Flea Circus

Do you ever start a day running ahead of schedule? It's rare, I know, but this was one of those days. In fact, I figured since I would have a few minutes to spare, to get one thing checked off my to-do list while I got ready, and I'd be that much further ahead.

Famous last words, eh?

So there I am, half-dressed, and I pull out the flea and tick control for the boys. They'd been scratching at their necks for a while and were due.  Jellybean was conveniently wedged inside a shopping bag, so it wasn't difficult to corner him first. Unfortunately, as I mentioned, it has been a while since we last did this. So that whole part about putting it right behind their neck drifted out of my mind, and I put it a little lower, just above his shoulder blades. About four seconds later I was reminded of why this is not okay, when I had a cat tearing around the apartment in a panic and drooling. Which meant I was tearing around the apartment in a panic, trying to catch him so I could figure out how to make him stop drooling. Buckley had the good sense to hide under the bed out of my reach.

When I finally caught up with Jellybean I tried to get him to drink water. This did not work. So then I just held him and soothed while googling what to do if your cat licks the flea treatment.  The answers ranged from, "nothing, but expect seizures for the rest of it's life," to, "the cat will be fine, but you might want to bathe it to remove the misplaced flea-icide."

Since Jellybean had calmed considerably, and was in fact purring instead of drooling, I gave up the notion of performing kitty mouth-to-mouth, and split the difference. He got a bandanna as a cape to cover the medicated area, and I carted him with me from room to room in case the seizure person was right and I had to resuscitate after all.

Well, by the time I left, he'd drunk a good bit of water, hadn't licked anymore medicine off, and had yet to so much as twitch. So, I cornered Buckley and applied his medicine in the right place (after which he hid under the bed again...not that I blame him, I wanted kind of wanted to too), put Jellybean's harness on to hold the bandanna in place while I was gone, and then prayed my way through a long work day.

I am happy to report both cats are in good spirits and good health tonight.  For that alone I am thankful. But the whole thing, from itching their necks with their back feet, to getting squirted with a medicine so repellent it makes one cower under beds, to tasting that medicine and drooling like an animated villain made me super glad that people don't get fleas.