Poor little tabby showed up in February when temps were around 10deg F on a good day, and 20 to 30 below zero at night. He was clearly starving, every rib stuck out, and he had no hair on his back half and legs. Pitiful, huh? We fixed him a warm bed in our garage and fed him, and took him to the vet for an exam and shots. The vet said he was in really good shape, other than the hair loss, and some bug bite marks on his skin which he said would go away once he gained weight and his immune system was stronger.

Stupid me - I never thoughtto ask what those marks might mean for someone
like me with a crazy impaired nervous system -which includes my immune system. And the plan at the time was to find the cat ahome somewhere else, as we have 3 furballs already, one of them rescued in similar circumstances about 5 years ago. But over the weeks we were looking for a good home, he grew on all of us, and surprisingly, my dh is the one who decided we should keep him. I never would have thought THAT would happen!

So the former stray with a big personality, now named Buster, was moved into the breezeway for two weeks, and he was slowly introduced to our other cats, first through the glass in the door, then for 15 or twenty minutes he'd come inside while the others explored his porch digs, til he was spending hours at a time in the house, returning to the porch to sleep at night.

Then we moved his bed and bowls inside - it was now about 2 months after we had first found him. Well, shortly after we found him I started having a problem with my hair - my scalp has been really dry due to my meds, and I thought this was what was causing a small area of hair at the rear top to make a circular bump, which kept re-forming no matter how often I combed it out. During this time I was petting and holding the cat outdoors, and carrying him to his box bed in the garage.

But once Buster began living in the house, it was less than two weeks before the other cats and I were in misery, and the lightbulb came on.

The cat had been starving, there were insect marks on his skin, he was carrying parasites and the vet never mentioned a word, nor asked if anyone in our house had any issues with their immune systems!!!

Now I'm on a lots more meds, trying to suffocate or drive out the bugs that have infested every part of my body. It has been true torment. The carpets had to be swept constantly, the bedding changed, the cats also saw the vet and were given several meds. My poor feet reacted horribly to the presence of the pests in the carpet, swelling up like small footballs before we had the professionals come and clean the floors. And we had our pest control people spray under and around all furniture in the living room and bedroom. I stayed with my mom or at a motel for several days, as I just felt the house was
not a good place for me to be.

So I think the worst is over, but not all. I think some of the pests were internal parasites, which is why we rarely saw a flea or anything on any of the cats. The vet and my Dr disagree, but they haven't given me a good answer as to why therecouldn't be.

And I'm not crazy about the suffocate the bugs strategy -it causes my skin to twist and draw together tightly, somewhat painfully, and I am afraid will leave some unpretty scars.

Anyway, I'm making myself eat much better, minding my fruits and veggies, taking a probiotic, eating yogurt at least once a day - doing what I can to boost that immune system

beth

I used to do pest control for many years and I seen this more often then not when new pets are introduced into a home...

Even had issues with offices that had crawl spaces underneath. Raccoons or other critters would live under the building and fleas would be everywhere...


Internal Parasites I didn't deal with. But Fleas I did.... And I never had an issue at my home after dealing with fleas at a customers place of business or home. Lucky I guess.....