This week I got an unexpected new member of the family:
We’ve named him Fred Lewis. I wanted to call him Lewis and
my roommate wanted Fred, so he has two names. It’s an odd combination, but it
works.
Here in the North, there are so many stray dogs, with new
stray puppies being born all the time. The unfortunate truth is that come
winter time most of them die from exposure or get eaten by bigger wildlife. To
combat this slow, painful way of dying, many Northern communities participate
in “Dog Day,” a day on which it is legal (and encouraged) to shoot as many dogs
as possible that are not tied up in someone’s yard or inside someone’s house.
It sounds terrible, but having lived here for a month and
seeing how many dogs there really are, I’ve come to accept Dog Day as a
necessity of the North.
This face, however, is not the face of a Dog Day victim.
One unfortunate part of taking in a stray puppy is the
health concerns involved. Fred Lewis was absolutely coated, head to toe, in
fleas. There were thousands of them. Their tiny disgusting bodies were numerous
enough to create a second skin on poor Fred Lewis.
This had to be addressed immediately. But up North, our one
store does not stock any flea medication, so I hit Google for home remedies.
This was what I found:
Did you know that one of Dawn Dish Soap’s key ingredients is
formaldehyde? As in the chemical used for embalming. Sounds delicious.
Well, turns out formaldehyde works wonders for killing fleas
really fast.
So off I went to the bathtub, armed with Dawn, Fred Lewis, and
a head lice comb. Starting with his head and working towards his tail, I
lathered up Fred Lewis, rinsed him off, and repeated about 3 times. Within
minutes the fleas were turning dark brown and falling from Fred Lewis’ body by
the handful.
The only thing to be extra cautious about is Fred Lewis’
poor eyes. Doggy eyes are very sensitive to water, and even more sensitive to
soaps, so please, please, please be careful not to get the eyes. I scrubbed the
top of his head, his ears, his chin, and his cheeks. For his face and snout, I
simply picked off any fleas I could see with my fingers.
After soaping him up about four times, I ran a lice comb
through his fur, paying extra attention to his underarms and neck. This simply
removed all of the flea carcasses. For a mild case of fleas, this step could
easily be left out.
He was not impressed with the whole process:
I repeated this whole process the following day, and more
flea bodies washed down the drain. Today was the third day, and when I washed
him, I did not see any flea bodies floating by, so I think he’s clear for now.
I will wash him once a day for the next four or five days to make sure any eggs
have hatched and been killed.
As of today, the only scratching I’ve seen him do is
directed at his scabs (of which there are a lot due to the intensity of his
infestation). With time those will heal. I’ve ordered a worm medication online
since fleas carry worms and often infect our doggy friends.
He seems much happier now, all for the cost of a bottle of
Dawn. Hey, now maybe I should wash up those dishes in the sink…
