Spooky has Fleas

How can I tell?

Spooky does this quite suddenly, absolutely abruptly.

That's Spook CHAWING on his own leg. It's no leisurely licking with a couple chews here and there. And there's no easing into it. It's full-blown determined chawing. And Spooky does it even though Kitty is immediately outside the slider, the bell around her neck just-a-janglin'. (Did that remind anyone else of that one country song that played on the radio late '70's-early 80's about Charlotte being on the front porch just-a-swingin'? No? Okay.)

How else can I tell Spook has fleas? I have flea bites. Namely four on my right side where Spook slept on me Thursday night. Those of you who've watched me scratching as though I hadn't bathed in 4 days, sorry.

What does this mean? It means I vacuum twice a day every (or every other) day like the president is coming.* And I do laundry, as in wash everything including all of the towels, all of the bedding (mine and Spook's), and all of our clothing (fortunately Spook's wardrobe is limited to his harness and leash). That means I spend about 2.5 hours at the laundro-mat and spend about $50 on LAUNDRY.

And worse is that I have to pin Spook down to squirt him with this tube of Advantage II.

Depending on where you get it and what size box you get (number of doses) and what sale you find, you can expect to spend about $10-15 bucks a squirt.

Last month I didn't pin Spook down well enough and the majority of the 798 µL went squirting across his back. And certainly, after tearing around the apartment for 30 minutes straight, Spooky licked almost all of it off then consumed water as if he'd eaten a salt-lick and was still acting like Cujo an entire day later.

But even worse than all that? Spooky knows what the little tube looks like and what it means for him. So I need to trick him with treats and/or walks just so I can grab him, pin him down in a full nelson and essentially simultaneously squirt him. The poor Dook. By the time I get him, he'll not trust me for 3 weeks and then a week later I'll have to do it all over again. Fortunately, when I do it next month, it'll be to keep fleas away instead of working on killing the ones WE have.

Wish me luck. I'm going in.

*Kimberly used this term recently and I find it's perfectly fitting here.