I just wanted to post an update on my second summer using organic flea-eating nematodes. We haven't treated the dogs once this summer for fleas. And the poor puppy is also alergic to fleas and really suffers with them. I was pretty haphazard about the application, just soaking the sponge in a watering can and sprinkling it around the yard. When I got that first dirty sponge in the mail and it had all those instructions about sprayers with a certain size hole and soaking the yard evenly... I figured I'd never get it right. When the sprayer promptly broke, I just put the sponge in the watering can figuring I might as well try that, hoping it would help a little, so my $35 wasn't a complete waste. (The instructions do say to put the sponge in the vegetable crisper in the fridge if you can't use it right away, which I did for two weeks, and it didn't seem to hurt it.) And that haphazard approach worked. I didn't do the sprinkling evenly. I certainly didn't hit every blade of grass. But I got the little buggers in the dirt in a bunch of places around the yard. And because they're little organisms that move and breed, they seem to have spread out. Even my vet was impressed. We did have to redo it this spring. They can't last through the dry season here, but we don't sprinkle in the winter, so in some yards, they may be an almost permanent solution. We had to treat the dogs with Advantix once this year. But that's down from once every two weeks last July. And even when I thought I had probably done it a little too early this year, when it wasn't raining yet, they've survived to kill fleas all summer. We've used comfortis too, and I thank the heavens for it when the pup was suffering so much last summer. Nothing we've ever used worked faster and we really didn't realize how much he was suffering until he passed out asleep when the fleas stopped biting him, exhausted from staying up all night itchy. Poor guy! It's a great emergency treatment, but for long-term, I can't say enough about nematodes. Cheaper, easier, no chemicals and protects all the other animals. I bet my squirrels are more comfortable. :) I got mine from Clean Air Gardening, but I think other places have them too.

Oh, Linda, I hope she gets better. I'll be thinking of her and of you. All my heart goes out to you and your fur family. Sally Here is a link that might be useful: Pet Forum thread

I don't like those treats so have never purchased them, but the Bully Treats you advised me to get are awesome. Jack can chew one in 1/2 hour though. They are expensive and I use them for times when he shouldn't be crated and I might be distracted (cooking).

Mafdet, thank you. That post is nearly two years old and I had forgotten it. I guess I do have strong opinions about what I considered to be stealing. I probably shouldn't say anything in my defense, because that would make it look like I'm trying to weasle out of a situation. But if you look back over the posts I think we really were talking about, you will see that they are often downright nasty. I don't think I was nasty or rude. I believe I was telling this person that they needed to be careful when taking someone else's pet, even if they felt that it was being mistreated. Backing away from the table slowly, now..........