Fleas! and it's no circus

When we first got our puppy, Flash, we had him checked by the vet for fleas. He was clean and clear. But he's been scratching and scratching like the dickens for awhile now. Someone suggested he might have dry skin, so I've been using this moisturizing shampoo on him. I can't believe I'm using a more expensive shampoo on my dog than I use on myself. After using the shampoo a few times, he was still scratching. Convinced he did indeed have fleas, I sat him down with a brush and looked through the white parts of his fur. I could see really little black spots moving around. Yup, fleas. Ugh!

So, I put on one of those flea and tick killer things that you squeeze down their back. I used one when we very first got him, too. I waited awhile to see if it would work, but he was still scratching and every once in awhile he would jump up and yelp for no reason.

Yesterday I could actually see the big fleas on his skin and in his fur, and I noticed both the cats have fleas. Ok, it's time to take some real action. Husband went out and bought some flea shampoo and flea collars. (yes, I know they don't actually work, but it can't hurt either)

I washed Flash last night. In a few days we'll check him and then wash him again. This shampoo says it works for up to 10 days.

I went to grab Scooter, the smallest cat, and even though he's got no front claws he can still scratch the heck out of me with his back claws. And that's just what he did. My arm has some pretty big battle wounds on it now.

Husband has given the cats baths a few times before. He grabbed Scooter with a towel and then put Scooter in the tub while holding him with the towel and washed him up. That way, Scooter couldn't scratch with his back claws.

Then it was Socks' turn. Husband did the same thing, only Socks is a little stronger than Scooter and he managed to get his revenge scratch in at least once.

Hopefully this will work because I do not want fleas all over the house. The last time we had them was about seven years ago when we first brought Socks home from the pet store. That got to be a fairly bad infestation. Don't want to go back there again.

Although it was hysterical to see the cats when they were all wet and skinny after their baths last night! Then they run around, frantically trying to lick all the water off themselves. Scooter still isn't "speaking" to me. Socks forgives easily, and Flash will do anything for a treat!