The Flea Situation

Well, here's an update on Hank's little "problem." Turns out, it's not so little. I was petting him Thursday evening, and he loves getting his belly petted. So he rolled over to indulge in that little treat, and I could see the fleas crawling all over him. I felt so bad for him, because you know that's not comfortable. And to make things worse, he is completely spoiled and basically gets all of Drew's and my attention. But when I saw how bad his fleas really were, we stuck him outside by himself until bed time, when we stuck him straight in his crate. He just cried and cried, which he hasn't done when we put him to bed since the first week we got him. It broke my heart! So Friday morning, I stuck his bed and blanket in the washing machine and left a message with our vet to call me back. Like I said before, I didn't really want to fill my house and coat my dog with chemicals, and I let the vet know that. Unfortunately for us, he said we could try all the "natural" methods we want, but the only sure fire way to get rid of the fleas, is to use a chemical area treatment on our carpets and leave the house for a few hours. He said the fleas on Hank are leaving eggs in our carpet, which are later hatching, and causing more fleas on Hank. So not matter how many times we bathe him and treat our yard, we have to do something in our home. He also said to bathe Hank everyday and vaccuum everyday (what?!?) until the problem is solved. And I hate vaccumming! But if it's what we have to do, it's what we have to do.

So Saturday, I put Hank in the backyard and vaccuummed the whole house and all the furniture Hank gets on. I also stripped all the beds and vaccuumed the mattresses. We already had plans to go to Alva on Saturday for Drew's mamaw's 80th birthday, so it was perfect timing to treat the carpets. After I got done vaccuming, I put Hank in the bath. 30 minutes later, I had a tub full of dead fleas and a very unhappy puppy dog. Once that was all said and done, Hank and I waited outside while Drew sprayed the house. My parents watched him while we were out of town. But when we picked him up last night, he was still itching. So we start the process again today. We won't spray our carpets again until next weekend, but I have to wash his bed and blanket every morning, then every evening give him a bath and vacuum. This is going to be exhausting! But, he's our baby, so he's well worth it- at least that's what I keep telling myself :)

On a much more serious note, my family is struggling with some bad news my dad received Friday (nothing to do with his health, thankfully) but I would really appreciate if our family were in your prayers in the days to come.

I hope everyone has a blessed week!