Cat in the bag

Yes - that's right - Rollo was bagged, scrubbed, rinsed, towel dried and she did really well! I anticipated a lot of hissing and attempts of escaping but she was really calm. Poor Rollo. She is strictly an inside cat and still had the most terrible time with our flea infestation. She didn't even get to enjoy time outside to get these darn fleas. So how did we come to the big Flea Infestation of 2010 (that's what Neil likes to call it!)? It's a bizarre story and the only reason I'm sharing this with everyone. Back at the beginning of August, I had a piano tuner come in to fix and tune our piano so I could start teaching lessons from home. I got his name on recommendation from a friend and set up a deal for him to do ours and my mom's piano since we live so close. Well, he showed up with his 8 yr old daughter and said that she wanted to bring her cats - could they bring them inside? They were in cages and it was a really hot day so I of course said yes - never dealt with fleas so it didn't cross my mind. The cats entertained the girls for the 2 hours he was here. They stayed in the foyer area mostly in the cage but the older one (there were two) got out and roamed a little. I never let them get too far. Well, after they left Claire was talking to my dad and said "Yeah Grandpa it was so funny! Those cats had fleas!" When my dad asked the piano tuner about it (he was now tuning my mom's piano) he said they were just about to take the cat's to Petsmart for fleas collars.

Our house was covered within 2 weeks. Rollo wouldn't even walk on the floor but stayed on top of everything. Claire was COVERED and is highly allergic to anything that bites her. I felt terrible for her =( We had to get the house sprayed twice, wash all our exposed laundry and get Rollo shampooed at a groomer to get rid of everything. Not a cheap endeavor at all =( The hardest thing was vacuuming the entire house every day. That's not easy with two little ones tearing through the house!
A month of fleas and Claire being bit about 30-40 times was about to make us nutty. We didn't think we'd EVER get rid of them! Praise God they are gone. It took so much energy to keep up with getting rid and preventing. Certainly something I NEVER want to do again!