Bed bugs vs Fleas vs Mange

I just don't know anymore.
There was something in my apartment, biting me ruthlessly in that tell tale 3 bites in a row pattern. The possibilities were two, bedbugs, which have been reported in Lethbridge in recent years, or fleas, extremely uncommon in the dry climate of southern Alberta. The first thing I did was look for fleas on Kodi, but I found none. All my symptoms suggested bedbugs. So, lets have a look here at the evidence for each.

Bedbugs - more likely to bite people than fleas
-I never noticed being bit, suggesting I was bit in my sleep
-Something was biting Kodi too, so it wasn't just spontaneous sensitive skin
-my landlady told me that the floors/carpet had not been cleaned when the last tenants left
-I bought a new couch, which could have carried bedbugs in with it, even though it was brand new

Fleas- I work in a dog kennel

The things in favour of bedbugs as you see, far outweigh those in favour of fleas. Fleas don't generally bite people, aren't common here, and dogs I've seen with fleas before, you could see the fleas on their bodies when you look.

So it's obvious right? I had bedbugs.

Or did I?

Bedbugs don't just 'go away' with some revolution on a dog (given to prevent bedbug bites) and some laundry, and some vacuuming. They live in walls, under carpets, and inside mattresses and couch cushions. They crawl in through wall sockets and are immune to many pesticides. They need to be sprayed for by professionals, and even then they can come back if you don't kill every single one, which is impossible to do because they can hide from the spray by living in the walls for months before needing to feed again.
And yet...I have not been bitten again since that first spree of bites that have since, after turning into horrible rashes, disappeared.

But where could we possibly have gotten fleas? Kodi had been treated previously after contacting a dog with fleas in BC, and we'd been in Alberta over a month before this started. The dogs at the kennel ought not to have had fleas, and I checked the cat. I didn't find fleas on any of the dogs that I checked, and I checked all the dogs that I handled (I actually tend not to touch the dogs at work, less likely to be bit that way).

I was absolutely convinced that all the evidence lead to bedbugs.

About 2 weeks ago, however, a frequent boarder came to pick up his dog and had a very interesting question for me. He wanted to know if we'd had fleas in the kennel. His son had, shortly after they'd returned from their previous trip, become covered in what they thought might be bedbug bites. They began as the three in a row bites, then turned in to rashes before finally starting to go away. This all sounded very familiar to me, so I checked the bookings, and his dog was in the kennel at the same time that I was getting bit myself.
Could we both have been bit by the same fleas?
Very possible. The week that happened was extremely busy at work, I may have not noticed I was being bit because I was run off my feet. Kodi would have picked up fleas from my clothes or from in the car but because so few would have hitch hiked he would not have been covered in them like the other dogs I'd seen, and the dog in question at the kennel was black and skittish, which meant I wouldn't be able to see them from a distance, and I wouldn't have subjected her to a flea inspection due to my desire not to be bitten by a dog as well as bugs.

So... mystery solved?

What about Badger's mange then? While it developed in the same pattern as mange, my vet found no mange mites, only evidence that something was biting him, and none of his litter mates were showing the same reaction, none of them had that terrible rash he came home with. His breeder did later find fleas on his remaining litter mates, and remembered she'd been training a dog on her property who she'd found fleas on. Her vet, and the vet here in Lethbridge both suggest that Badger had fleas too, but the reason he reacted differently from his bothers and sister was that he likely has flea bite allergies. So bites on him, break into nasty scabby rashes that look like mange. Revolution was the solution for him too.

Fleas, bedbugs, and the sarcoptic mange mite can all be killed in dogs by the same thing. I didn't get mange, which I likely would have if that's what Badge brought home, and the bites have stopped, which I wouldn't expect with bedbugs. (It should be noted that Badger's fleas and my bites occurred at different times. I didn't have Badger during my epic bug battle).

I would like to cautiously conclude, given the story as it stands now, that I was victimized by two separate flea infestations. One likely from the kennel, and one from Badger's breeder. It is possible that damp weather these past few seasons have encouraged the survival of fleas in southern alberta, or otherwise that a dog came into the kennel from out of province and brought fleas with him.
My precautions against bedbugs, which may have lessened their impact on me, would likely have eradicated fleas from my household completely. Everything I used to help slow down bedbugs, outright kills fleas.

So, not exactly a losing situation for me. I'd much rather have had fleas, and been rid of them, than to still be fighting a daily battle against bedbugs.
It's just too bad that now I live in a state of complete paranoia, where I check the mattresses at hotel rooms during flyball tournaments, and still can't convince myself that its safe to take my clothes out of the ziploc bags.

Bedbugs, mange, or fleas, both my dogs are now on Revolution until the end of September at least. Bogdan does not believe in flea control (or vaccinations for that matter, as he tried to argue with me about us not needing a rabies vaccination for a guest. Hello! I'm the one most likely to get bit! If I want to see proof of rabies then I'm going to insist on proof of rabies!) But his insistence that flea control is horrible terrible stuff only prompts me further to use it on my dogs. Bogdan can talk down about flea control all he wants after he has experienced what I've been through for the last three months and is pulling his clean underwear out of ziplocs every morning and wondering if every little itch might be a bite.

I'm still not entirely convinced, and I still worry I've got bedbugs somewhere in this house, but I have entered a stage of gradual disarmament. I have removed the tape from the walls, but keep it on my bedlegs. I have vacuumed up the DE, but have left it in the power outlets and behind the light switches. I still spritz cedar oil regularly, but I have removed the cover from my mattress (it was way too hot to sleep on). I still bag my clothing, but I wash in cold water again, instead of hot.

Very very slowly, and with a great deal of vigilance and caution, I am returning to a normal life.

On the upside... I'm now an expert on Bedbugs, and am probably damaged enough by this event that I will take preventative measures for the rest of my life. So maybe I won't ever have to go through this again.

Someday I'll stop putting my clothing in the bags.
Someday.

.