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Fear the Flea!

Updated on February 22, 2014

Defend Yourself.

When I brought Harry back from the animal shelter, I knew I had picked out a huge, lug of a cat. He was twenty pounds of attitude. He purred like a motor- so loud that it could be heard across the room. I called Harry "aggressively loveable" because he meowed at anyone who didn't sit down and make room on their laps. Stop petting Harry for even a second, and he'll yip a snotty meow to remind you to start again. I can't lie, I've loved this cat since the day I met him.

A week after I brought him home however, I still loved him, but in a very different way. You see, despite the sleek white flea collar I had buckled around his neck, my lovable fat cat had fleas. Sure, I knew what fleas were, but I had no idea of the headache that was to follow. Yep, our house had become infested.

Because my husband had broken out into a full rash (turns out he was allergic), it took me a couple days to realize what had happened. At first, I thought my husband had an allergic reaction to food, because no one else had a hive rash in my family. Then I thought he had bedbugs because we noticed the 1,2,3... "breakfast,lunch, dinner" bug bite pattern, and he had been traveling a lot for work recently. Finally, we all got bitten and I realized...we had fleas.

Harry got a flea bath, the house got "bombed", and I bought a year's supply of "Advantage Flea Medicine" for large cats. People who knew me were shocked that I would go to such extreme measures. (I am a health food naturalist at heart.) But, my husband was so very sick, and my kids and I were so itchy, that I went hardcore.

Now in our house, "That Time of the Month" refers to flea medicine application day...and I am never late.

Photo

Watch this. Nasty little buggers. Eeew.

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