Help. Please. Kitty mites?

mrebecca · June 2012

The past few days, I've noticed tiny specks on my two new kittens that I dismissed as being dirt.
Today, one of the kittens is entirely covered in this "dirt."
Except now the dirt is moving.
It's gotta be some kind of mite, and I was hoping somebody here might be able to help me identify exactly what it is so I can treat it ASAP.
The best comparison I can make to describe it is that it looks like somebody dunked her in coffee grains. The bugs are teeny tiny and some seem kind of shiny also.

I had been checking the kittens' fur everyday because we had to treat them for fleas, and I was looking to see if the treatment worked.
And it certainly was not this bad, or even remotely close until today.

Please help my poor kitties!
Pia and Fiona say TIA!

natnandy · June 2012

Are they fleas?? The dirt you are seeing that is not moving is the flea dirt.. the fleas poop. Get some Frontline for cats.

natnandy · June 2012

Cats can get ear mites inside their ears. It looks like black dirt but you cant really see any of that move.

jewelsdvm · June 2012

Those are fleas. You can treat with Frontline if they are over 8 weeks or Advantage if they are over 6 weeks. Environmental control is important, too-vacuuming, washing blankets, etc. The bugs you see are only 5% of the problem-the rest is eggs/larvae that fall off the animal into the environment, hatch and jump back onto the animal if you are not using a preventative product like Frontline or advantage. You can get those products over the counter, but they should see a vet for basic care if they haven't yet.

sassypants527 · June 2012

If you've already treated for fleas as you indicated above and you still have bugs, they may be mites. My cat Tessa had ear mites when I first adopted her, but the vet gave us some drops that took care of it quite quickly, though Tessa hated the drops because you have to drop them in and then quickly and gently fold her ear down and massage the ear so she didn't shake it all loose as soon as you got the drops in there. Good luck.

mrebecca · June 2012

Thanks to you all.
I did a little more research, and the brand we used to treat fleas is basically crap.
It was all flea dirt.

I gave the cats really good baths to get the flea poo off, and I'm doing everything I know to do to get the fleas under control.
The cat in the picture, Fiona, was not acting normal at all that day. She napped the entire day, wouldn't eat much, and didn't want to be bothered.
After I cleaned her up, I gave her food and made sure she ate.
She acts like a different cat today!

I'm horrified it happened, but now I know what to look out for.
Lesson learned

Help. Please. Kitty mites?

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