Welcome to the Homestead Blog Hop!
But what about the kittens?
Recently a fellow blogger asked me for a kitten update. Honestly, our kitty babies could use your prayers.
We found homes for all but two of the six, since my family really fell in love with all of the kittens! We drew the line at keeping two, which is really two more than we needed, but it’s turning out to be a good thing for us.
Our two are just the best of friends! It’s good to have a friend, isn’t it? They’re not blood brothers, but you’d never know it. I’m afraid my Instagram feed is filled with pictures of Charlie. He’s become my little garden sidekick.
His brother, who is solid black, doesn’t have a name from me yet. He has several names like Blackie, Batman, and Herbie (the Love Bug) but they have not stuck yet. No worries, he will get a name.
Both got fixed last week, along with Stinker, so that’s a good thing.
Now we are dealing with fleas all of a sudden. I prefer natural treatment, and tried many things, to no avail for these pesky fleas! I won’t bore you with all of the attempts, but I want to give a warning for anyone who may benefit from our story.
Today, I let off a flea bomb inside the house. Long story, but we have one cat who doesn’t have borders, and sleeps in boxes and pretty much everywhere. Therefore….I figured it would be a real challenge to target the cat zones. I don’t yet know if that flea bomb worked effectively, since we just got home.
AdHowever, in our attempts to eradicate the fleas, I purchased some flea spray from Walmart and used it on the cats. It says to use it on kittens above 12 weeks, which ours are. I used it according to the instructions. Within an hour, our kittens did not look well. They could not walk straight, and seemed really drowsy, especially little Charlie. I gave them a bath at my parents’ with Dawn soap. We are praying for them. The mom is doing fine, but I guess the little guys just weren’t big enough for it.
We are basically holding them a lot, as they are really sleepy. If you can remember, please say a prayer for Charlie. I believe the little black kitty will be fine, but my little buddy has me worried.
He is eating a bit of Sheba, and I added a generous scoop of activated charcoal with that. He’s perky, but having neurological difficulties. I know some will say I should take him to the vet, but we honestly don’t have hundreds of extra dollars, and I am really going to pray that the charcoal helps. Ironically, as soon as we came back home, we are seeing fleas again. The flea bomb apparently did nothing. That’s a day away and money down the drain.
Here’s a picture of Charlie, and one of Blackie/Buddy.
Note/update:
I wrote the above last evening around nine. I gave the charcoal sometime in there—and let little Charlie sleep. Within an hour, he got interested in getting up a little. He still was moving around very erratically—but way better than before. He used the litter box and actually took a swing on Greg’s suspender. He’s still very groggy and looks drunk, but by 11:30 pm, we actually heard his little putter going for the first time since 2 pm.
Blackie is about the same. Very tired, can’t walk straight yet, but getting more bright-eyed and interactive at moments.
We said another prayer for our little guys and are heading to bed late. I mixed in a bit of charcoal powder in their water bowl too, just in case they get thirsty, we will still be detoxifying.
We believe they are improving. We pray that they will pull through with no long-term effects.
By the way, here is the product I sprayed on the cats. So far the larger cats seem OK. It DID kill the fleas instantly. I was very impressed at first. But this is just not worth the risk.
Have a great day!
Laurie
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Our second rescue sheltie came to us with a flea infestation. We ended up having to have both dogs treated at the vets. Having tried home treatments before we decided on an exterminator and we’ve had a contract ever since. The dogs haven’t had fleas since and it has helped with the various other pests over the years.
I hope the kittens recover quickly.
Thank you very much
Hi Laurie, I am heartbroken to hear that the sweet kitties are being impacted by the flea products and are praying for them. We don’t realize just how toxic these products are until something like this happens. Many years ago I took 2 of my cats to the groomer at the vet for flea dips and when they got home they had the same type of toxic systems you described. The emergency vet told me they were poisoned by the flea dip (they had been dipped before without incident so I don’t know if they got too much or it was left on too long or whatever but they ended up being at the vet for several days). I lost one of my cats because of this incident and the other had long term reparatory issues due to it. Your instincts to wash and detox them are right on. Please keep us apprised of the situation.
Oh, thank you! I am so hoping they will recover. My little Charlie is sweet and cuddly, but it’s lethargic and not right. He needs to be dashing through the garden again. Blackie seems to be doing a bit better.
The vet said keep watching. Not much they can do but wait.
I very much appreciate the prayers. God surely cares for kittens if He sees sparrows fall.
P.S. I enjoyed the photos. xoxo
Thanks again for hosting this lovely party every week! I know how much time goes into doing so and I want you to know that it is greatly appreciated!! Stay safe, healthy and happy!!
Hugs,
Debbie
Thank you, Debbie! Always good to see you every week!