Friday, September 29, 2006

It's Time to Call in the Big Guns...

I'm done. I've done all of the sprinkling, vacuuming, cleaning that one person can humanly do. I will say that the house has NEVER been cleaner, which is kind of nice. But after 4 days straight of pretty much constant cleaning, I just saw another goddamn flea. So exterminators in the tri-state area, please answer your phone when it rings, because I'm about to call every single one of you to come here and bomb my house (possibly literally). [grumble grumble]

In the meantime, anyone want two cats?

(By the way, I realize the fleas aren't the cats fault. Hell, they never even go outside. EVER. But we've had them confined to two rooms upstairs for the past week while I'm on flea patrol. And Salinger was pulling HUGE chunks of hair out of himself and they were floating all over the house and it was disgusting. It is SOOO nice not having the cats roaming around. The house is cleaner, there's no pet hair floating around, and I don't have to keep checking our beds to make sure neither of them peed on it. I love the cats (sort of), but I really wish someone else would take them and love them. [sigh] Of course, Salinger goes to the vet today because he's lost a TON of weight recently and I think something's wrong with him. And if they tell me it's something horrible and we have to put him down, I'll feel incredibly guilty for typing this last paragraph. But if that does happen, does anyone want just one cat? LOL!)

10 comments:

Unknown said...

After we had Garrett and had that time when we were renting apt space from my parents, we had to get rid of the cats. (Dad is horribly allergic.) We took them to a no-kill shelter where they stayed until they were adopted. It's always an option. ((hugs))

I don't know how you held out this long! I'd have called an exterminator immediately. *blush* I hate bugs. I've considered it because we have spiders! :p

Good luck.

Allison said...

Emma, if we had NORMAL cats, I would've considered a no-kill shelter/adoption YEARS ago. But Cooter is a freak and hates everyone (sometimes including us). No one would ever adopt him because he'd hiss at them everytime they came near his cage at the shelter.

And Salinger is THE best cat in the world. Seriously. In 10+ years, I've NEVER heard him hiss or seen him claw at anything, etc. BUT, he has to be given a laxitive everyday and I really think most people wouldn't adopt him because of that. It's a shame too, because he is an old lady's dream cat otherwise. [sigh]

Anonymous said...

The no-kill shelters are overrated, IMHO. We waited four months to pay them a TON of money so they could kill our three cats for us (granted, they tried to attack anyone except for our immediate family, which was why we got rid of them in the first place...that kind of behavior doesn't make you real popular with the playgroup moms). I still feel guilty, but the house is sooo much cleaner.

Fleas suck. I was asking Cori about that last night (he worked his way through college as an exterminator) and he said that having it done is definitely the best way to insure that all are gone. If the cats are going to the vet are you having them dipped as well?

Allison said...

September, I don't think I could GET Cooter to the vet. Seriously, he FREAKS if I even come near him during the day and the thought of taking him anywhere for other people to touch him frightens me. LOL! So for now, I'm going to get some Frontline and see how that goes.

As for the no-kill shelters, there's only one around here and it is PACKED full (There are a lot of strays around here.) Some of the cats have been there, literally for years. I don't imagine that's any kind of life for a cat, ya know?

I will say that the one good thing about having the cats secluded the past week is that I think the kids have forgotten we HAVE cats, so if we get rid of them, they probably wouldn't even notice for a looooong time. LOL!

And actually, Steve's step-dad's cousin is a vet and he'd come get the cats in an instant if we called him. I've considered having him come get them and then just not ever, ever, EVER telling me what he did with them/what happened to them. It would be my way of dealing with any guilt. LOL! Decisions... decisions...

Allison said...

So have any of you used exterminators before? I mean, how will we have to prepare? Do we have to move everything from along the wall? What about the bazillion laundry baskets of dirty clothing sitting in the rooms? There's no way in HELL I can get all of it washed anytime soon. Can I just leave it there? Shit. This whole thing SUCKS!

Gracey said...

Frontline actually worked extremely well. We rescued a stray that was still a kitten but he was full of fleas. (you could literally see them crawling in his fur....gross!) We bought Frontline and even though it was expensive, it was worth every penny. You couldn't find one flea on him after the first treatment, but we still did all three treatments for three months justin case.

Your older cat doesn't sound too good at all. We had one cat that lived 16 years but towards the end we had to have laxatives for him, his hair was falling out too, and he was losing weight. Just in case, brace yourself for not very good news about him. Hopefully it will be okay!

Allison said...

Thanks Gracey! Salinger's needed a laxitive almost all his life. But he was always a BIG cat (like 20+ lbs.). In the past month or two though, he's become a frail little thing. One thing that crossed my mind was that he has a tape worm. I read that when a cat gets fleas, a tapeworm can develop which contributes to weight loss, dehydration (he ALWAYS wants water), etc. We kind of contributed the fleas to the hair loss (he bites at himself), but yeah, I wouldn't be totally surprised if it was something else entirely. [sigh]

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Bronte didn't notice our cats were gone for around 6 months--then we told her they went to help another family and she got a little brother instead. That seemed to have worked, as every time she's brought them up since then she talks about how Davis is much more fun to play with than her cats.

Allison said...

LOL September. Truthfully, Hannah couldn't care less if we had cats (or any pet for that matter). It's Grace I'm kind of worried about. She's not completely attached to Salinger, but I definitely think she'd be upset if he was gone. Of course, she also asks me daily if once the cats are gone, she can get a puppy, so it'll be a whole different battle at that point. LOL!

Unknown said...

Oh Chelle - LOL - I had to read your comment twice. I swear-ta-god I read it as "I threw her in the garbage..." LMAO!!!

Luckily in Chicago we have lots of great shelters. I hope thinks work out for you guys.

(Garrett's been asking for a puppy too. *sigh* Not happenin' dude.)