate the kittens with DE.

I gave the most social kitten, who also happens to be the biggest, a bath with warm water and Apple Dawn dishwasher soap. After about 5 minutes, about 2 dozen small black flecks appeared in his fur. I tried to pick them off, not very successfully.

Then I finished rinsing him, dunking him slowly in warm water, up to the neck. And turned him over to Pasta Man, an older cat that does a very good job baby-sitting the younger kittens. He licks them all over, bites burrs out of their fur, etc.

I would have said, I'm not sure if the bath helped the kitten, but with Pasta Man around, I'm pretty sure those small black flecks (which I think are fleas) ended up in Pasta Man's stomach.

So we'll see how much that kitten scratches compared to the others.

I might put the 3 un-bathed kittens back into the spare bathroom so they don't transmit fleas back to the first kitten.

[Zeez]

I have used diatomaceous earth on chickens with great success. Its harmless.