OH NO ITS BATH DAY

No unwanted passengers allowed ! We are staying together, sleeping in the same 'zone', eating and travelling together so the first rule is no fleas, parasites, worms, extra passengers of any kind, shape, form or indigenous to wherever we end up staying.

Jake has epilepsy which is triggered if he comes into contact with any chemical forms of control, it caused a great many issues when he first came to stay because of course we didn't know what all the triggers were originally. A process of eliminations followed.

Caesar has very thin fur and unfortunately the pink skin of the white dog which burns easily in sunlight. Hence he has a gorgeous coat because it constantly gets liberally coated with sun screen oils and Jake gets to have the same as Caesar (because he gets jealous if he doesn't ) so of course both my boys have beautiful coats that can withstand a lot of the normal exposure to rivers, sea salt and sunshine with a fair bit of defence.

But FLEAS ! ah that's a different problem. A flea can survive for up to 24 hours in water and after some time will revive.

they crawl to the surface looking for air

I couldn't very well pop the boys in a bath for a day and night. I began to do a lot of research and discovered that because the flea is a hard encased insect it is almost indestructible by normal methods and the various problems this proposed made me re-think my approach. If I couldn't drown them, was unable to comb them 'all' out with any certainty and could probably end up with a house infestation or in our case now, a car infestation....I could do only one thing if fleas were suspected.....smother them.

That is how I developed my personal way of dealing with the horrid things. I smother them to death. I rub a mixture of coconut oil (for Caesars scar) and olive oil into their coats and leave for half an hour, any fleas come rushing to the surface looking for air...I immediately put more oil into their coats and leave again..

Its important the dogs are not on a carpeted surface,

Caesar is less prone as he has very thin fur

the fleas begin to fall off their coats, looking for air, looking to survive..........I hoover them up once I have scrundled them into a ball of paper also smothered in oil. The wooden floor I use is lovely....oiled to perfection from the dogs coats, the fleas are dead and what are left are about to be hit with a second wave of war.

The bath:-

Jake loves his bath, he will sit in warm water luxuriating in being petted and praised for being a good boy. Shampoo is lathered into his coat and he loves the rub and smoothing of his fur, the fleas are by now (if any survive) , attempting to run up my arm or up towards his head where...I am waiting with a handful of soap. They swim, the scurry they make for the tail and Jake, well versed in the art of Flea war, promptly sits down and drowns the little oiks. Eggs have had the 'glue' used to attach them to the hairs loosened and corrupted, they fall away into the water, looking like so much sand.

deep and not overly warm

I begin emptying the bath and turn on the shower head, scooping warm water from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail, under his belly (he loves that) and in his groin. Now it is the third wave of war. 

Conditioner.
A really good hand full of conditioner rubbed in well and then rinsed seems to get the last of the hardy little warrior fleas off and away, I swish them down the plughole ruthlessly.
Caesar has the same process but with a little difficulty as unfortunately he isn't into the bath experience and can get a little difficult to control if he thinks soap is going into his eyes. The big softy, I use baby shampoo which doesn't sting.

Once the boys are washed we have a good shake off, the water goes all over the place, then a really good rub down. IT isn't over yet. I search their fur and let them dry and let them lie on a clean cover. Everything else has been washed. Which won't kill the fleas but does mean I can iron the seams with a very hot iron, or tumble dry for a couple of hours and wallah...clean bedding.

The car has completely clean bedding, not anything the dogs have slept on before. Today they have bath one.

Mid week they will have the second bath and dry, making sure I have got everything sorted. A final comb through 'just in case' then immediately they will go into the new bedding in the car before we set off.

I am REALLY determined we will have no little passengers. It has been my defence for the dogs for three years and it works and has served me well....so we shall see if flea and I are at war today, or not...oh yes, they get a worming today 'just in case' too.
No extras on this journey. !