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I’ve been having good luck getting rid of fleas I find on Hoshi. I put Hoshi in his tub and wash his groin with a warm soapy cloth. It takes 10-20 minutes to wash and towel dry him.
I discovered fleas favor Hoshi’s genitals. That’s where I find them or flea dirt. Their speed makes them difficult to catch with a flea comb. I find baths work well on fleas but it’s time consuming bathing and drying off a long-haired breed.
The quick baths have been effective days and weeks later.
His bath was long overdue and I found a flea on him yesterday. I did the bare minimum trim to keep him cool and clean. One nail was especially long. They wear uneven. The others didn’t need trimming. I had to give him three treats just to trim that nail.
I stopped feeding Hoshi Merrick’s Backcountry because he couldn’t digest it. His stool were too soft. At best they were soft and formed but mostly appeared the consistency of toothpaste. It was really messy to clean up. I got it on my hand! He had been on it for about 1-2 weeks before I decided to stop using it. It made him gassy too. The house started smelling bad.
I started feeding Hoshi Canidae again. He’s done well on it. Again, the dry food is only part of his raw chicken diet. It’s meant to save me time preparing his meals. It makes up ⅓ or ¼ of his daily diet.
Hoshi’s been taking Canidae’s Pure Ancestral for two weeks now. He gobbles it up right away and has nice firm stools. The only difference I notice is the increased amount of stool. I would say it’s about 3 times as much compared to his raw chicken diet.
Hoshi has gained too much weight. He normally has 3 to 4 chicken thighs a day but I’ve been substituting one with dry food . Lately, it’s been 4 servings so I’m cutting it down to 3.
This was another bad summer for fleas. I’ve been using Frontline and a homemade flea repellent but Hoshi’s belly was still peppered with flea dirt. I gave him a thorough bath, trimmed his essentials. I even coaxed him with cheese into having a few nails trimmed.
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 2:15 | Bath & blow dry |
| 1:30 | Trim |
| 3:45 | Total Time |
I took Hoshi to the park in Shelby, Michigan. It was very pretty this time of year.
