Joe B asked about controlling fleas:
 
If you need to use flea powder for a fast solution (and it sounds like you
do) just be sure it is formulated safe for kittens.  Stronger stuff is
apparently very dangerous for ferrets.  I have heard recommendations that
cat flea powder be mixed with talc to dilute it, and dog flea powder is
better not used at all.
 
When I lived in Australia, where fleas are epidemic, I had our two ferrets
plus a Doberman.  The Dobe brought fleas home from the park, and they took
up residence in our musty old carpet.  We got a much better permanent
solution to the flea problem from our vet.  It was a set of three
insecticide "bombs" which I spaced out around the house, set, and left for a
few hours.  When I came back, not only was every flea and cockroach (also
endemic) dead as a doornail, but they did not come back for NINE months!   I
tell you it is the greatest stuff.  One of the main ingredients was
pyrethrin (i.e. some kind of daisy extract) which is used increasingly in
insecticides for the home, or so it seems in Istanbul.  The way the bomb
works is to screw up the growth cycle of arthropods (not mammals or other
critters) so that they never reach reproductive age.  I was told that fleas
breed in the carpet, not on the dog or ferret, so it is more effective to
treat your house than to cover your pet with chemicals.
   The cans were black and orange, I think, and called "Vetkem"  if I
remember correctly.  But probably you will have to get a different brand in
the States.  Morton made a similar flea bomb set, but it only lasted 6
months and did not seem as effective.
      We used to see the occasional juvenile cockroach with stunted wings
wandering around after a stray egg case hatched, but they never grew up or
proliferated, and if any fleas were brought home, they didn't stick around
long enough for us to notice them.  After 9 months we did have to repeat the
treatment.  It seems like it should be safer for us and our pets than using
powders etc.  Try to get it from a good vet if you can.
    Has anyone else heard about these pyrethrin bug bombs?  Can you
recommend a brand in the U.S. for ol' Joe?  I am living in Turkey now, so I
can't help. But I'll need to know when I come back home next year.  Ta.
 
---Sue
[Posted in FML issue 1245]