u/Absurd-Lancer

im on the bathroom floor with our border collie mix because i found fleas on him tonight.  fell behind on his monthly flea stuff because of life with 3 kids, and now hes scratching like crazy. wife is gone this week so its just me. my mom swears dawn dish soap kill fleas like its common knowledge, neighbor said the same. but vet sites say it can dry out his skin and might not even work on the eggs.
i dont have actual flea shampoo in the house, closest 24hr store is 25 min away, and id have to wake the baby to go. did a warm water rinse already, he's calmer but obviously fleas arent gone.
is the dawn thing actually legit for a one time emergency or just an old tip that doesnt really work anymore? trying to decide if i try it tonight or just tough it out till morning

hey, im on mobile, kinda tired so sorry if this is a mess. im in the US and our 4 year old dog has been dealing with what i thought was a basic dog ear infection treatment situation and now im lowkey stressed about it and its midnight here
vet saw him about 9 days ago, said it was a yeast + maybe bacterial ear infection and gave us ear drops with antibiotic + antifungal + steroid and cleanser to use like 2–3x a week
hes about 32kg, pretty active (except now hes just lying around and giving me that sad dog look)
weve been doing the ear drops exactly like they showed us (or i think we are):
hold ear flap up, fill the canal, massage, let him shake, wipe the gunk. my wife made a whole chart on the fridge so we dont miss doses. i smell like ear cleaner half the time (and dog still stinks)
problem is that the brown gunk is less but still there, he still scratches like crazy at night, head shaking is a bit better but not gone and today i saw a tiny bit of red, almost like a scratch, inside the ear flap
no visible blood coming out of the canal or anything, he still eats, drinks, chases the ball, but when i touch near the base of the ear he flinches and moves away. im also kinda worried i might be putting the tip of the bottle too far in or maybe not far enough? vet showed me once but that was with my 3 year old screaming in the background so… brain not working that day
the vet said that he should be much better in about a week and here we are, day 9, and its like… kinda better but not ok we’re done better. also the smell is still there a bit. not as rotten as before but still gross.
 i dont wanna run back in too early if this is just the normal healing timeline, but i also dont wanna screw up his ears and end up paying more later

for folks who’ve dealt with a regular dog ear infection treatment:
how long did it take before the scratching + head shaking basically stopped, and at what point did you say ok this isnt normal, we’re going back to the vet?

Hi everyone, I'm trying to get my cat to drink more water, so I’ve been looking into a best cat water fountain.

My cat is 4, healthy, and extremely picky about everything. I bought one basic fountain a few months ago, set it up carefully, cleaned it, made sure the water was fresh… and she just stared at it like it offended her. I even moved it to different spots around the apartment. She drank from it once, maybe twice, and then completely ignored it. Went right back to her old bowl like nothing happened. And I’m sitting there wondering why I spent money on something she treats like decoration.
Do picky cats actually need time to adjust to a fountain, or if some just never like them at all. I keep seeing people say their cats instantly loved it, which makes me feel like I did something wrong.

Do picky cats eventually start using a fountain if you leave it out, or you have to try all of them until you find one they don’t hate?