Our Story
About Us
We’ve always been animal lovers and had many pets ranging from dogs to cats and even ferrets, so of course fleas are no strangers to us. Neither is flea medication; almost every summer has been a challenge battling fleas. If you’re here reading this, you know that if one gets infested they all do.
How it Began
It was the summer of 2016, my daughter brought home a tiny white kitten from a trailer park. She presented the cotton ball to me wearing the all too familiar “Can we keep it?” face. I reached out and pet what seemed to be the white fluff’s head. As I brushed the fur, specks surfaced and scurried down her face and ears. My heart sank. This little kitten had hundreds of fleas all over her. She probably hadn’t had a good night sleep since she was born, and she must have been 6 weeks old. We spent the rest of the afternoon combing and washing the fleas off of her. Unfortunately, it was too late. The fleas had already found the rest of our cats.
My Experience
At the time I had just filed for medical disability. My eyesight is deteriorating due to a rare genetic disease. I could no longer drive. and had to quit my job of 20 years serving my fellow veterans at the VA hospital. I was at the in-between stages of collecting disability and using the last of my savings to ward off the debt collectors. I was going to lose my house soon to foreclosure.
The Cotton Ball
It turns out cotton ball was an excellent distraction to my financial woes. I spent money I didn’t have on the typical flea sprays, powders, baths. Nothing worked well, only with different degrees of ineffectiveness. I remembered the hassle of the days of flea bombing the whole house, the constant vacuuming, and weighed that against the expense of money I didn’t have for vet prescribed flea medicine.
Research
I started researching available over-the-counter flea medicines. I discovered nitenpyram, ordered some, and fed it to my kitties in some wet food. It was like magic! Within a few minutes fleas were falling off dead. The cats were now my weapon against the fleas, going to all the areas of the house attracting and killing fleas, and it was so much less stressful for them then drenching them in poison or bathing them in Dawn. Within a week the fleas were gone.
An Affordable Process
My kids and I talked about how there is such a need to affordably help people dealing with flea problems. Remembering the rest of the litter of kittens in the trailer park and others in similar situations, it was clear that there are so many who may be in the same position we were, financially strapped and unable to afford taking the pets to the vet for flea products. So while I could no longer serve my fellow veterans, I still felt the need to help others if I could.
Our Venture
Months of research netted us reliable suppliers for all the necessities, and my own medical laboratory experience gave us the means to begin manufacturing our own nitenpyram capsules. We began selling our products on Ebay and people loved us. Our customers taught us how to improve, and our whole family became involved in our venture. But with my failing eyesight, I turned the project over to my daughter. She took it that final step and the Ultimate Flea Destruction Mission was born.