Hi All,
It's been a while since I've written in - I've made the transition from being
a medicinal chemist at Bristol-Myers to being a stressed out PhD candidate. Now
all I have to do is invent a potent new antibiotic for staph and other nasty
drug-resistant Gram-positives and I can have my diploma.  This could take a
while!  But Alky has lots of new friends now.  I never could take her to work
in industry, but now I'll take her in in my jacket hood occasionally.  It's
especially fun to do that when I'm dropping by the lab or to tutor students for
a bit in the evening.  ("OK - solve homework problem #3 and you can play with
your TA's ferret!"  It keeps pre-meds interested in organic chemistry.)
 
Anyway, someone (I'm sorry I don't remember your name) had a question about
flea control.  Getting rid of fleas is not easy because you have to be even
more tenacious than the fleas, but it can be done with planning and persistence.
Washing your ferret and bedding is a good start, but it's not enough.  The probl
 
is that the fleas are most likely breeding in your house (carpets, furniture,
whatever) so you have to clean there too.  What works very well for us to get
a supply of flea spray/foam from our vet.  There are a number available - your
vet can sell you a good one.  We use "Duratrol".  Vacuum all your rugs well,
and throw out the bag.  Then thoroughly spray ALL your carpets and floors,
plus any furniture that's upholstered.  At the same time clean your ferret's
cage and bedding.  You'll want to spray any hidey-holes in which your pet
spends time (drawers, under the couch, whatever).  Then wash the ferret.  Now
you're temporarily set.  The problem is that flea eggs are pretty durable and
may survive this treatment.  The eggs hatch in three weeks. so three weeks
after you do this treatment, you'll have to repeat it.  Then do it a third
time after another three weeks.  This works very well for us, even in the
summer when our dog is constantly bringing beasties home with him.  We keep
this up through the summer and do one last treatment after the first hard freeze
when there shouldn't be any bugs coming in from outside.  We don't have problems
 
in the winter.
 
This plan is labor intensive, but it's worth it.  If you live in a cold area,
this is a good time to initiate war since you won'nt be fighting a constant
influx from outside.  Also - the sprays your vet sells will be more expensive
than OTC sprays, but they are worth it.  In my experience, the Hartz and
stuff like that don't work effectively, even when applied as I described.  Hope
this helps - go get 'em!
 
Happy Holidays!
Liesl Fisher (stressed out chemist "what do you mean it's on fire?")
Alky (Silver mitt "let's steal Mom's safety goggles - she just doesn't appreciat
 
the quality rubber construction!")
[Posted in FML issue 1050]