Fleas at the pet sitter's-yuck!

I went away for the weekend to South Carolina and Tennessee last week and left Vianne with a co-worker in Florida. (yea, i run around the southeast a lot-i know) I was happy to not have to drag her and all of her stuff around with me, made it much easier to fit stuff in the car, and was happy to save $200 in boarding costs. I was gone for a total of one week and when i went to go pick up my cat, i was informed that she had gotten fleas while i was away! Sure enough, i picked her up and immediately was able to stick my fingers in her back fur and pluck out an adult flea. I did my best to conceal it but i really was horrified. Vianne has never had fleas in the nearly 3 years that I've had her. The lady watching her has an indoor/outdoor cat who i guess brought some in the house and they jumped onto my baby. Ok, so sure i blame myself for not doing some more thorough investigating of the living conditions and not Frontlining her before I left. But still, YUCK!

Anyway, immediately when i got her home she went directly from her carrier into the bathtub with warm water and flea shampoo. I threw out her carrier liner and pillow, disinfected the carier, and combed her out all over with a flea comb. I also picked up some D.E. powder and sprinkled it onto her freshly washed bed blanket and into her toybox and on her kitty sofa. I bought her new carrier liners today and powdered those too. I also rubbed a bit into her fur. I haven't seen any fleas since I picked her up the other night, but i'm feeling a little paranoid about flea eggs. GRRR!

When I was buying her new carrier liners I also picked up some tape worm pills just in case. What a pain! I hope I covered all my bases and won't have a problem here in a few weeks. Think I forgot anything???

 

I would get some Advantage just in case. And in a few weeks take a stool sample in for an exam....just in case.
Then send the bill to your friend

 

The thing that stinks is that here I am all happy thinking that i'm saving myself $200 in boarding fees, but now i have to go thru all of this and spend even more money on new carrier liners- $13 + tape worm pills $25 + the D.E. flea powder $15 and a fecal test will cost me another $18 and i called around and nobody will sell the Advantage/Frontline in single doses. So i'd wind up paying around another $30? or so i guess anyway for that too. On top of all that is just the pain and hassle of it all, not to mention I got slammed for a $232 "traffic law violation" ticket when i was driving thru a tiny little podunk town in South Carolina that I'm EXTREMELY upset about and I believe (as does my BF who is a cop) that I was picked on for having Florida tags. So all in all I didn't really save the $200 i thought i did last week by getting someone to watch my cat for me. AAAAARRRGH!!! :x

Hehe, well considering she did it for free that might make me seem sorta like a donkey's rear end, lol. Plus I work with her, so i actually picked her up a thank-you card and a $20 gift card to PetSmart today. Oh, well. Hopefully next time I need a pet sitter, my friend who usually watches her for me won't be going out of town the same weekend :roll:

 

i dont recommend flea powders... as was said Advantage and i would also use Program. To get it all, just use Revolution. One month should be ok if you act fast, 2 months just to be sure no eggs have dropped off into your own house.

 

I'm not using a typical flea powder. It's D.E. powder. http://www.organic-earth-products.com/
No chemicals and she can ingest it safely, plus it has multiple uses cuz i can use it on her and all of her bedding, toys and carpet and it kills other pests too. Plus this stuff never goes bad and fleas don't build immunity to it, so i figured it was the best deal for a big bottle was only $15 and since a little goes a long way, this one bottle should last me a looong time.

I already used a flea shampoo on her, so i didn't want to overdo it with the chemicals and risk making her sick. I wouldn't mind putting one dose of Frontline or Advantage on her in a couple weeks just to make extra sure, but it's not something i believe in doing to her on a regular basis since she is pretty much an indoor cat and i don't like to overuse chemical products on her where it isn't necessary. Since I can't seem to find any place that will sell it in singles, I'm trying to do everything else i can to avoid blowing the extra money since i'm in a bit of financial hurt at the moment. What is the average price for Advantage or Frontline now anyway? Been a few years since I worked in a pet store.

 

Frontline or Advantage has to be bought through a vet and they will usually sell you just one tube if you want.

That being said, my dogs and cats are not on any of those chemical things. My dogs get garlic tablets daily. If I am worried about fleas for some reason, I will rub DE into their fur - be careful when you do this that your kitty doesn't inhale it (or you, either). You can also rub it into the carpet/bedding and vacuum it up, or you can use Borax. Borax is a good thing to wash any suspect bedding with as well.

A good diet helps with flea prevention, making your kitty less appealing to fleas. Vacuuming is also a good prevention - you could do it daily for the next week just to be sure if you'd like. Some people say to put a flea collar in the vacuum bag and then throw the whole bag away when you are done.

In the last three years, I saw ONE flea on ONE dog ONE time. I immediately took her outside and DE'd the heck out of her and the other dog, and never saw any fleas again.

 

luckilyI haven't had a flea problem in YEARS (since my cats all became inside only)
my problem is TICKS and walking Molly on trails. So she has to get Frontline Plus

 

We walk in the woods with the dogs all the time. They rarely get ticks, but every once in a while they do so I just pull them off. Many owners of raw-fed dogs find that fleas and ticks no longer bother their dogs.