Flea Troubles

A friend had come over to hang out, and Charlie was doing his usual "show off" routine a couple weeks ago. He played fetch, showed her all his toys and then started his humping routine.

Yes, I said humping routine.

When Charlie is anxious, he'll grab his bed and start going to town on it. It's pretty embarrassing. My friend is an animal person, so I tried not to make a big deal out of it, but it was still pretty awkward. It went on for about... two hours. I was actually afraid he was going to get sore.

After she left, (traumatized, I'm sure) I started to wonder if something was wrong with his boy bits. So I flipped him over to check out his junk. (Charming, right?)

One word.....

FLEAS

There were fleas EVERYWHERE all over his poor crotch. 

If one pet has fleas, you can bet all three of them do. I freaked out and ran to WalMart at midnight and spent a fortune on medication and treated them all that night. I was worried about treating Tootie because his diabetes still isn't controlled and we aren't vaccinating him because his immune system is too compromised right now (per the vet) so she wants to hold off until he's more stable. I called the vet to make sure it would be okay and they said go ahead, so I did.

I waited a couple of days, and then started checking the cats. Tootie seemed okay, but Amelia's whole tushie was COVERED in flea dirt. It was disgusting. I decided to do the unthinkable (to a cat.) I decided to give her a bath.


Sarah and I went to the store and bought a lingerie wash bag with a draw string top. When I worked for the vet, this is what they used to wash cats. They only had the cheap ones in colors, so I selected a beautiful hot pink.

Amelia had no idea what was coming, so of course she was easy to get INTO the bag.

 But then of course I did the horrible, bad, bad thing to her. I stuck her in the tub!

Obviously she was not pleased.

She actually managed to wiggle INTO the bag and then her head wasn't out. She was fine, but it kind of freaked me out. It was really good I finally did the bath though, not only for the fleas, but because she's gotten so chunky that she can't reach her own butt to clean it! It was pretty dirty and gross back there. I was glad to get her cleaned up finally.

Charlie got really distressed over her crying though and tried to comfort her. I think this is the first and only time they've ever been affectionate towards each other- only took 4 years!

Amelia survived her bath and recovered fine! Unfortunately, everybody still seems to have fleas. Charlie and Amelia both got baths (Amelia just a regular bath, Charlie got a flea bath). Everybody got at least one Frontline treatment, and Amelia and Charlie got two. We still have fleas though. It's been two weeks. Ideas? I'm freaking out. It's so gross!