I have three cats, and they have fleas. But they never go out, so if they have fleas, they got them from me. I feel like kind of an ass for making them wear the collars.

In this stand-up–style observation, Poundstone builds humor through mundane domestic detail and a quick reversal of blame. The cats are indoor-only, so the usual assumption—pets bring in fleas—collapses, and the speaker becomes the likely source. The punch line (“kind of an ass”) adds self-deprecation and moral discomfort about imposing flea collars on animals when the human may be at fault. Beyond the joke, it lightly satirizes how people externalize problems and then punish dependents for them, while also capturing Poundstone’s persona: candid, conversational, and willing to make herself the butt of the story.