house de-fleaing update, aka Still Freaking Out

Well the one time you want to see fleas is when you've spent the better part of two days de-fleaing your house (WITH A HUGE HEADCOLD!) and you vacuum for the second time because the first vacuuming only produced 2 (COUNT' EM! T-W-O!) dead fleas. Then the second pass produces:

NARY A SINGLE FLEA.

Sure, glass-half-full people would say, "Well yay at least you know you're flea-free in the house."

Yes, this is true. Susan the Realist (ahem :) answers, "And yet, Sammers is still itching and I found another critter on him last night, after 2 months of Frontline and two dosings of Capstar scary-instant-flea-killer pills."

The latest critter I decided might not be a flea, or else it's a non-adult stage flea. (Where's an entomologist when you need one?) I put it in a piece of Scotch tape to take to the vet later today.

'Cause, you know, I don't have anything else to do with my life just now, like jobhunting chores, etc. But poor Sammers is worth it of course and we want him to stop itching, like, RIGHT FRIGGING NOW. Happily, his chin-scratch sores are healing and he doesn't seem to be itching quite so much as before, but holy cow in my humble opinion this whole rigmarole should be behind us already, dammit.

Gahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!