When Emergencies Arise: Happy New Year, You Have Fleas

Let me preface this by assuring you that we are not bad pet owners. We take our cats to the vet, we don't consciously overfeed them, and we most certainly make it a priority to make sure that we keep them happy and comfortable (case in point: Santa brought all of the cats toys and cat grass this year). The boyfriend is studying to become a veterinarian, so there is no way we don't take great care of our animals. That being said, we are currently (hopefully?) at the end of an epic battle with fleas.  Our third battle in five years.

Our apartment complex is the home to many irresponsible people who either refuse to treat their cats and dogs for fleas or don't know that they should in order to keep their pets and all other pets in the area happy and healthy. We only let our male cat, Binx, go outside occasionally. And we make sure to keep up with treating our cats so that should he inevitably bring some buddies inside with him, they'll bite our cats and die a horrible flea death and that will be the end of it.

Our hypothesis is that the fleas have evolved or mutated and are no longer fazed by the flea treatment we give our cats.  We've changed medication several times to try to outsmart the fleas, but every year and a half or so, the fleas win.

We noticed that fleas were slowly taking over on Christmas Eve. My belly was covered in little welts.  They don't touch the boyfriend, they only like me and I am very sensitive to them. And upon closer examination, our poor cats were itching up a storm, too. Knowing that the problem would just get worse if we didn't start then and now to fend off the fleas, I had to make some hard decisions.

I didn't budget for fleas. I didn't budget for this to happen during Christmas. And while fleas are miniscule, they absolutely count as an emergency. I had to get the credit card out and charge away to help the problem go away as quickly as possible.

Operation Kill Fleas cost me the following:

• $58.75
• Carpet steam cleaner rental
• Used a coupon to save $3.00
• Carpet steam cleaner solution
• Used a coupon to save $1.00
• Carpet spot treatment

•  $40.00
• Cost to wash all blankets, sheets, clothes, and linens that could have come in contact with fleas

• $10.52
• Laundry detergent

For a grand total of $109.27, I waged war on the fleas and I hope that I won. I ended up charging some of it, taking a little from my savings, and using some of my grocery money to try to spread the damage around. I also made sure to find as many coupons as possible to lessen the blow.  I also researched simpler, natural cleaning methods using items I already had in the cupboard--like using an apple cider vinegar solution to disinfect furniture, walls, and floors and to obliterate those fleas. It's still hard not to feel guilty about spending the money. I'll admit it and I realize that that is silly.  It was necessary. If I tried to ignore the problem, it would only end up costing me more money and frustration in the long run. When I started this experiment, I realized that emergencies would happen. I was just not expecting one to happen as I was watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas," dammit.

To a year free of fleas and accepting that some things are out of my control. Hello, 2014!