My home has become a war-zone.

Every room looks like a bombed-out disaster area, my allies in the fight are all miserable, and I have spent way too much money on ineffective weapons. And I can still tell you, I feel like I'm losing this battle.

The effects are psychological as well as physical. While my compatriots bear the brunt of the attack, I see our enemies in my sleep. The thought of them crawling on my skin keeps me up at night. And seeing them up close makes my skin crawl and my blood boil.

I have learned the meaning of hate and fear.

You see, sometime in the last month, my two indoor adult cats, Connor and Evan, started scratching themselves more energetically than usual. Within a few days, everything in our house was infested, and no amount of sprays, powders, medicines or shampoos has stopped the oncoming assault from crashing like waves upon our once-peaceful shores.

In case you aren't familiar with the nightmare of these tiny monsters, fleas are parasites that live on animal hosts and feed off their blood like vampires. Akin to mosquitoes, ticks and bed bugs, they are tiny and voracious. One female flea can create up to 500 fleas in her short five day life span. So treating them early and with extreme prejudice is imperative.

Naturally, I turned to the internet for some answers, and it's amazing how many homeopathic solutions folks have found for treating fleas. Some people introduce boiled lemons into their cats' water dishes. Others, do the same with red wine vinegar. The most surprising find was that shampooing seems to be most effective with any blue-colored shampoo or soap (like Head and Shoulders shampoo or Dawn dish detergent) because the blue dye is actually what kills fleas.

I began with various natural sprays on the furniture in the house to limited success. One is made primarily of cedar oil and makes the entire house feel greasy and smell vaguely of forests and pickles. The other spray is a cinnamon and vanilla based liquid that smells great but seems to act more as a room deodorizer than as a flea deterrent.

Now I don't doubt that these natural solutions can work in less severe cases (i.e. anywhere but in Central Texas), but as I have since heard from multiple post-traumatically stressed flea survivors, you can't play nice with fleas. Fleas will not show mercy. Once the crisis becomes a red alert, you have to "go nuclear."

I had been alternating between the two expensive spot-treatment medicines, Frontline Plus and Advantix II, to prevent the fleas from developing an immunity. But according to my vet, Texas fleas have since evolved beyond both of these "sure-fire" remedies. The new wonder drug is Revolution, which is a monthly medication that is so strong it requires a prescription from your veterinarian. It's just as expensive as they other two, but the difference is that it works.

In a moment of desperation, I also bought three cans of Hot Spot "flea bomb" at my grocery store, but I'm incredibly hesitant to go that route yet. You and the pets have to leave the house for 6 hours while a toxic spew of chemicals coats your entire home in poison. You have to cover everything you don't want the poison to touch — which is, y'know... most things — and then you do it all over again a week later.

My new tactic before that happens is diatomaceous earth. I had never heard of this wonder pest control until I began swapping flea war stories, but it seems to be the miracle cure that everyone was searching for. It's a talc-like powder available at your pet store that gets into fleas' joints and lacerates their exoskeletons. Kills them within contact, which is all I want right now. Make sure your DE is "food-grade" so that it doesn't hurt you or your animals if ingested. (And, yes, it's okay to eat even!)

I "dusted" my entire house with DE a few hours ago and it now looks like a weary winter wonderland in my home. I'm happy to report that neither of my battle-ravaged cats is scratching. I'll have to vacuum this all up soon; but first I'm going to let my cats catch up on some much-needed rest. They both look exhausted from this war.

We will continue reporting back to you from the front lines in case the war rages on. Until then: stay diligent, soldiers, and don't give up hope. We can beat these fleas.