Fleas

Fleas. Ugh.

Pesky critters, and not good for our health, our comfort, or our peace of mind.

Our old dog, Bert, has been pretty much flea-free for most of his life, thanks to new advances in anti-flea medications. But recently, he's been scratching more.

We put it down to just the season and his skin allergies, which happen periodically.

However, when we (that's the "royal we," meaning Jan) gave him a bath recently, we discovered he had a bad case of fleas.

Ugh.

So of course, now every time there's even a tiny itch or tickle on a leg or an arm, we have to look before we scratch to see if it's a flea. Yes, we have caught fleas on us a few times already. The easiest thing to do is simply to flush 'em, if that's convenient. But I wonder if that drowns them or merely moves them to a different location. The more effective (but distasteful) thing to do is crush them between two thumbnails. At least that way we're sure they are finished. One at a time.

I've already sprayed the worst areas of the carpet several times with special home flea killer spray, and all the carpeted areas once. Now I'm running out of spray and will have to get more when I go out today.

And we've treated Bert the dog with a new dose of the anti-flea medication.

I know we can't spray the house just once and expect it to take. Some fleas will have been hiding and won't get sprayed, and some flea eggs will hatch after the spray effectiveness has diminished. So I'll probably have to spray the whole house four or more times over the next few weeks. I want to catch all the newly-hatched fleas before they have a chance to mature and lay more eggs.

Having fleas in the house is never a fun thing. Hopefully, they won't be with us for much longer.