Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

Carol’s Corner

July 1, 2008

May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your ...

Carol Roach

May the fleas of a thousand camels infest your, I don't know if it is an Irish curse or much older than that.

But I do know that someone has cursed me. Each year I get so infested with them that I want to die!

I had cats for 23 years but I never had a flea problem before moving into this flat three years ago.

Okay it was the first time my cats were ever let out, and it was the first time, I had a backyard, and it was the first time I lived directly over a cellar, either way I got fleas and I can't get rid of them.

The fleas attack me; they attach my feet and legs, they attack continuously day and night. I just killed 15 fleas, on my legs in the course of few hours.

The fleas give me infection and I constantly have to be on Benadryl. I can't describe the aggravation, and how I literally wish I could do myself in it is so bad. Keo had a visit with me and she saw the condition my legs and feet were in last year.

People say living on top of a cellar with no isolation under the floor could be the reason I have them; since my cats never had them before.

I have only one cat left, Junior, and he is flea free but the fleas are still in the floors.

I got Pyrethrin the standard formula for getting rid of fleas, but my bottle must be too old now because it is not working.

It is very hard to find that stuff here in Montreal I have been told that Quebec has a ban on chemicals.

Now my friends all know that I have very little money. And it takes time to get money together to get things like this that are not in not a regular budget (and just in case anyone assumes, no I have not asking for money I am just telling you about my sorry existence).

I was thinking of ordering from the States, and then there was the issue of could it come across the border without being rejected at customs.

Lots of the online stores like Petsmart, do not even ship to Canada.

And so I was reluctant to try to purchase Pryrethrin from the states for that reason.

A friend of mine told me to check out Amazon, so I did. I saw lots of Pryrethrin there, but I also saw something called Synergy. Synergy is a natural compound made from sand crystals, which is supposed to kill the fleas and their larvae.

I was so happy, the bottle was only $9.99 American, so I purchased it. Now, they did not give me a place to select the type of shipment I wanted, and bear in mind I am new to online shopping and I clicked accept order before I checked it.

The invoice came to my email box, 44 dollars and change. I nearly had heart failure. I wrote Amazon and asked why the delivery to Canada was more than the cost of the product and they explained they charged 3.95 for a foreign tax fee, 19.95 for delivery and 9.95 per pound for product. I told them it was way too much and I didn't have an option for shipment, they choose ups not me.

They were nice though. They said they could not change the shipping as it was already in progress but for this one time they would refund a portion of the shipping by 10.00. I was happy for that.

In all this I forget to tell my son to wait for the ups driver. I wake up yesterday to a notice saying they came but there was no answer and now I have to wait again while I suffer with these fleas from hell.

The number they left on the card to call, does not allow you to speak to anyone; it is just a recording. The say they come back the next business day, but today is Canada Day so they are not working. Now I have to wait until tomorrow and meanwhile they are biting like crazy.

I am a big woman they are having a feast for a King!

Did you ever have an infestation of any kind that was difficult to get rid of?

If so what did you do to get rid of it?

Carol Roach