Of Fleas, Flea Treatments Good and Bad, and a Nice Human in Need

Are we ready? Good because I have a lot I want to say today!

While it is still very cold in lots of the U.S., as you can tell from my post yesterday, it is warming up quite a bit here on the West Coast! Which means flea season is already starting. Actually it never really ends around here. And just because you are an indoor kitty, it does not mean you are safe! There are any number of ways fleas could get in your house — they could even come in on your human! Around here, we are very wary of chemical-based flea treatments and we only use them as a last resort. We prefer natural ways to keep the fleas away. If you’d like a list of some of the most common natural ways to control fleas on us kitties, check this one out. One of the ways they mention is bathing us, and I am sitting with a great flea soap right now!

This Dirty Flea Soap was inspired by a cat named Tiny Timmy. Some of you know about Tiny Timmy, but for those who don’t, I’ll explain briefly. In 2009, a nice human adopted Timmy as a kitten from some people who had dosed him with some cheap flea treatment they bought at Walmart. Timmy almost died from this… and it didn’t even get rid of his fleas! His new family found more than 350 fleas on him. With a lot of care and a lot of love, Timmy lived, but he suffered permanent neurological damage. You can read all about Timmy’s journey here. Tiny Timmy’s human decided to take action, not just for Timmy but for all pets, and invented an all-natural flea soap. Tiny Timmy’s Dirty Flea Soap contains Oregon rain water, saponified olive oil, shea butter, coconut oil and rice bran, ground oatmeal, food grade diatomaceous earth, montmorillonite clay and a kiss of wildcrafed Oregon sagebrush, sweet basil oil and common sage oil. It’s all good stuff, and the soap is safe for cats, dogs, kids — and the planet.

In addition to the flea soap, Tiny Timmy’s human also has an awesome project called Timmy Stones. It’s kind of like geocaching — you can get a couple of hand-painted stones for just a nominal shipping fee (each stone is different), and you can place them anywhere you want as a tribute to a special pet that is no longer with us, or to honor someone who has a special bond with an animal. Then you add it to the Timmy Stones global map. And if you happen to find a Timmy Stone, you also can log it. The philosophy is that, like small stones, we all have the ability to create a ripple. The stones were originally created to honor not only Timmy, but Oliver D Cat, who did not survive his encounter with chemical flea products, and to raise awareness of more natural ways to control fleas.

You would think someone who created such an awesome product and project would have lots of good things coming their way. And actually, a lot of nice things have happened for Tiny Timmy’s human, but right now, she is having a hard time. For the past six years, she has suffered from a chronic health condition — and her disability has run out, so she has to sell her house. She needs to get it ready to put on the market, but she can’t afford to! So some good friends hers set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise the amount she needs… but there’s a twist: friends of Tiny Timmy’s human and her angels have donated some awesome gifts as thank you prizes to lucky donors who will be chosen randomly! This woman has done so much to help people find a natural way to deal with fleas… if you can help in any way, please do! Any amount helps. Here is the link to the GoFundMe page.
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Having problems with your human or the other cats in your house? As the internet’s “Dear Abby With Claws,” Sparkle had answers to many annoying problems in her two award-winning books! Visit her author’s page on Amazon to buy one or both of her awesome Dear Sparkle books!