My name is Sarah, and like many pet parents, I thought I was doing everything right.
I gave my dog regular flea baths. I used collars. I sprayed our carpets. I washed the bedding.
Yet every few weeks he’d be scratching again. He’d shake, bite at his tail, roll all over the floor as if the cycle never ended.
I looked around at the shelves of half-used treatments. I felt embarrassed that I spent money and still had fleas. I told friends I’d “just try one more product,” and when that failed
I did again.
The moment I hit rock bottom came one night when I woke up with flea bites on my ankles. I thought: I’m the one paying for all this and still getting bitten?
I looked at the cabinet of products, the open bottles, the collars I’d tossed in the drawer. What a waste.
I started Googling, reading forum posts and vet articles. One fact kept coming up: “Treat the pet but unless you treat the environment, you’re not done.” CDC+1 That opened my eyes.
I realized the problem wasn’t just the fleas on my dog it was the entire ecosystem in our home.
I kept buying pet-only solutions and ignoring the carpets, bedding and furniture where fleas hide, breed and return.