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It's the 1st of June. I know what's coming. Last year I found the first flea on Marmite on the 4th of June. I remember the date because I'd just got back from a long weekend away and I was still half-relaxed when I ran the comb through her coat and saw it. By the end of that week, both cats were scratching. By the end of that month, I was on my third load of 60-degree washing, my second tin of Indorex, and a Stronghold Plus prescription I'd had to book an emergency vet appointment to get. I spent the best part of August managing something I should have prevented in May. This year I'm not doing that. I know how it starts. It always starts the same way. The weather gets warm. You open the windows. The cats spend more time in the garden. One evening you notice one of them grooming more than usual. You tell yourself it's probably nothing, the heat, a bit of dry skin. You wait a few days. By the time you're sure it's fleas, they're already in the carpet. That's the part nobody tells you clearly enough. The fleas you see on your cat are maybe five percent of what's actually in your home. The rest, the eggs, the larvae, the pupae in their little indestructible cocoons, are in the carpet fibres, the skirting boards, the fabric of the sofa. They've been dormant since autumn. And right now, at the beginning of June, with the temperature finally climbing and the house warming up, they're waking up. All of them. At once. You can treat your cat perfectly every month and still lose. Because you're treating five percent of the problem and leaving ninety-five percent untouched. I learned that the hard way last August. What I also learned: the ultrasonic devices everyone tries don't work because they're built for the wrong animal. Every device you find on Amazon, in Pets at Home, in Wilko, almost all of them emit between 9 and 15kHz. That's the frequency range of mice and rats. A flea hears between 25 and 66kHz. For a flea, those devices are silent. You could have one plugged in every room and they'd have no idea it was there. That's why I'd tried two of them years ago and thrown them both away. That's why half of Mumsnet has written the whole category off. The technology isn't the problem. The frequency is. A device calibrated to the right range, 25 to 66kHz, and programmed to continuously rotate through different frequencies so fleas can't adapt to a stable signal. That's what actually works. That's what I found last autumn after one summer too many of Indorex and emergency vet appointments. I've had it plugged in since October. One in the living room, one in the bedroom where Casper and Marmite sleep. It's the 1st of June. The neighbours on my left have a cat that was already scratching last week, I saw her in the garden. Casper and Marmite are fine. I haven't booked a vet appointment. I haven't ordered Indorex. I haven't set a reminder to apply anything to the back of anyone's neck this Saturday morning. Last year at this point I was two weeks away from realising I'd already lost the battle for the summer. This year I'm just watching the garden. One device per room, ultrasonic frequencies don't pass through walls, so you need one wherever your cats spend time. The 2+1 FREE pack covers a standard flat. The 3+2 FREE pack covers a full house with no gaps. Most people go straight to the 3+2 because you want every room done before the season properly starts, not just most of them. Money back guarantee. If it doesn't work, you pay nothing. https://orivelia.com/products/orivelia-ultrasonic-pest-repeller The 4th of June last year was a Tuesday. I remember standing in the kitchen at half past ten at night, reading the Indorex instructions for the fourth time, wondering how I'd ended up here again. I won't be doing that this year.