Friday 18 September 2009

KILL, KILL, KILL

I get up in the dark and pull on a pair of trainers; I know what's out there.

Returning to bed I look forward to another hour's sleep, but my ankle is itching. A CAT FLEA HAS GOT ME! Worse, I can feel it moving. I turn on the light and track it down. It jumps three times before I get it between my fingers. Cat fleas are hard to kill but eventually the black dot stays put. That's one down.

No point going back to bed so I get up, go to the kitchen and find the can of cat flea killer that I had meant to use last weekend. I spray and spray. Hang biodiversity, I want vengeance.

The instructions on the can say that it should provide 12 months' relief, but I don't believe them. EU laws have made this a safer world. Thoroughly nasty chemicals that were once used freely around the house have now been taken off the market.

It means that fewer people will die of cancer, but it also means that some cat fleas will survive.

Is this a good trade-off? It's a tough call.




1 comment:

DNC said...

Well Chris, if you think that cat fleas are bad enough you should try getting rid of human fleas. A nightmare. Killing the fleas is easy - but poses a dilemma all the same - you just use a special shampoo. It is getting rid of the eggs that is the real problem. They stick like glue to hair and everything. So spraying your house is not enough to get rid of cat fleas. You have to wash everything that your cat touches and leaves minute eggs on. Yes; you can imagine the work involved. And even then there is no guarantee. It takes just one female egg to survive, and the whole nightmare starts again a couple of weeks later.
And the dilemma? The best product on the Belgian market is 'Made in Israel'. So I buy it. And hope that the factory is not based in an illegal settlement on the West Bank or East Jerusalem.