My Dogs Have Fleas

[Zoom-boing]

Making some good progress.

Penny doesn't seem to have any fleas on her, or they are just extremely good at hiding themselves and their evidence. Could the FL have kicked in? Don't know. The VetKem did a great job on her though, glad I bought it.

Dio def has them. Very, very hard to see evidence on him because he's mostly black and he wiggles ... a lot. I can tell by the way he scratches and bites though ... fleas.

Both dogs got Advantix II this morning. Hope this stuff works.

Shadow is still flea free and the prednisone is helping immensely with the ithcies.

Am seeing dead fleas here and there on the lighter floors, dead fleas in water dishes.

Finn ... Finnick Odare, you cat you. He is the flead one because the basement is a flea sanctuary, perfect flea conditions, and his bedroom. Originally got 80+ off of him last week; 50+ off of him late last week; 30+ off of him yesterday. Slowly but surely. VetKem def killed off many of the buggers and provided growth inhibitor and will continue to do so; DE def killed some off and will continue to do so; FL did nothing for Finn as far as I can tell. The VetKem helped but he needs a long-term treatment. Thurs is the 3 week mark when I can apply Advantage to Finn. Yeah, I'll apply it Wednesday. Dogs had no adverse reaction, hopefully Finn won't either.

Wanted to reinforce the DE down there by really brushing it into the carpet. Ah, no. After doing one section it was just too, too much DE dust going on. Switched to Borax (hey Luddly, I Boraxed!). It's more granular, less powdery and it worked into the berber carpeting (wtf did we put berber carpeting down there for??) much better than the DE. Entire finished part of the basement (two rooms) is done. Will vacuum the traffic areas later tonight.

Thank you everyone for your input, experience, and suggestions. I have an arsenal of weapons now. I will win the battle and wipe them off the face of our premises and pets.

 

[syrenn]

dead fleas!


here is a funny story.... we got a new foster a few weeks ago, one that ever made it into the shelter..... OMG i put it down on the white towel....and i had 3 fleas jump onto my arm... and off onto the towel!!

everyone got advantage, everything went to the sani wash..... two days later there was a dead flea on the white towels....

the comment made was.... oh look.. a good flea.



what the hell was he thinking??? a good flea?

the answer was.... yes, all dead fleas are good fleas!

 

[THORAX]

Hate dogs.

 

[Mr. H.]

My dogs have sport peppers.
And mustard.
An' celery salt....

 

[Zoom-boing]

Hate dogs.

Why that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever hurd.

 

[syrenn]

Hate dogs.

yeah... but the fleas love them!

 

[Claudette]

So in the midst of all that happened the past six weeks (in addition to all the deaths, we had one month to get all my parents stuff out of their place, July 10 is the last day, plus I got very sick 6/21-6/27) the dogs never did get their flea med ... so we now have fleas!! Damnit!! Frontlined both dogs Tues, both cats Thurs, DE them daily, as well as the carpeting, sofas, dog bed. Vacuuming daily (yeah, yeah I should do that anyway huh?). Poor Penny, she has a super thick undercoat and was just gnawing away ... her skin in places is nearly bruised from chewing so much. Put cortizone on those spots yesterday .... relief! Got two fleas off of Dio (one yesterday), two fleas off of Shadow (old cat) yesterday. How long before Frontline kills them all? DE takes a few days as it dehydrates them. I am concerned about any eggs that may be lurking. This is all a first for us. Cripes, like this is what we needed.

Holy Crap! Fleas!

Well, been nice knowing you Zoom......the Black Plague cannot be far behind, and really offers the only certain relief.

I've included this helpful diagram for your benefit:

Holy Hell Samson. Your a hoot. LMAO

I have my four kids on Trifexus. Its a HW/Flea combo and works great.

Another thing that really works is Diatomgeous Earth. When used it dehydrates the fleas and they die. Our getemall feed store carries it but I don't know who else does.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

I can't say that Frontline or Advantage works. It doesn't work on my dog or any dog I know. Flea baths don't work. Fleas hide. They go in the eyes, in the anus and urethra. The'll hide in a female's vagina and come out when it's safe.

Must be Republicans.

 

[Zoom-boing]

I can't say that Frontline or Advantage works. It doesn't work on my dog or any dog I know. Flea baths don't work. Fleas hide. They go in the eyes, in the anus and urethra. The'll hide in a female's vagina and come out when it's safe.

Must be Republicans.

What an asshole thing to say, Luddly.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Even better news! Combed Finn yesterday. Got four fleas off of him. THEY WERE ALL DEAD! The Advantage is working. Dogs show no sign of fleas, so the Advantix is working. Not getting any more bites on my ankles either.

Will VetKem the basement at the two week mark, continue w/the DE and vacuuming but I think it's nearly over. Won't be confident that they are really all gone until a few weeks from now and we still don't see any.

Again, thanks everyone for your input!

eta: The only place I'm finding any fleas is in the basement. One or two in the water dish and three or four that hang by the night light. Teeny, tiny fleas. The ones on the wall I just squish ... they don't seem very jumpy. Just furminated Dio's whole rear part (legs, rump, base of tail). Got nothing .. no fleas, no flea dirt. Just a whole bunch of under-coat fur.

 

[syrenn]

so how is everything now?

 

[Zoom-boing]

so how is everything now?

Well, getting down to a dull roar. I don't know when I'll really feel like there aren't any hiding somewhere, lurking. January? lol

A few days ago, Shadow was on my daughter's lap. He left and there, on her shirt, was a flea. Shadow didn't have fleas (the FL seems to have worked on him some, but that was a month ago he got it and he also self-exhiled into my daughter's room for several weeks until he felt better, away from everything, which helped) but once all the other animals got the spot-on treatments the fleas found Shadow. It took all of three seconds for me to give him Advantage and the fleas starting dying off of him within the hour. He didn't not have any adverse reaction to it so all the animals will be getting the spot-on treatments. Daughter VetKemed her bedroom.

Haven't resprayed the VetKem yet (haven't been home to do it, it was just two weeks yesterday). Am not finding any more tiny dead fleas in the basement, the animals are not scratching, aside from normal stuff.

Am still vacuuming but not as fanatically, still using the DE on the furniture/carpets. Am under the impression that if the animals are inhospitable to fleas (fleas are repelled, any fleas that get on them die, any eggs that get laid do not mature) that the fleas will die off on their own, even if the house (which is treated) is not constantly being cleaned/treated, etc. Hope that's correct. I am going to re-VetKem tne family room, basement and our bedroom (that's where the animals are the most), today. To do the rest of the house I need to order more. Think I should?

 

[syrenn]

so how is everything now?

Well, getting down to a dull roar. I don't know when I'll really feel like there aren't any hiding somewhere, lurking. January? lol

A few days ago, Shadow was on my daughter's lap. He left and there, on her shirt, was a flea. Shadow didn't have fleas (the FL seems to have worked on him some, but that was a month ago he got it and he also self-exhiled into my daughter's room for several weeks until he felt better, away from everything, which helped) but once all the other animals got the spot-on treatments the fleas found Shadow. It took all of three seconds for me to give him Advantage and the fleas starting dying off of him within the hour. He didn't not have any adverse reaction to it so all the animals will be getting the spot-on treatments. Daughter VetKemed her bedroom.

Haven't resprayed the VetKem yet (haven't been home to do it, it was just two weeks yesterday). Am not finding any more tiny dead fleas in the basement, the animals are not scratching, aside from normal stuff.

Am still vacuuming but not as fanatically, still using the DE on the furniture/carpets. Am under the impression that if the animals are inhospitable to fleas (fleas are repelled, any fleas that get on them die, any eggs that get laid do not mature) that the fleas will die off on their own, even if the house (which is treated) is not constantly being cleaned/treated, etc. Hope that's correct. I am going to re-VetKem tne family room, basement and our bedroom (that's where the animals are the most), today. To do the rest of the house I need to order more. Think I should?

poor shadow. Is he doing better on the drugs?

I prefer advantage to all of the others..... i like the instant kill. You never did your daughters room with the first round of vetkem?

yeah, i would order a lot more. that way you can finish off what you need to do and a have another round ready to go if you need it.

 

[Zoom-boing]

so how is everything now?

Well, getting down to a dull roar. I don't know when I'll really feel like there aren't any hiding somewhere, lurking. January? lol

A few days ago, Shadow was on my daughter's lap. He left and there, on her shirt, was a flea. Shadow didn't have fleas (the FL seems to have worked on him some, but that was a month ago he got it and he also self-exhiled into my daughter's room for several weeks until he felt better, away from everything, which helped) but once all the other animals got the spot-on treatments the fleas found Shadow. It took all of three seconds for me to give him Advantage and the fleas starting dying off of him within the hour. He didn't not have any adverse reaction to it so all the animals will be getting the spot-on treatments. Daughter VetKemed her bedroom.

Haven't resprayed the VetKem yet (haven't been home to do it, it was just two weeks yesterday). Am not finding any more tiny dead fleas in the basement, the animals are not scratching, aside from normal stuff.

Am still vacuuming but not as fanatically, still using the DE on the furniture/carpets. Am under the impression that if the animals are inhospitable to fleas (fleas are repelled, any fleas that get on them die, any eggs that get laid do not mature) that the fleas will die off on their own, even if the house (which is treated) is not constantly being cleaned/treated, etc. Hope that's correct. I am going to re-VetKem tne family room, basement and our bedroom (that's where the animals are the most), today. To do the rest of the house I need to order more. Think I should?

poor shadow. Is he doing better on the drugs?

I prefer advantage to all of the others..... i like the instant kill. You never did your daughters room with the first round of vetkem?

yeah, i would order a lot more. that way you can finish off what you need to do and a have another round ready to go if you need it.

No, she cleaned it and used DE. She didn't do a good job and I'm ready to kill her. She did VetKem it when we found the fleas on Shadow the other day but she never pulled her sheets and blankets. I haven't been home all week, getting home around 8 or 9pm (we're in the process of settling my parents estate), so I don't know how well she's doing all of this. Obviously not well. I am going to kill her.

Just answered my own question ... just combed Finn and got like 15 fleas off of him! I thought the Advantage was suppose to continuously kill them ?????

I feel like I"m starting all over again now!

I combed him a week ago and found nothing. Maybe because I didn't give Shadow anything until a few days ago? Did they just jump from the newly treated Shadow to Finn? I combed Dio for about 1/2 hour a week ago and found nothing ... I comb Penny and look for any signs on her and find nothing ... are they there anyway??

Would these fleas I just found die on their own from the Advantage that's on them? That's how I thought it worked. Everything I used (except for the borax and DE) is suppose to render the eggs/larvae incapable of maturing into a flea. So why are there still fleas??

Aggggghhhhh.

 

[Zoom-boing]

syrenn --- do you use the VetKem premise spray (that's what I used) or the carpet spray? Not sure what the difference is, perhaps the carpet spray (which is also used on furniture) is a bit heavier and settles into the carpet better than the premise spray?

Nevermind, just re-read the info on their website. The carpet spray doesn't say it has the precor growth inhibitor, the premise spray does.

 

[syrenn]

syrenn --- do you use the VetKem premise spray (that's what I used) or the carpet spray? Not sure what the difference is, perhaps the carpet spray (which is also used on furniture) is a bit heavier and settles into the carpet better than the premise spray?

we use the carpet spray.... and truthfully i don't know what the difference in formulation is.

my guess is the new fleas are coming from your daughters room

when you catch the fleas off the dogs..... put them i an ziploc bag and see if they die...

brushing them to disperse the advantage may help..... I would also use more of the vetkem for pets on them too....

 

[Zoom-boing]

The VetKem says to reapply at the two week mark (which is where we are) to get all the pupa fleas that have emerged over the past two weeks.

Hopefully that's the fleas we're seeing now.

Obviously I should have given Shadow the Advantage a week ago when I gave it to the other animals. I was really concerned that he would react and get even more itchy from it so I didn't. Damn it.

I still don't understand how any fleas are even on the animals that were treated a week ago.

 

[Zoom-boing]

syrenn --- do you use the VetKem premise spray (that's what I used) or the carpet spray? Not sure what the difference is, perhaps the carpet spray (which is also used on furniture) is a bit heavier and settles into the carpet better than the premise spray?

we use the carpet spray.... and truthfully i don't know what the difference in formulation is.

my guess is the new fleas are coming from your daughters room

when you catch the fleas off the dogs..... put them i an ziploc bag and see if they die...

brushing them to disperse the advantage may help..... I would also use more of the vetkem for pets on them too....

I edited my other post.... I just re-read the VetKem page and the carpet spray doesn't seem to have the IGR growth regulator in it, I'm ordering the premise spray.

Yup, going to give them all the spray as well.

I am beyond frustrated. I wasn't here a lot and let up on the vacuuming after house and animal treatment. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The fleas I just got off of Finn I put in water w/some dish soap. Most of them were not very active, they died almost right away. A few were very active in their dying process ... like how they were before the animals were treated.

 

[syrenn]

The VetKem says to reapply at the two week mark (which is where we are) to get all the pupa fleas that have emerged over the past two weeks.

Hopefully that's the fleas we're seeing now.

Obviously I should have given Shadow the Advantage a week ago when I gave it to the other animals. I was really concerned that he would react and get even more itchy from it so I didn't. Damn it.

I still don't understand how any fleas are even on the animals that were treated a week ago.

it will get better zoom.... really it will. Vetkem again.... really well, and inside your daughters room.... and then in her room again in two weeks. Be to get under her bed and dressers and inside the closet.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Just spent a solid 45 minutes going over Dio (dog). I did not see any fleas or flea dirt. I searched and searched, combed, parted his fur, etc. Nothing.

Finn sleeps in the basement, which I sprayed heavily AND boraxed the hell out of. You'd think there wouldn't be any fleas left. Damn it.

Well, just going to have to keep at it. Oldest s/be home any minute. She is kicking the cat out and doing her room.

eta: I bet she didn't do her closet. An extra cat box is in there.