Furry Malfunction

Furry Malfunction: noun. Any problem dealing with pets (including hairless ones, in case you are wondering).

FLEAS!!!!!!!!

The little buggers are tough, aren't they? Come on, admit it. Sometimes animals just get fleas, no matter how clean your house is. Let me tell you about our battle with fleas as of late...

We adopted a beautiful (and protective) female purebred Pembroke Welsh Corgi from a local Corgi rescue group. Beautiful dog, very loving, and not one of the nipping Corgis (as herding dogs, some do nip as a way of "herding" children). When we got her, her "foster mom" that she had been staying with warned us to get heartworm and flea medication. We knew heartworm meds were important, but we didn't think fleas would be a problem. Until, of course, she got them.

In the pet section of our local Target, we found some "natural" powder meant to kill fleas. We put it on her, did the trick, no more fleas. Problem solved.

Or was it? Fast forward several months (possibly a year or so?) A flea infestation on her little tender belly and up onto her back. I blame the neighborhood wandering cats, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, I break out the powder again. Not only did the powder not work, I'm pretty sure the fleas made an obscene gesture at me. I'd heard that Dawn dish washing liquid does wonders if you really get it lathered. I tried it, it killed most of them...but not all and they sprung right back, the little buggers. Next, we tried some over-the-counter drop stuff for about $15. No dice. We decide to go back and get the more expensive drops and see how that went, expecting to pay about $30. No, it was over $60, I think. We opted, instead, for some flea shampoo.

Again, most were killed, but not all. And I really don't like things that advise that I should wear gloves while handling and call the poison control center if I get it on my skin. I really didn't want to use that shampoo again. I told Husband, again, that we may have to just get the more expensive treatments. I caught his attention when I told him we had spent almost the amount of the expensive treatments on things that did not work. A quick thought confirmed that this was true.

Eventually, he gave in. After reading several reviews, I opted to buy Advantage, which comes in drops that you put down the dog's back. I put it on her yesterday, and I have only seen her scratch twice last night. This morning there doesn't seem to be any problem at all, which fits with the product description (may take 12 hours to fully work).

I hated that we had no carpet when we moved in. Now, I don't mind so much...