Flea Fly Flo Flum

SUMMARY: Boost might have fleas. So much cleanup to do!

Since I started using Advantage or Frontline, I've had almost no problems with fleas on my dogs. Occasionally we pick up a couple from somewhere, and then I do a thorough cleaning and bathe the dogs and the problem goes away again.

"A thorough cleaning and bathe the dogs." Aye, there's the rub. I wash everything in sight--all my bedding (since the dogs sleep on the bed) and all their bedding--in bedroom crate, on kitchen beds, on office beds, in car crates, in mats used for agility crating...so much bedding! It takes ages to do all that--unzip things, unwrap things, get from all corners of the house and garage--and then wash, and then put back in place. And some of the stiffer mats don't wash very neatly. I've been at it for hours, it seems, and have barely started.

I vacuum all carpets thoroughly. Bedroom, even under the bookcase headboard--THERE's a challenge. Office--move even the printer tables and such. Living room, although we don't go in there often. Then there are the crevices around the mattress on the bed and other odd places. It's a lot of vacuuming! Usually I just sweep my kitchen, but for this I ought to vacuum around the edges anyway.

And bathing the dogs--ugh, I just have no energy for that this week.

And why am I doing this? For the last week or two, Boost has been scratching more and more often, and last night she woke me up several times scratching scratching scratching. I'm not seeing any obvious flea signs, but at Scottsdale in the trailer we rented, one evening I caught a flea hopping on the bed. So I'm thinking that she picked 'em up from the trailer or from being around zillions of who knows what kinds of dogs with what kinds of flea care for 5 solid days.

I'm only a week late with the latest application of Frontline because I ran out and I wanted to get it on sale this coming weekend--it's a bit pricey. But it sure beats all this work!