Hi guys, (M23) posting this from SW USA on behalf of my girlfriend (F24) since her account is currently locked. Please correct me if I’m posting in the wrong space.
My girlfriend just started fostering 2 Saturdays ago and got her first case, a mom (1 year old approx.) with four 3-4 week old kittens last Tuesday. None of them are fixed. They had fleas. None of the cats are infested with fleas but fleas nonetheless.
Since Tuesday, she has been bathing them once a day in the evening and flea combing them twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening. None of them are old enough or a heavy enough weight for topical or oral treatments unfortunately. With the daily baths and twice daily combing, the number of fleas has gone down significantly (on Saturday she saw nothing, on Sunday she only pulled one flea off of one kitten after bath time). She has pulled maybe 30 fleas off total from Tuesday until today. This has been the regimen for the 4 kittens.
Mom has not received any baths or treatment yet. Bath is not feasible since the mom is still somewhat wary of my girlfriend, and she’s still feeding the kittens by herself so no topical or oral treatment yet. When Mom gets combed, too much fur comes off to really get close to the skin to check, but my girlfriend hasn’t seen a ton of itching from the mom or anything jumping off of her at all.
As for cleaning: my girlfriend was able to remove the cats from the house during the day on Saturday in order to clean; this is what she did:
-Anything “removable” (bedding, pet beds, towels) was washed in hot water, dried on medium heat, bagged in a black garbage bag, sprayed with Raid Flea+Tick (RFT) Spray in the bag, and left outside in the sun/heat to heat treat.
-The pillows were hand washed to the best of her ability, squeezed, bagged, sprayed, and left outside to dry. The bedding and pillows are stored in her shed (that gets very hot but dark).
-The fosters’ play pen was sprayed and left outside in the heat, then moved back into the room.
-The mattress, box spring, and nightstand were vacuumed, sprayed with RFT, saran wrapped, and then left outside to dry/heat treat; all stored in her other guest room that the cats have not touched.
-The metal bed frame was sprayed outside and left to dry outside, then moved back into the room.
-The litter box was scrubbed clean with Dawn and dried outside, not sprayed with RFT.
-The carpet (the entire room is carpet, including the sliding door closet) was vacuumed, then “treated” with diatomaceous earth and sea salt for about 30 minutes (she had to get the fosters back same day, so she couldn’t let it sit any longer), then vacuumed over with both a Bissell and Shark vacuum, crosshatched so she didn’t miss a spot. Carpet was then sprayed with RFT and left to dry with a box fan and the window open, and vacuumed once again for any dried aerosol debris. The diatomaceous earth was placed all throughout the carpet and the edges of the carpet along the wall.
-The sliding door closet is also carpeted but kept shut at all times. There are some items in there (air filters, moving boxes, a plastic cat carrier, etc.). This was NOT emptied, sprayed, or vacuumed as it has been shut the entire time.
After all of the cleaning she set the room back up with their play pen, litter box, food/water station, and pet beds. Since cleaning, she has seen one alive adult flea on the calico kitten (who probably had the most out of all 4 in general).
This morning (Monday), she put the fosters into their carrier and set them in the laundry room (no carpet) so she could vacuum the entire room and the play pen’s sherpa lining. She also washed all of the pet beds and towels again with hot water and dried on medium heat.
Her two resident adult cats received topical flea treatment (Elanco Advantage 2 Large Cat) on Wednesday, have not interacted with the fosters at all, are kept in her bedroom on the other side of the house when she deals with the fosters, and have not been in the foster room since they arrived.
Her daily cleaning regimen is after the morning check in (food and flea comb and play), she sanitizes any counters in the kitchen she touched and vacuums any carpet she walked on. She does not always empty the canister, since she knows she will be vacuuming again. After the nighttime routine (food, bath, flea comb, play) she vacuums any carpet she walked on again (usually the whole living room), sanitizes the counters, scrubs the sink clean with disinfectant/dish soap, and runs hot water down the drain. She will start vacuuming the room in the morning as well, and washing the pet beds every day if needed.
For protecting herself: Her hair is always in a bun at the top of her head. She will wear the same clothes (pair of shorts and old t-shirt, no socks) for both AM and PM check in, but they go straight into the washer. Prior to checking on them, she’ll leave her house clothes in her room, sprint to the laundry room, change into foster clothes, then go into the foster room. After checking on them, she cleans (vacuums/sanitizes/etc.), then throws foster clothes into the washer and sets the washer on hot for clothes/towels used for baths, then runs to the shower. She washes her hands thoroughly once or twice and showers before touching her resident cats. After the morning check in, she washes her body. After the nighttime check in, she washes her hair and body. All hot showers. She cannot wash her hair twice in one day without ruining it. She will not touch her house clothes/pajamas until she is showered and her hands have been washed.
My questions to you all are: is this enough? Or does she need to be doing more? Is she doing too much? She has contamination OCD and is absolutely terrified of not doing enough preventative work that she will have an infestation on her hands. I’ve never dealt with fleas so I’m not sure what else I can tell her to reassure her but everything I’ve researched myself, she’s doing right. She’s somehow convinced that even walking into the room and walking out will deposit a million flea eggs everywhere from her bare feet.
The shelter has said since none of the cats were truly infested by definition, it should be a manageable with daily baths, and she should be fine doing laundry on hot, vacuuming, and washing her hands before touching her resident cats. She wants to trust this but again, she’s worried that’s not enough and won’t prevent an infestation. She is waiting for approval to contact the shelter's specific vet and talk through all of this process with them as well. She can afford vet care but would prefer not to if she doesn't have to.
She also has approval from the shelter to bring in the cats once a week on Saturdays for a couple of hours so that she can clean. She’s considering renting a steam cleaner to use this upcoming Saturday as well, as the heat from that apparently kills them immediately. Does she need to be doing this entire regimen once a week, or sooner? How often and how much longer will she need to do this so she doesn’t get an infestation? Is she protecting herself and her resident cats enough?
This is her first foster batch and I’m worried this will discourage her from fostering any more animals as she’s too scared of a possible infestation, in the near or far future. I know she wants to keep fostering and I don’t want her fear to hold her back so much. Sorry for the over dump of information, I’m just worried about her and really want to help her out and encourage her that she will get through this without an infestation and that she is doing enough and will be fine. Please try to not fear monger in the comments unless it’s truly needed; she’s freaked out enough
If you’ve read all of this, thank you. If you’ve read it all and are leaving a comment, thank you even more. I appreciate any help we can get.
TLDR: My girlfriend is fostering kittens and a mom with fleas and is panicking about possibly accidentally infesting her home and her two resident cats. Her cleaning and care regimens are detailed out in the post for outside perspective on if she is doing enough or needs to add/change the regimens.