h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I am just about to deal with Yoda and her little pets! After a fortnight away, the first thing that happened to me on re-entering the flat was to be bitten, not by her, but by a flea (or several); I am very allergic, so knew I needed to deal with this straight away.

Normally she gets the "spot" treatment, but since she has a nasty scabby neck at present ("if you insist on trying to outrun the cars, yoda....") another solution was called for. I won't use sprays, powder, shampoo etc for all the reasons you mention, so no other answer than the tablets; not tried these before, they are hideously expensive, but at least I'm lucky in that she is pretty amenable (so long as it's me trying to force nasties down her throat; god help anyone else who might try!)

Just hope she's not reading this!

Very good, helpful article, well done.

Terri

A word of warning -- if the fleas are already breeding in the apartment, the pills may not necessarily eradicate the problem. Since the fleas can live off of you as well as they can Yoda, and the pill doesn't work by killing the fleas outright, some can still keep going.

If you don't want to deal with all the topical stuff and sprays and whatnot, you can also combat the problem by adding frequent vacuuming with a flea collar in the vacuum bage, and frequent washing of the bedding in hot water.

Even with that, you'll probably still have at least *some* fleas, as Yoda appears to spend some time outdoor. The pill will stop fleas from breeding on her, but it won't stop her from bringing in fleas on her body that can then live of off you.

If it helps, it *is* possible to do the spot treatment other places besides the back of the neck -- that's the easiest, but any spot they can't lick will technically work -- it's just that depending on how flexible the cat is, it can be hard to find another spot she can't reach!

Good luck!

Hi Mikey,

Yoda is incredibly flexible, nearly as much as my ferret was! The main reason she has a scabby neck is because she had a brush with a car and got left with a tiny scrape, which she has managed to scratch and lick, so she is unlikely to have any other bits she can't reach!

I don't own a vacuum cleaner, and hot water is heated up in a one litre jug, bedding ends up at the launderette.

( I know it sounds as if I live in a cave or something, believe me, I've done that too; but I am quite happy here!)

Oh well, so long as it keeps them down to manageable levels; it's only when it gets stupid, 'cos I am allergic and they tend to go for my ankles; because of my nerve problems in that area it drives me mad!

---But a small price to pay for The Joy Of Yoda of course!



Terri.