Pireler! Fleas!

Oh my. The fleas are the least of it. These two beasties have tested my love of felix domesticus. Mama cat, aka Black September, hasn't been spayed since Alice was born. Since we moved in, Black September has been yowling in heat about 85% of the time. She also misses her human, Claudius, which makes her cry every time someone leaves the apartment. She is astoundingly loud (hence the earplugs). Now, Alice is learning from her mother and perfecting her own yowl.
At first, we thought we'd let the cats sleep in the room with us. Ahhh, but they don't sleep at night--they play, fight, and yowl. When they play, it's always claws out... So, then we shut them out when we went to bed. Within two weeks, Black September had figured out how to fling herself at the door handle and get in. (It's a handle, not a knob, and it doesn't lock.) We put the desk chair in front of the door. It wasn't heavy enough, and now we use the armchair to blockade the door at night.
The latest chapter in this saga is the fleas. There is a little controversy on whether the cats have fleas or a roommate's bed has bedbugs, ugh. Regardless, I went to the pet store, got the meds and pantomime instructions, and today the cats have been treated for fleas. We shall see...