Monday, April 25, 2011

Fleas! April 25, 2011

Boy, it has been a rocky month in the Turbot household.  Especially for our furry kids, Bonnie Dog and Princess Emily.  It probably started two months ago.  I had packages of Interceptor (Heartworm protection) and Sentinel (Heartworm and Flea protection) up in the cabinet for Bonnie.  I forgot I had both and they look exactly alike. Oops.  For two months I was giving only the Heartworm protection.

And then I started noticing hitchhikers (fleas) on Bonnie coming home from our walks.  She started scratching.  A little at first and more as the weeks went on.  By the first week in March I had realized my mistake.  But by that time, Emily was being bothered.  Mom and Dad's cat was starting to scratch a bit and ugh...poor Bonnie's back end was looking pretty rough.  Frontline went on the cats.  I started buying Capstar to kill the immediate fleas.  I thought after treating the yard, the house and all the bedding we would be home free.

But NO!  I got home from my show in Flagler Beach the middle of April and picked Bonnie up and she was covered with the little buggers.  Into the kitchen sink bathtub she went, closely followed by Emily.  Who of course meowed that pitiful awful meow cats do when they get wet.  It was so sad...Bonnie thought I was killing her, so she was all concerned.  You can imagine how thrilled the cat was to be getting a bath.  The pictures below sum it up pretty well.


Bonnie was so concerned about Emily that she jumped up on the couch and started licking her as I was drying her off.  The cat tolerated that for about 5 minutes and then she whooped her.  


So we are now a week after a second round of yard, house and bedding treatments.  Bonnie's trip to the vet yielded prednisone for a flea allergy, but, luckily she didn't need an antibiotic. I stocked up on more Capster and now a topical flea treatment, Advantix.   My vet tells me that the area around Tampa, Florida is the Flea Capital of the World.  All the companies that make flea protection products do their testing there.  I think a couple of these megafleas have made their way to Orlando.  BUT, I think we finally have them beat.

1 comment:

JackieSoap said...

Oh, I didn't even go into all the lavender and tea tree poultices I gave poor Bonnie over the weeks this was happening. Oatmeal baths too! I think it is the reason she didn't need antibiotics!! Totally agree about the pests, too!!! Lucky for Rod and I no bites at all...the furry kids must taste really good...