pet horrors

This is a flea. It is a nasty nasty thing and invaded our house. With the new pets, we switched to a vet nearby. This vet told me (at sparky's appointment when i complained about our flea dilemma) that washing a dog/cat before apply Advantage (the flea rx) doesn't let the Advantage work because skin oils are missing at that point. Washing a dog or cat anytime after also undoes the effects of Advantage. Oh my gosh! Advantage leaves this greasiness on the fur and we've often bathed Sparky the day after. How he never got fleas I'll never know, but I am very glad to have switched vets because our previous vet never told us this. So, I Advantaged Leo when we first got him home from the Humane Society and the next day washed him. So...I counteracted my measures to counteract any flea encounters. :) So, we discovered the kitties had fleas, which meant the dogs had fleas. Sparky only got them this weekend (post his grooming appointment). But the kitties. Oh poor kitties. They were big fleas and tons of them. It was soooo gross!!!! So terribly disgusting! Ah... but I didn't know the bit about bathing and Advantage, so I gave the kitties a bath and then put Advantage on. No good. So I readvantaged them yesterday (post Sparky's appointment) and learned that there is a tablet for dogs! Woo hoo!!! Much easier to administer on a large puppy than getting him to be still for the Advantage. I have boraxed/salted the rugs and carpets. Rob vacuumed the heck out of everything. I'm still doing laundry. Have vacuumed everyday and bought spray to make sure no eggs hatch. Sigh. It has been a creepy and horrendous experience that I'm choosing to share publically so you can all feel very sorry for us. :) Now...if only flea rx was a hell of a lot cheaper, all would be wonderful. :)