5 week old kitten.

Question
Hello Ali,
Today for my birthday I got a 5 week old kitten from a friend, who got them from one of her friends. The mama is an outdoor cat, who had her kittens outside. Yesterday was the first time the kitten was inside because I wanted to adopt her and she has really bad fleas! The previous owner, who my friend got her from gave her revolution and she is only 5 weeks old. I saw you are not suppose to give this to kittens unless they are 8 weeks old. And there are 2 types, one for cats who are under 5 pounds which is the mauve, and over 5 lbs. is the blue. She got the blue because she has an adult cat who that vet sees, so the vet prescribed revolution for the adult cat, not knowing it was for a 5 week old kitten. I'm worried this is going to do some harm for her! The fleas are REALLY bad. She is itching all the time...I'm really hoping this works soon. I'm not sure how much the previous owner gave the kitten...but any advice would be good. I have the kitten in a spare bedroom with a towel on the door, because I have 2 other cats, and I don't want them to get the fleas...they have not started itching yet. Thanks a lot!

Answer
Ashley,

You are completely justified in your concern. The kitten is way too young for these flea treatments. At this age most vets will use less toxic flea remedies or prescriptions to treat mom and the babies will get the benefit safely through being close to their mom. In this situation this baby needs to see a vet and get more appropriate care for her age and size. This kitten is really too young to be away from her mother so you will need to take special care of her. If I understand you correctly your friend actually applied Revolution to the kitten? If this is the case the kitten must be taken to the vet ASAP to be monitored for signs of poisoning because these medicines are safe when properly administered according to the package directions. To my knowledge (it's been awhile since I had to treat fleas on such a young kitten) the vet will be able to deworm the little munchkin and use a safer method of getting rid of the fleas. I wish that there was an easy answer in this case, but due to the age of this little one she must not be treated with adult flea control products. Your vet may also need to check that this kitten has been accurately aged. In addition to fleas your kitten may have a skin condition such as flea bite dermatitis, allergy related skin irritation or even certain types of mange so your vet will be able to help determine the best course of treatment to take the itch away. I hope that this information helps. If you have any further questions, concerns, or you would simply like to send some pictures or an update my way, please don't hesitate to contact me again.