Welcome to my zoo. We have two dogs, two cats, two guinea pigs, fish, and whatever animals we are raising at the time. Our foster care experience started a couple of years ago when we helped our local animal shelter against death. The shelter used to find kittens and puppies in some of the strangest places, where they were left because no one wanted them. The shelter takes them in and then needs a place to house them while they mature enough to be spayed or neutered.

When you think of the idea of ​​having an animal living in a small cage most of the time rather than spending its first few months in a large house or backyard and having children to play with, the choice seems pretty obvious. At least my wife and I think so. Over the past two years, we have fostered several litters of kittens and a handful of puppies. Interestingly, they all seem to have one thing in common: fleas.

Before breeding, fleas hadn’t really been a problem for us. We found a flea preventative and gave it to our dogs and cats on a monthly basis. This kept them well protected and luckily for several years we had no problems. However, these foster animals sometimes come from areas where there are very severe flea infestations. They can go from being in a box in the middle of nowhere one day and then two days later being in our backyard.

Sometimes you can find adult fleas and get them off an animal without too much trouble. It is the eggs that are the real problem. When these eggs hatch, they sometimes produce fleas that can resist most flea treatments. Common treatments don’t even seem to slow them down. We’ve tried flea baths, sprays, spot treatments, and more with any luck, but even that doesn’t permanently remove them.

After going through several different flea treatments with our vet and trying some of our own, we think we’ve finally found one that works (K9 Advantix). Unfortunately, it is only available for dogs and is toxic to cats.

Resume

I must admit that if there is a reason my wife and I took a short break from animal husbandry, it is because of fleas. We have fought this battle over and over again. Right now, our goal is to eradicate the last flea from our foster kittens before they are delivered to their permanent home. However, this has proven to be an arduous task. While K9 Advantix can protect our dogs, we have been through a number of different medications with kittens and are still fighting the battle.