After an unusually wet winter & hot spring, wildlife is thriving in Southern
California; in the city "wildlife" means mostly plants and insects,
including fleas.
 
Pixel & Benito have an infestation no longer treatable with diluted flea
shampoos and frequent washing of bedding (last summer's ritual).  As even
the humans were getting flea-bitten, it was off to the vets last weekend
for help.
 
The vet recommended Program, the "flea birth control" approved for cats and
dogs, but not yet officially for ferrets.  After assurances that Program is
safe for ferrets at the kitten dose, and news that Advantage (the drops on
the neck) is known to have killed some rabbits, we plunked down $45 for a
3-month supply of Program for Two.
 
So we went home and tackled the task of feeding a teaspoon each of white
viscuous liquid to two ferrets.  Program is supposed to be given with "a
full meal", but both of our ferrets are "picknickers", and portions of a
"full meal" are usually hidden around a few hidey-holes and rotated
according to a schedule only two ferrets can understand.  So we moved the
food dishes for a few hours, cleaned out the stashes and waited for two
ferrets to get hungry.  We got ready the "treats": ferretone, pureed raisins
and several flavors of baby food.  Surprisingly, Pixel would have eaten the
stuff right out of the tube, while Benito lapped it up with some ferretone.
Wow, that was easy!  Making sure they both went on to eat the semblance of a
full meal in treats and TF, we thanked the people who had formulated the
stuff to make it palpable to the ferret palate.  (maybe it is worth $45
after all...).
 
Now we wait for three weeks, keep washing the bedding and boric
acid-sweeping the floors (to get the larvae).
 
If this is really all it takes to control fleas, this is remarkable easy.
Almost too easy, compared to last summer.  True, the ferrets still get
bitten and scratch for now, but each bite is a bite of doom for the fleas,
making them sterile.  Three weeks until we see a difference and then a
packet of Program a month.
 
If this works, this is the best and easiest flea treatment program I've ever
dealt with.  And both ferrets had absolutely no side effects as a result of
eating the medication.  We kept an eagle eye on them, since this was their
first time.  But no problems at all - I'm beginning to think we might win
this battle...
 
Claudia & Brad
with
Pixel & Benito
in
Los Angeles
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[Posted in FML issue 1978]