So here is the much belated update post on my battle with fleas. When I last updated, I was trying to come up with ways to keep myself & the cats occupied for 4 hours while we waited for the chemicals to do their thing. Well, the bug guy got to the apartment 2 hours later than anticipated. Needless to say I was really stressed out - I needed to be in Orlando that night by a certain time in order to watch the Fiance play a hockey game (something I haven't been able to do as often as I like since we live over an hour away from each other). I asked the bug guy if I absolutely had to be in the apartment 4 hours after the treatment was done to vacuum everything up. I seriously could have kissed the man! He said it isn't recommended, but that I could go to Orlando and come back later in the weekend to vacuum. He also warned that it might not be as effective waiting so long to vacuum. But, hey, I had to be at that hockey game, right?
Side note: I don't recommend telling a complete stranger that you're going to
be out of your home & out of town for any length of time. I didn't realize what
I had done until I was already at my parents' house in Orlando. My
recommendation: come up with some crazy lie as to why you can't be back
to vacuum. Or, if you absolutely aren't creative and must tell the stranger you
won't be home, make sure that you have a trusted neighbor checking in on
your home/apartment to make sure that everything is okay.
So, I went to Orlando for the weekend and got to watch the Fiance play hockey (they won by the way!). The cats stayed cooped up in the spare bedroom all weekend due to my step dad's allergies [mentioned here], but did get plenty of love & attention from my niece & nephew. Before I returned to the apartment, the cats took a trip to the Fiance's parents' house and got another flea bath using the same shampoo as before. This time, I made the Fiance hold them while I scrubbed, which made things soooo much easier! I also put the flea collars back on them after their bath (which I forgot to mention as one of my methods in the previous post). When I got home, I locked the cats into the master bath while I vacuumed every inch of carpet in the place.
So...the results?
Well... let's just say that I'm still finding fleas on both cats. Granted, there are far less bites on my body. But it's still really irritating that after all that effort, they still aren't gone. And to top it off, Periwinkle is shedding like crazy in our warm Florida weather, so her fur & the accompanying flea dirt are all over the place. My vacuum cleaner is definitely getting a workout!
What's the plan for this point on? Well, right now I'm in crunch mode with school - Advanced Placement testing is in a month, and our state standardized tests are next week. So, pretty much it's all about maintenance until the summer when I can try another full-force assault on the little buggers. So, the flea collars remain, I'm going to upgrade their flea medication from the vet, and brush, brush, brush.
Anyone have any other suggestions for fighting fleas? I'm pretty much open to anything that won't harm the animals. I'm not someone who will only use "green" or "organic" techniques, but I also don't want to do anything that will harm them.
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