G'day all,

Foolestroupe's tale of some 30+ posts above suggests that the garbage bin method acquired some "official/veterinarian" status, here in Australia.

Something like a decade, or so, back we had a black & white female cat of independent nature and strong hunting proclivities ... and Sydney was suffering a flea plague - and she came home with a very representative sample of Sydney fleas. The vet said we would have to give her a good bath in a flea mixture ... and suggested I mix a measured quantity with slightly warm water, up to about 70 mm / 3" depth, in a plastic garbage bin ... strategically placed a metre, or so, from the back door (in our case, a covered laudry area.

Thus prepared, I was to grab the cat, drop her in and clip down the lid. Then, after giving the bin a few vigorous shakes, open the back door with one hand ... and gently unlatch the nearest side of the lid .. dive indoors - and firmly shut the door! This worked well - as we watched through the flyscreened upper door, she heard the latch move - probed the lid with one vey claw-laden paw ... then burst out, spluttering, hissing, shaking and swinging claws in every direction.

The door was shut, the windows closed and no entry to the house possible - so she reluctantly retired to the highest spot available ... the top of an old warbrobe - now used for storage in the laundry ... upon which 3 green plastic garbage bags stored the white plastic foam beads from a couple of old beanbags ... now retired after their '70s/'80s vogue. Once she mangaged to shake / wipe / lick herself as dry as possible, she clearly decided that these bags had retributive potential ...

... and I spent the rest of the day devising a selective "Foam-Bead Retrieval Vacuum System" to return a few million little white beads to a new set of un-shredded garbage bags ... !

Regards,

Bob