Sent from Edward Nettleship
16 Jun 1909
Description:

‘My dear Pearson,

I am very sorry & much ashamed that Tong is “verminous”; I hope the nits may turn out only flea eggs. She has certainly not been combed as the other dogs were for she has been in the stable & that means (in our case) only a whited-sepulcre [sic] kind of cleanliness.

I believe Keating well rubbed into the fur, the dog standing on a newspaper, is perfectly harmless; they say the fleas come out & can be dealt with on the paper. I’ve used Keating a time or two in this way with Jack, but I never saw anything break cover in consequence.

My impression is that daily grooming with a brush & comb is very useful; anyway Jack likes the process (except when you get to his tail) very much & is never tired of it. Methylated spirit wd. I have no doubt be quite fatal to the insects, but I don’t know whether safe for the dog if used on any large part of the body at once; Vet. wd. tell you. Parrafine [sic] oil also very good, but I think dangerous (I mean poisonous in some way) if put on large surface at once; I once killed a much be-fleaed [sic] cat by doing her with parrafine i.e. she was made so ill she had to be killed.

...

Tong continued.

I find our cook who looks after the 1 puppy we have kept used Keating with much success when puppy first came into the house from Tong’s care.

1) put her on her back, & rub plenty of Keating’s quite down “into the skin” all over. The places the fleas use as preserves are behind the ears, in armpits & about tail, i.e. the folds & pits.

2) Leave the Keating in situ, do not brush it out after.

3) Lots of little black fleas came out, or shook out, dead or apparently dead (I expect they did not get [a] chance to resuscitate)

4) This process was repeated 3 or 4 times on the puppy at ... intervals. Now she hardly ever scratches.

The puppy’s coat is thick & close, sort of woolly, much like the under coat of Tong, not silky as yet.

E.N.’