Recently, my family dog, Chief Running Rug or ‘Rugs’ for short, came in from her afternoon romp in the yard, plopped down and began to feverishly scratch behind her ears. Feeling like my job as ‘the ear scratcher’ was being usurped I bent down to reclaim my role. Suddenly I felt a crawling 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 customers, but have never had one myself. I felt guilty for unknowingly allowing my family pet to suffer this way. I wondered how long she had them. Then I started thinking… how bad was it? Did my cats have fleas? Where could they have come from?
I was intimately familiar with this foe and knew what had to be done. For some reason I couldn’t shake a feeling of responsibility, like it was my fault Rugs had picked these fleas up. Just as quickly as those rueful thoughts surfaced they were replaced with 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 entire situation would have been unbearable without my experience and access to information to fall back on. I would have been frantic for a solution and concerned about my pets and family. I can imagine being confused about how to proceed. That’s when it hit me… this week blogs post should be about what to do when fleas attack! That way our customers will have the same peace of mind I felt that can only come from knowing exactly what you need to do when your family is under siege 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 companies line of RESULTS products. I grabbed a couple pounds of RESULTS Flea & Tick killer and went out back with a determined scowl on my face. This was war; the fleas had made the first move, now it was my turn. I hooked up the hose end sprayer, mixed RESULTS at the proper ratio and proceeded to spray my backyard from top to bottom paying special attention to the bark chips in the flower garden where I knew fleas loved to hide and breed.
Immediately following the backyard treatment I went inside and proceeded to sprinkle RESULTS on my dogs’ bed and the carpet in the house. I also treated the baseboards and corners of rooms without carpet. I left this down while I ran a bath for Rugs. I mixed some of RESULTS into the bath water and gave her a gentle and complete scrubbing using the treated water. Fleas were instantly falling dead everywhere. I was winning the fight.
Next, I went back and vacuumed up the powder I had applied earlier and checked my cats for any fleas. Thankfully there were none. I must have caught the infestation before it got out of hand.
I’ll continue treating the carpets, my backyard and Rugs for the next few weeks, but the fleas are gone and Rugs is at peace. I’m just glad that when fleas attacked, I was ready.
