I found something WORSE THAN CHEMO!!!!!!

O M G

That is all that comes to mind when I think of everything I've gone through over the past couple days. Yes my friends! I have found something worse than chemo..... FLEAS!!!

I have two dogs. A beautiful golden retriever, Duke, who I have had since I was 10 years old, and a toy poodle, Charlie, that I bought with my boyfriend, Rob. He was an impulse buy. Ok ok actually before we get to the flea catastrophe- I'll let you know a quick story. Rob & I had only been together for about 5-6 months when we decided to spend a beautiful autumn day 'out east' on long island to go pumpkin picking. That day was the best. After taking hours and hours and tons of stands to find the best pumpkins, apple pies and candy apples- we decided to stop for lunch in Port Jefferson, NY. For those of you who aren't from long island- Its a cute little-old 'port' town. We had a great lunch and decided to walk the lines of shops they had. (bad idea) We entered this little puppy store just to look at the puppies. (just to look, eh?) My mom used to take my sister and I here to look at the dogs everytime we came to Port Jeff. Well Rob and I had found this little ity bity curly apricot fluff that fit into our hands and we fell in love. I got emotional bc I knew that there was NO WAY we could get him... He was over priced- and we both had only known each other for a couple of months.. where would he stay? Well, Rob got him for me- and I got kicked out of my house until my grammy petitioned for Charlie to stay. Ever since then- He's been my little baby.

Ok so back to FLEAS... yuck!

We have had Charlie for about 3 years and I have never had a dog to get fleas. It has been disgusting. Grotesk. Disturbing. I have been just plain sceved out. I woke up around 8 am yesterday morning and Charlie was itching like crazy. Almost a little twitch. He was rubbing himself everywhere and I knew something was up. I checked him and at first didn't see anything. Then seeing him in obvious agony- I checked him again. I then started to see little black dots everywhere. All throughout his little curly coat. As I started to look deeper- I saw these little black brownish bugs crawling around his skin- and little bite marks on his tummy.

'My poor baby' is what I should have first thought- but unfortunately- that is not how I reacted. I quickly put charlie in the bathtub- and pulled the glass door closed so he was stuck in the tub. He started to cry- and then I started to cry. I did not know how to handle fleas.. I had never had a dog get them before. So as he was in the tub (I gave him a cookie for being a good sport and a towel to lay on so he wasn't cold) I started googling what-to-dos. I phoned my boyfriend to come home from his little morning gym routine and help me because I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Rob went out and bought flea shampoo, sprays and treatments for the dog. As soon as he came home with it- I started washing Charlie. I washed him about 6 times before I felt they were gone. I then kept him in the bathroom while I proceeded to check the apartment. I found a towel in my laundry that was full of them. The towel I had found outside the night before and brought inside to take to the laundrymat. So I had brought the fleas into the house and made my little Charlie vulnerable. I shoved all the laundry outside- and hosed it down before putting it into a plastic bag- and taking it to the cleaners to wash in very very hot water and bleach. When I got home I proceeded to spray down the entire apt. with this 'zodiac' spray- and then gave the dog the topical treatment. Great news was- I have been watching my 13 year old golden retriever for my mom and I knew I had to wash him too. I scrubbed him down about 2 times which took another 2 hours. (he's a big boy with bad hips) It was horrible. We had to leave the apt when I sprayed- so it wouldnt be toxic to us- so I took them for a ride down the beach- and finally had my first bite to eat for the entire day. Yum.
After 12 hours of cleaning.. sanitizing.. spraying.. vaccuming.. mopping.. and trips to the laundrymat- I felt like it was okay to re-inhabit. A couple of hours later I started to notice Charlie acting wierd. He was acting very lethargic and just not himself. He usually is always wanting to play and has tons of energy- he wasnt even moving. He was just laying in my arms and shaking. I started googling all of the products I had used on him and came across alot of threads about one of the products - BIO SPOT ON! It was the topical treatment I had put on his shoulder blades and his tailbone after all of the washing. The threads were talking about adverse side effects- and even some pet fatalities. I started to FREAK! I brought the fleas in- and now I poisoned my dog!!!

The really FUCKED UP part.. is that when we called the 24 hour vet here- They wouldn't tell us anything over the phone except 'Bring him in!' If you have pets too- you will know a vets visit is at least 100 bucks if its an emergency room visit- and hey- Times are rough. So we tried to get them to just let us know if the symptoms were normal. But- NADA. They just kept repeating- 'You need to bring him in!'

FUCK YOU VET NAZI!

The proceeded to give us the number for animal posion control. And guess what? They wanted 60 dollars on a credit card before they would even come to the phone- It is absolutely ridiculous. So.. more googling. Im not doctor- but I figured that if he was just tired- it was probably a reaction to the medications so I washed him a couple times in reg oatmeal puppy shampoo- and force fed him some water. About a half of an hour later- He was acting more like himself. SO WARNING::::: BIO SPOT ON CAUSES BAD REACTIONS IN SMALL BREEDS!!!! READ ONLINE THREADS ABOUT PRODUCT- THERE IS ALOT MORE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK THEN POSTIVE SO GET FRONTLINE!!!

I just cannot believe everything that happened yesterday. It was literally the day from hell.

AKA.. FLEAS ARE FAR WORSE THAN CHEMO, in my opinion.

Also here are just some tips I learned a bit too late - on how you can handle fleas cheaper.. and healthier for you and your dog.

1. Blue Dawn dishsoap and white vinegar can be used as a dip(flea shampoo) It will stun fleas and kill them and their eggs.

2. A mild detergent from the 50's 'BORAX' can be sprinkled onto your carpets and upholstry. Its only about 3.99 a box versus the 17$-25$ sprays you will come across to be able to rid your home. And I heard from a couple friends that BORAX will work better- and more importantly- ITS NON TOXIC!!!

3. To keep fleas away- FEED YOUR DOG GARLIC!! A tip from one of my best friend's italian mother. She raises pugs- and feeds her dogs garlic- which once the flea feeds off of the dog- it completely sceved and finds another host.

SO TRY THAT FIRST BEFORE TRIPPING YOURSELF INTO SPENDING 50-100 bucks to get these little creepers out of your home.

=) FLEAS SUCK. -Megan