First of all, I had to share my new obsession at Starbucks. It's the chocolate chip raspberry scone- all of my favorite things combined into one!
Light and fluffy with a little crisp...gooey chocolate and raspberry....yum. Normally I accompany it with my cinnamon steamed soy chai, but this morning I decided to try something new. Last week a lady in front of me ordered this beautiful pink and white drink; Passion Tea with Sweet condensed milk.
I tried it this morning and it is really amazing. The barista said that its great with soy too so I'll have to try that (that may make it slightly healthier.)
Obviously this is not the healthiest breakfast, but I've been doing great lately with nutrition, workouts, and my new fitbit (I'll be doing a fitness post soon. Lots of info to share.)
Anyway....Now that that's aside we can talk about the dogs again. Riko's feet have cleared up beautifully thanks to coconut oil! Now I have a new nemesis....
The dogs and I have been going walking early every morning and on our way back we stop at the dog park. Bella took several good flops in the dirt and grass (both by herself and mid wrestling session) Sure enough by the next morning she was scratching herself like crazy. I rolled her over to get a look at her belly and saw a couple dark little bugs scatter around.
Great.
Riko doesn't seem to be scratching much yet (he was chewing on his legs earlier in the week but a bath fixed that.) So I popped by the Nex Petstore and grabbed some Hartz Ultra plus topical medication and put it on both of them. And then promptly washed their beds and blankets, as well as my own bedding.
They had the medication on for about two hours and I googled flea and tick preventatives to see how they work (I was curious how fleas on her belly would get killed by something on her back.) and to my dismay, about 99% of the internet warned about Hartz products and how deadly they can be.
Now it's never a good idea to google things because the internet is always going to jump to doomsday conclusions, but I really had a hard time finding any good reviews about Hartz products. There was everything from allergic reactions, chemical burns, poisoning, kidney failure, neurological problems, etc. showing up immediately-two days after treatment.
I'm sure there are a number of factors that could have been involved with these cases, but it looks like the product has been recalled in the past, and a poison story was posted only two days ago- so safe to say I panicked and the dogs immediately had the application scrubbed off with Dawn dish soap. (and I got too much on Bella and that was a whole thing....now shes all crusty and soapy still.)
The dogs are fine, but it's still nothing I wanted to risk, and they will be under close watch for a couple of days. (we walked this morning and they have been running like crazy, eating, etc.) Since I can't give them any more medicine of a different type for 45 days (risk of overdosing them) I decided to search more natural approaches.
We all know I'm a huge fan of natural remedies, and although necessary, putting poison on your dog doesn't seem like a great idea. So! I'm cooking up this:
Boiling lemons in water and adding a little bit of distilled white vinegar. Let simmer for a bit, then use it dip a comb in and brush in onto the dogs.
Not sure if it works yet....but at least its worth a try. The good news is while I was scrubbing Bella there was a dead flea that came off.
They were treated for fleas before we moved here in January, as part of quarantines requirements, but six months later we are in the dead heat of summer (and it has been ungodly humid.) The perfect environment for fleas and yeast!
At least its pretty here though.
