Yet another reason not to miss the business of property management...
My dog hasn't had fleas in years and years. She's short-haired and white, and it's impossible to miss the little devils when they set up housekeeping on her glorious little self.
Friday, I went into an abandoned apartment with a maintenance staff member to assess the damage. Back in my office 20 minutes later, the staffer called and asked me if I had fleas on my clothes, because she did. EEK!
Yes, I pulled off two fleas, went out into the parking lot and had a mini-freak-out. Apparently I've learned nothing from dogs - most particularly the fact that shaking and scratching doesn't make fleas go elsewhere. I hoped, rather than believed, that the bastards had hopped off me to look for greener pastures. Monday night I caught 2 fleas as they leapt out of doglet's fur like gamboling dolphins celebrating life. I'm in ecstasies of disgust, and there can be no doubt as to the origin of these intercoursing fleas. Suffice to say that not only are the former residents NOT getting their deposit back, they will be assessed heavy fines and this will go to a collection agency immediately. Unconscionable.
This doesn't happen often - maybe once a year if she gets into something gross, but bitch got a bath. And she'll probably be getting baths every night for a week or two. I hate to put her through it, but the flea thing - I just can't deal with that.
Anyone have any tips for me for preventing a major infestation? Having been 4 days already, I fear it's too late.
10 comments:
So, what apartments do you run, where people leave piles of crap on doorsteps and fleas everywhere? Sheesh! poor thing. You can get yourself one of those collars. Seriously, dust that powder all over your carpet and sweep it around. It'll do the trick. That and the collar.
If the baths don't work, you can go to your vet and get a single tube of Frontline for $10. That should do the trick. Or give her some sulfur sprinkled on a teaspoon of honey. Or I can bring you a syringe full of the stuff we use on our doggies on Friday.
I believe nature always provides the answers. When my dog gets fleas he would roll around in grass and weeds and his own crap then scratch and scratch and sometimes bite himself. man I would pay good money if you would have rolled around in the parking lot and I was there to take pictures.
No, I have nothing constructive to offer, but the whole image of you rolling and shaking in the parking lot is too funny.
I use K-9 Advantix (get it from my vet) on my 2. We used to not have a problem but now we're surrounded by dogs and they all gather up at the back corner of our yard to gossip (read bark and raise hell in general). I used to get something that killed the eggs and hatchlings and mixed it with dursban liguid and sprayed all over the house. Then I used dursban granules in the yard. That's why we didn't have a flea proble. But the tree-huggers got dursban banned and I haven't tried any other yard treatment.
My vet has a pill, I think it called Capstar, that makes all the little boogers die and fall off.
The only thing that works for me is the stuff you can get at the Vets office...Frontline or advantix...there are lots of "generic" products out there...but I myself have never had very much luck with them...these work...you just put a little drop between the shoulder blades...and this last for a month...they usually come in packets of 3 for around 40.00...
PS...I found your blog thru Kim....
Go to vet (No generic or over the counter stuff !! WORTHLESS!!)and get the previous mentioned Frontline or Advantix or whatever.....the stuff is a miracle for sure. also ( per DH pest contreol guy for 15+ years) go to homepestcontrol.com and order something called "ultracide".. nice mix of stuff that will stop fleas and their nasty cycle. Of course state laws are different regarding chemicals...call local pest control places to see if you can purchase it locally. Flea collars are worthless mostly just irritate. I have used the Frontline on all 3 large dogs and 4 cats when needed and it does work wonders.. Good luck!!
schnoobie
You poor dear! Fleas are the worst. I hope yours is a tiny infestation.
One summer, years ago, we rented a cottage on Lake Huron, where our cat picked up fleas. We did put him on one of the internal flea treatments but still had to launder the hell out of everything as those pills take a while to kick in. The fleas also seemed to prefer me to the cat and I was covered in bites. Oh I was a thing of beauty.
And then my young daughter brought the "we have had an incident of lice in the classroom" letter and I swore that if I found lice as well, I would just burn the damn house down.
Oh geez, I am itching in sympathy!
"gamboling dolphins celebrating life. I'm in ecstasies of disgust"... OK, sorry for the flees, but you can write.
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