Hi everyone.

You might remember that my sweet Ivan Mastiff died a few weeks ago after a good college affort to rebound from his "foster" home where he was terribly underweight, wormy, had pressure sores, and a slew of other issues.

When I picked him up, ticks were blowing up on him overnight, about 30 in all, and fleas, too. He had three flea baths before he could even come indoors - that's how terribly infested with external parasites he was.

I couldn't give him oral or topical flea control medicine because he was to weak to risk the chemicals. Instead, I used a citrus extract, which seemed to work very well. If he continued to carry fleas, they were very few, because I massaged and examined his fur every night.

He's been gone a few weeks now, but suddenly, I notice a flea jump on me about once a day! What the heck? It's completely grossing me out. How are fleas surviving without a host? Please don't tell me that I am the host and need a flea bath. Where are they coming from? Even as I sat here and wrote this, two jumped on me. UGH!