AITA for telling my friend to end their 10 day trip and come get their dog after I found out their dog had fleas?
Back story: I am baby sitting a dog for my now ex friend J, the dog is a husky. I love dogs have 2 myself and we have 3 total in the house. When J asked over a month ago I said yes as long as he was up to date on everything shots, prevention etc. He said yes he was sure. Throughout the month I asked repeatedly just to make sure. He swore up and down his dog was good to go. This is a huge deal for my house. My owns dogs are up to date, but i have a cat in the house that cannot be medicated. Our family cat has severe medical issues. We are sure shes only alive by spite at this point. So I have this dog for less than 48 hours and find an adult flea. No big deal, he came from a wooded area. If hes on the proper meds, he bites and dies like with my dogs. Cool. I found more, I found eggs, I found live teenagers. I have since medicated the dog, bathed the dog 3x times in flea shampoo. Which is hard, he hates it. J has called his vet for the meds so I got to go pick them up for him, but I asked the front desk when his last dose was, she said 3 months ago. Hes been off medication for 2 months. Im furious at this point and tell him he has 24h to find another place for the dog or get it, trying to be gracious. He argues with me and tells me he has no one, and has subsequently spent all of his money and cant get home right now…
Side note: I myself have immune issues, and I dont know if my current symptoms are stress or Im also allergic to fleas.
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AITA for telling my friend to end their 10 day trip and come get their dog after I found out their dog had fleas?
Back story: I am baby sitting a dog for my now ex friend J, the dog is a husky. I love dogs have 2 myself and we have 3 total in the house. When J asked over a month ago I said yes as long as he was up to date on everything shots, prevention etc. He said yes he was sure. Throughout the month I asked repeatedly just to make sure. He swore up and down his dog was good to go. This is a huge deal for my house. My owns dogs are up to date, but i have a cat in the house that cannot be medicated. Our family cat has severe medical issues. We are sure shes only alive by spite at this point. So I have this dog for less than 48 hours and find an adult flea. No big deal, he came from a wooded area. If hes on the proper meds, he bites and dies like with my dogs. Cool. I found more, I found eggs, I found live teenagers. I have since medicated the dog, bathed the dog 3x times in flea shampoo. Which is hard, he hates it. J has called his vet for the meds so I got to go pick them up for him, but I asked the front desk when his last dose was, she said 3 months ago. Hes been off medication for 2 months. Im furious at this point and tell him he has 24h to find another place for the dog or get it, trying to be gracious. He argues with me and tells me he has no one, and has subsequently spent all of his money and cant get home right now…
Side note: I myself have immune issues, and I dont know if my current symptoms are stress or Im also allergic to fleas.
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> 1. I told J he had 24 hours to get his dog. 2. I Haven’t taken action yet, my plan is to leave him with J’s family. But they dont want him.
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Contest mode is 1.5 hours long on this post.
I’m gonna go with NTA. He knew his dog had fleas and with held that information from you and is now saying he has no money to come back? He jeopardized your health and the health of your animals intentionally despite you asking multiple times if the dog was up to date on everything. If someone did that to me and my dog, I’d be furious.
NTA. Initially reading I was going to say YTA cause fleas are no big deal. But for you and your cat they are a big deal and friend was fully aware and chose not to take 15mins and ensure his dog was upto date with everything prior
NTA Honestly you have too many ongoing issues to be taking on the care of an outside animal.
NTA He willingly put your animals in danger and lied about it. It’s also such a minor effort to give your animal one pill a month. He’s also an asshole for denying his dog this pill and majorly inconveniencing her.
ESH. The damage is done if the dog had fleas and introduced them to your household, your cat will also need to go on flea medication to break the flea life cycle. As your cat was not on flea medication this could have happened regardless with your dogs introducing a flea to the household and jumping on your cat. Also if the dog’s on Bravecto it would still be up to date as the medication is once every 3 months, so unless you have this information, it’s still possible this dog is up to date. Also I’m not sure what shampoo you’re using but they perhaps should not be used cumulatively like that – once fleas are in the house it’s going to be at least a few weeks of dealing with them, no amount of bathing the dog is going to fix this.
Your house has fleas no matter what.
Did you specify with J about the dog needing to constantly be on flea meds? You asked if the dog was up to date on everything like prevention. But what to you is up to date? I do not medicate my dogs for fleas at all times. They are only medicated in the summer. I do have them groomed every 6 weeks. However, my vet considers this fine. Many people are like that.
If you were to ask me if my dogs were up to date, I would have said yes my dogs are up to date. Despite them not being on flea and tick meds for 3 months. I would have needed it to be more specific in the amount of time since being medicated. So J may not have realized he was lying to you. It could have been a misunderstanding. I would say J is an AH for not checking that his done didn’t have fleas before leaving the dog with you. Personally I would have wanted the dog groomed before he came over.
You are NTA as I would feel the same. I’m just not sure if you and J were on the same page when you asked those questions.
I love travelling, but missing my dog’s meds because I paid for a trip? Wow. NTA
With friends like that who needs enemies
Nta.
If it’s Bravecto a dose theoretically lasts 3 months. Simparica and nexgard are monthly. Fleas come in on you and through screens especially this time of year. Stop bathing the dog if you applied topical crap. You are stripping the efficacy with the dog’s essential oils. Just put him on a prescribed oral prevention.
Then deal with your flighty friend
NTA
Besides the issue with the preventative meds, OP now owns a new dog? The owner can’t afford to come home because he spent all his money!!?? Probably didn’t treat his dog because he was preparing for his trip. Unless the owner is on SS or a pension and is waiting on that next check?
There was a time in my life where I would’ve read this post and I would’ve thought that you were totally making a big deal out of everything. But then I let my neighbor move in with me for a couple weeks with his kitten, and when he left, I had a major flea infestation in my brand new apartment that I just moved into. It took probably five months to fully eradicate my apartment of fleas. Now that I’ve been through all that, my advice is, he can get his fucking dog out of there.
YTA take the dog to a boarding place. You already got the dog and treated him. Nothing more to be done. You already exposed your animals so 24 hours is ridiculous.
NTA. Drop the dog off at a boarding place if he cannot come home. Take this as a lesson learned, no more pet sitting for you.
If I hear up to date I’m thinking vaccines. So is the groomer, kennel, and the vet. If you say prevention I’m probably still thinking vaccines, maybe heartworm.
I wouldn’t be sure he knew about the fleas either.
Let him get his dog. In the meantime give all the animals you can some Capstar to help keep the problem from growing. I’m so sorry.
You never should have taken on pet sitting in the first place. You’ve nuked your friendship because of your poor choices. Now you’re giving your ex-friend an ultimatum about keeping their pet safe when they’re traveling and can’t afford to come home early. That’s why YMBTA.
Completely NTA, and wherever you left his dog would make you a “justified asshole” as far I’m concerned based on your other animals ‘ health situations
Noooo NTA!!! You asked them. They lied about it. So it’s their fault. Since they’re your friend too I’m sure they know about your own condition and the cat’s condition. Throwing their dog at you after lying a lot is so… Irresponsible of them.
NTA what an utterly disrespectful asshole your ex friend is.