When Fleas Attack!
Recently, my family’s dog, Chief Running Rug or ‘Rugs’ for short, came in from his afternoon game in the yard, dropped down and started scratching feverishly behind his ears. Sensing that my job as an ‘ear scratcher’ was being usurped, I reached down to reclaim my role. Suddenly I felt a tingling sensation on my wrist. Upon closer inspection, I gasped…fleas!
At first I was in shock. I deal with flea cases all the time with my clients, but have never had one. I felt guilty for unknowingly allowing my family pet to suffer in this way. I was wondering how long he had them. So I started thinking… how bad was it? Did my cats have fleas? Where could they have come from?
He was intimately familiar with this enemy and knew what had to be done. For some reason, he couldn’t help feeling a sense of responsibility, as if it was my fault that the rugs picked up these fleas. As soon as those sad thoughts surfaced, they were replaced by a sense of peace knowing that I could and would take care of the fleas quickly and in the best possible way. Even if it was somehow my fault, at least I knew I could correct it!
The next day I realized that the whole situation would have been unbearable without my experience and access to information to fall back on. I would have been desperate for a solution and worried about my pets and family. I can imagine being confused about how to proceed. That’s when it hit me…this week’s blog post should be about what to do when fleas attack! That way, our clients will have the same peace of mind I felt can only come from knowing exactly what to do when your family is besieged by fleas.
The treatment:
I quickly formulated a plan of attack and executed it with precision.
First, I went to the pantry where I keep my company’s RESULTS line of products. I grabbed a couple of pounds of RESULTS Flea & Tick Killer and walked out frowning. This was war; the fleas had made the first move, now it was my turn. I attached the hose-end sprayer, mixed RESULTS to the proper ratio, and proceeded to spray my backyard from top to bottom, paying particular attention to the bark chips in the flower garden where I knew fleas loved to hide and breed.
Immediately after the backyard treatment, I went inside and proceeded to spray RESULTS on my dogs’ bedding and the carpet in the house. I also treated baseboards and corners in rooms without carpet. I left this while I was running a bath for Rugs. I mixed some RESULTS into the bath water and gave it a gentle, thorough wash with the treated water. Fleas dropped dead instantly everywhere. I was winning the fight.
Then, I went back and vacuumed up the powder I had applied earlier and checked my cats for fleas. Fortunately there were none. I should have caught the infestation before it got out of control.
I will continue to treat the rugs, my backyard and Rugs for the next few weeks but the fleas are gone and Rugs is at peace. I’m glad that when the fleas attacked, he was ready.