Poor Sigma

Our cat is 3.5 years old and is very sweet. Of course, if you have come to visit since she was a kitten, you would never know this, because she has severe agoraphobia. Sunday night, Jonathan informed me that he found two fleas on her ears, and we immediately went into disaster mode at the Hulgan household! When we first brought our kitty home, our vet told us that since she is an indoor cat and we do not have any other animals, she would be fine without regular flea treatments. This is the first time we have ever seen a flea on her or in our home, and I must admit it is freaking me out. Jonathan and I spent a long time trying to figure out where they came from: our recent trip to Chattanooga during which we interacted with 3 cats, my visit to a volunteer's home earlier on Sunday during which a small dog was sitting on my lap, the stray cats that live in our parking lot and sometimes sleep where we do our laundry??? After about 30 minutes of trying to figure out how the fleas got in, we finally started just doing work.

As of this writing, all of the upholstery has been vacuumed, the slip cover and all blankets have been washed, two down comforters are on their way to the dry cleaners, and our poor Sigma has had a bath. Bathing her was simultaneously the most pitiful and funniest thing we have ever seen in our lives! Jonathan held her, and I lathered her up. She made the most horrible howling sound you have ever heard (seriously, I was afraid our neighbors were going to call the Humane Society on us last night!), and she tried to literally climb up the wall of our kitchen. She was surprisingly calm after the bath; Jonathan and I took turns holding her in a towel and telling her how good she was and that we loved her a lot.

She seemed to be okay this morning, letting both of us pet and hold her. This evening will be more vacuuming, and I will probably start compulsively vacuuming every day now, because the thought of little fleas in our home grosses me out!!!

Oh, and yes, Sigma is now on a 12 week regimen of flea treatments and a 30 day regimen of baths. We learned our lesson there!