Boots is fine. He is (who knew?) allergic to flea bites. Apparently he has picked up a couple from lying in Chance's beds. We do Frontline on both, but Chance picks up fleas from outside, and we know it's inevitable that he'll bring them inside with him. Then, before the Frontline can kill them, sometimes they jump off him and onto his bedding. Boots loves to sleep in both of Chance's beds (sort of a cat version of thumbing his nose at the dog, I guess).
Anyway, the vet couldn't find any fleas on Boots, but she did find "flea dirt" so we know they're there. She said it only takes a few, if a cat is very sensitive to them. She says sometimes cats come in just covered in fleas and don't even scratch themselves. Then, a cat that is allergic can have just a couple fleas, and about scratch themselves to death. She recommended a bath for him. Yikes ... talk about my least favorite task in the world. Actually, I can't even imagine. So we'll be making a trip back to the vet soon, to take care of bathing the cat.
She gave Boots a cortisone shot and said he'll be fine. It's just that the skin on his back near his tail was inflamed. Poor baby. But he's okay. I just took these pictures of him a minute ago. It's hard to get a good shot of him because he's so dark. She did talk about what a beautiful silky coat he has and what a sweet boy he is ... which I already knew (says the proud "cat mama").
