Monday, August 27, 2012

Welp. This is Embarassing.

Embarassing.  Gross.  Horrified.    All things I felt today while alternating between wanting to crying and hyperventilating.  Henry was itching this morning, not that abnormal.  We had made the switch to the new food, and were waiting for the allergic reaction to slow down.  Well, this morning I noticed something on his chest.  I reached out and grabbed it. 

It was a FLEA!!!!!
[no picture for obvious reasons]

Are you kidding me??  Two different vets (at the same practice), tons of meds, and some specialty food later, and it's fleas??  I was first annoyed, then horrified.  I worked from home today, and after this little discovery there wasn't much working going on.  I think bugs, especially ones I can hardly see, are one of my biggest fears.  Especially when they take up residence on my pet, in my house. 

I have no clue where he picked them up, my first guess is at his obedience class which is at our vet's office located near the grooming/boarding section of the property. 

Now I feel like the girl with the STD who has to contact all previous partners, since I have to email/call our friends who have brought their dogs over recently.   I am super freaked and think the fleas are going to get on me.  Ick!

I gave him a flea bath, and then picked up his new Advantix (he's had both frontline and advantix since we got him, but somehow still got fleas!  the horror!)  Well, apparently now we have to wait 2 days to give him the Advantix, because of the flea bath.  I wish they'd mentioned this prior to me giving him a bath. 

Think our home owner's would cover burning the house down for this?  It seems totally rational to me.  Can't we just start over?  This house had a good run. 

Also, my poor cat is upstairs in a bedroom being quarantined from the mess that is this house.  We are sprinkling equal parts salt + baking soda onto the carpet, then vaccuuming it up with a flea collar in the vaccuum.  We have the vet's receptionist to thank for this helpful tip. 

I will be the worst mother when my kid's get lice.  I'm finding this whole experience to be pretty traumatic.   Please tell me your dog at one time had fleas, and you survived without hiring an expensive exterminator.  It will make me feel one thousand times less dirty and infested. 

xo
Kate





13 comments:

  1. Lola skipped the fleas and went straight to worms. Like twice. And they showed up in her poop so it was like they were Ahh everywhere since she was doing #2 inside on the puppy pads back then. Grooosss. Don't get me started on the ring worm the cats gave us both.

    Took a month to go away. A month.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh no!!! Good luck! My dog had kennel cough a while ago and while it's not the same, I was freaking out because I was like "MY dog doesn't get these sicknesses!"

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh man! Fleas are the absolute worst. I grew up in a pretty dodgy neighbourhood, and because my dogs were escape artists and there were a lot of mangy dogs around, fleas were an oft recurring problem at my old house. We gave them regular flea baths, which worked most of the time. If you really have trouble though, use whatever treatments you can find in the morning, and then put flea bombs through the house and get everyone (pets included) out of there for a day. It's like a magic cure! Involves a bit of effort but it's worth it :)

    Good luck!! Rhi xx

    The Wildest of Dreams

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh nooooo!! That is awful! When I was in college my roommate brought in a stray cat. It slept on both of our beds before we found fleas on it. We put it back outside and somehow we never had an infestation. It's kind of miracle. I'm hoping the same happens for you! I'm sure it will be fine!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fleas are so annoying. Our cats have gotten them and it's expensive and annoying to treat. They can come in on anything including yourself. They even bite my husband. Agree with the commenter above, flea meds, flea bombs, etc. Cats can get worms if they eat the fleas, I'm not sure if dogs do or not.

    Anyway, new follower! I found you through Vicki Christine and I think your blog is absolutely adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  6. my dog has fleas right now... terrible? we just treated him... but he's still a little itchy. i'm not the super concerned one (does that make me a bad person?) but the husband FOR SURE is.


    p.s. you may want to check my blog post tomorrow-- i think you guessed something right ;)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ugh NOOOOOOO. That is awful. Fleas are so annoying. Then again, I'd be way more worried about ticks, ugh.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Its such a process to get rid of them. and it seems like most stuff will only kill eggs and then other stuff only kills adult fleas, its all way too difficult. We had two dogs that just had puppies and one of them brought fleas home so we had the craziest infestation but got rid of it in a little over a week! Just keep doing what you are doing everyday! The flea collar in the vaccuum works wonders, just make sure you empty it outside after every vaccuum or they will just hatch in the vaccuum and youll have even more!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh goodness. We've managed to avoid fleas so far, thank goodness. Do you use Frontline? It's worked well for us.

    I hope your rid of thos little critters soon. Such a bummer.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You poor thing! Fleas are no fun :( but you are not alone! Our puppy had worms a few weeks ago. It happens!

    ReplyDelete
  11. ugh. my dog got fleas a while ago and I FLIPPED out. I cleaned literally every nook and cranny in our house, scrubbed the floors, bathed her every day, and cried a lot about these teeny tiny bugs. My husband thought I went crazy.

    ReplyDelete
  12. We just took in a kitten and found out it has fleas..and passed it along to our pup, Huckleberry. The cats too young to undergo any sort of flea treatment at the moment, so poor Huck has to deal with the baths, collars, and other remedies! Poor little man!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I found a flea on my 4 week old kitten and LOST it. Tears, swearing, everything. He was too little to be treated or give meds to, so I washed him in a vinegar bath.

    It was really vinegar mixed with my tears...

    BUT my sister-in-law's kitten (brother to mine) has ringworm. So, I hope that makes you feel less gross about the flea.

    ReplyDelete