I mentioned about a month ago that we got a kitty. Well we brought her back from the vet the other day and discovered that now we had a kitty and some fleas. I don’t know if the vet charged us extra for the fleas as I didn’t scrutinize the bill as well as I probably should have. Perhaps it was just flea day at the vet and we happened to be the thousandth customer. At any rate Kara and I decided that, while we liked the cat the fleas had to go. Kara ran to the store and bought a flea collar, flea comb and some special shampoo. Yeah shampoo, those of you with cats can already see where this story is heading.
I have never tried to give a cat a bath before so I sat down and read the instructions on the shampoo bottle. “Wet cat” it said, then “work shampoo into a lustrous lather” and rinse. What the bottle didn’t say is that as soon as your cat gets the first tiny droplet of water on its paw the situation changes dramatically. No longer are you trying to give your cherished pet a bath to rid it of the fleas that are driving it crazy. No, now you are trying to wash an angry, furry chipper shredder that is howling like an air raid siren.
Everyone knows that cats don’t like water. You can ask any five year old, “what do cats not like?” and they will tell you water. To say that cats do not like water though isn’t really accurate. For instance I do not like peas. However if Kara were to serve me peas I would not grab a kitchen knife and begin slashing wildly at the exposed parts of her body while scrambling for the nearest exit and screaming at the top of my lungs.
We finally got the cat washed and then began the process of combing her with the flea comb. After we could run the comb through her without picking up any of the little bastards we attached the flea collar and called it good. We vacuumed the hell out of the apartment and washed all the sheets and stuff. I still feel crawly things all over me though which is unsettling. I hope it’s all in my head. Does anyone have any tips for making sure your apartment is flea free? I would love to hear them.
-Gabe out
