My Dogs Have Fleas

[IrishTexanChick]

I use Comfortis. It's a once a month flea/tick med that is amazing. I used to use Frontline Plus. Here in Texas, the fleas/etc are here all year long.
You can only get it from the Vet.

 

[mudwhistle]

I use Comfortis. It's a once a month flea/tick med that is amazing. I used to use Frontline Plus. Here in Texas, the fleas/etc are here all year long.
You can only get it from the Vet.

You have fleas??????

 

[Zoom-boing]

Sounds like you are on the right track. I took a stray dog in once and he had fleas and all of my animals got them! I had eight animals at the time (I now have 12).

I did Frontline on all the animals and also did all the things you are...the daily vacuuming, etc. I also had a spray that I would spray on the carpeting that was supposed to kill them also.

I was lucky that this happened in September and I live in Alaska and it was freezing at night. So I took all the cat beds and scratching posts outside and let them freeze for a week or so. That took care of that. I might have done a second course of Frontline, just to make sure...I don't remember now. But it wouldn't hurt. Where I live we don't have to keep them on flea meds all the time. Fleas don't survive outside here.


That was several years ago and I managed to eradicate the fleas and we've never had them since. So hang in there!

Well, I still got two live fleas off the one dog yesterday (frontline was given Tues) and two off the one cat (frontline given Thurs). DE on them since Tues and Thurs. Found two dead fleas on the ground this morning so I'm hoping it is all starting to work.

The one cat was on a dark wood table bathing and such and after he jumped down there were flea eggs on the table and some flea dirt. Cleaned that all up. I hope the eggs were dead from the frontline but don't know.

The frontline says to give once a month ... for active infestation can I give another round sooner than the one month mark?

Just DEing them and things, washing, hot dryer, etc. for now though. Can't believe we even have fleas at all. Definitely a first. They dogs seem a lot less itchy ... the cats are still bathing a lot more than usual and scratching. Need to reapply the DE more because they lick it off. Meow.

Did you spray the yard? That makes all the difference.
And you need to spray everything twice waiting a couple of weeks between or you first see young fleas the second time. Catching them before they lay eggs is important.
I've got hardwood and tile downstairs and the dogs dont go upstairs so it wasn't horrible. If you have carpet to deal with it's a little tougher.
But the main thing is to treat repeatedly until you've wiped em out.
And keep the pets well protected so the fleas have nothing to eat.

Yup, hubs sprayed the yard last week and will do so again. The bitey bugs are awful this year. We got mulch 6 weeks ago and bugs were all over it when we were putting it down (2 yards of it is still in the drive .... cripes, what a long, long six weeks it's been). Don't know if the fleas were in the mulch or just in the yard. Never had them before.

The DE gets worked into the carpet and can remain there and reapplied after vacuuming. Found more dead fleas on the hard floor this evening ... one was writhing around dying. Yes!

For anyone interested: Food grade diatomaceous earth for flea and tick treatment.

 

[Zoom-boing]

fleas!!! I HATE fleas... mainly becasue they bite me just as bad as they bite the cats....and it leaves scars.

i prefer advantage to frontline... just a personal choice i guess. Wait a few days and then flea dip and bathe them all.

watch for worms... and or just go and get them all treated at the vet. If they are chewing they more then likely ingested a flea....

saniwash all of their bedding.

use a flea comb

treat the yard

i use this on the carpets and pet beds... it gets the eggs and breaks the life cycle
Siphotrol Plus II Premise Spray (16oz)

if your pets have heavy undercoats try a furminiator
Shop Pet Grooming Cleaning & De-Shedding Supplies Online | FURminator®

The DE will take care of any worms, so I'm not too worried about that. Finn had worms when we found him and they were cleared up within a couple of weeks.

Furminators are GREAT. Penny is the dog with the mega undercoat ... it's like there's another dog in there. I haven't actually seen a flea on her but from the biting she was doing she def had/has them. Tomorrow more vacuuming and cleaning. I put Penny's dog bed in the dryer on high heat for nearly an hour. Think that's enough to kill the eggs/fleas? If not I need to make a run to the laundrymat.

Does Advantage have different ingredients vs. Frontline? I really thought the FL would have dropped the fleas sooner and I'm not sure if now they're dying from that or the DE. I have three doses left of the FL for the dogs, but only one for the cats so I might need to buy more. I tried Vectra from the vet last year for bitey bugs but didn't think it was very good.

 

[skye]

I use Advantage for cats.

There is also one for dogs!

It's very good.

 

[Sunshine]

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.

If you have them exterminated the only thing that will kill everything including the eggs and larvae is Saffritin. It is effective, and a lot of exterminators use something that has to be applied every month. It's all about the money. Usually, you have to ask for the Saffritin.

 

[syrenn]

fleas!!! I HATE fleas... mainly becasue they bite me just as bad as they bite the cats....and it leaves scars.

i prefer advantage to frontline... just a personal choice i guess. Wait a few days and then flea dip and bathe them all.

watch for worms... and or just go and get them all treated at the vet. If they are chewing they more then likely ingested a flea....

saniwash all of their bedding.

use a flea comb

treat the yard

i use this on the carpets and pet beds... it gets the eggs and breaks the life cycle
Siphotrol Plus II Premise Spray (16oz)

if your pets have heavy undercoats try a furminiator
Shop Pet Grooming Cleaning & De-Shedding Supplies Online | FURminator®

The DE will take care of any worms, so I'm not too worried about that. Finn had worms when we found him and they were cleared up within a couple of weeks.

Furminators are GREAT. Penny is the dog with the mega undercoat ... it's like there's another dog in there. I haven't actually seen a flea on her but from the biting she was doing she def had/has them. Tomorrow more vacuuming and cleaning. I put Penny's dog bed in the dryer on high heat for nearly an hour. Think that's enough to kill the eggs/fleas? If not I need to make a run to the laundrymat.

Does Advantage have different ingredients vs. Frontline? I really thought the FL would have dropped the fleas sooner and I'm not sure if now they're dying from that or the DE. I have three doses left of the FL for the dogs, but only one for the cats so I might need to buy more. I tried Vectra from the vet last year for bitey bugs but didn't think it was very good.

frontline and advantage are a bit different. Both work on the same basic idea.... break the life cycle...egg to adult biting flea. Frontline takes care of ticks.... i dont think advantage does (not sure) but my cats are all indoor so ive never really worried about that. Make no mistake... both are a poison oil....so don't let them lick it.

i require a FAST acting flea control....and i think advantage is better for a faster kill time over frontline Advantage works within an hour or so. I foster kittens...and bring them into my flea free environment... a fast killing is important if i see them on a kitten... becasue if the fleas break kitten room containment..... im screwed! (but very very prepared to deal with it) Also... be sure to follow up with it next month.

for the biting.... they also may be reacting to the "flee dirt"... the blood waste product that fleas produce. I would suggest a bath with a nice oatmeal conditioner rinse to sooth the skin.

i would wash all the bedding...with bleach on hot water wash. If it has a sani rinse...do that too.... and then send it through again on just hot water to make sure you rinse out all bleach.

the flea spray i suggested works on furniture... so if your pets get up on your sofas.... spray them down too.

yes...i am a bit crazy about clean.... and fleas.

 

[IrishTexanChick]

I use Comfortis. It's a once a month flea/tick med that is amazing. I used to use Frontline Plus. Here in Texas, the fleas/etc are here all year long.
You can only get it from the Vet.

You have fleas??????

Nope. I got Cooties....lol.

Beam me up...

 

[Caroljo]

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.

I didn't read every post....but a really good thing to use at first even before using the vet flea stuff, is bath your dog with Blue Dial dish soap! Google it! The Blue dial is good for SOOOO many things....we used it on our dog and it killed them off pretty quickly. We then used some stuff from the vet (can't remember the name!) and we haven't been bothered anymore!

 

[syrenn]

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.

I didn't read every post....but a really good thing to use at first even before using the vet flea stuff, is bath your dog with Blue Dial dish soap! Google it! The Blue dial is good for SOOOO many things....we used it on our dog and it killed them off pretty quickly. We then used some stuff from the vet (can't remember the name!) and we haven't been bothered anymore!

Dial

or

Dawn?

I know Dawn is gentle enough to bathe your pets. It has been used extensively to clean wildlife after oil spills. It does not so much "kill" fleas but removes the fleas from your pets as you bathe them. It will not kill eggs or larva.

 

[KissMy]

Frontline used to be great, but the fleas have mutated to become resistant to it. I took my remaining supply back to the vet & got my money back. I am now using Comfortis & Happy Jack spray. The fleas & ticks fall off instantly. Someone told me fleas hate the smell of Palmolive dish soap.

 

[Caroljo]

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.

I didn't read every post....but a really good thing to use at first even before using the vet flea stuff, is bath your dog with Blue Dial dish soap! Google it! The Blue dial is good for SOOOO many things....we used it on our dog and it killed them off pretty quickly. We then used some stuff from the vet (can't remember the name!) and we haven't been bothered anymore!

Dial

or

Dawn?

I know Dawn is gentle enough to bathe your pets. It has been used extensively to clean wildlife after oil spills. It does not so much "kill" fleas but removes the fleas from your pets as you bathe them. It will not kill eggs or larva.

Oh crap! You're right....it's DAWN!! I know it doesn't kill them, that's why i said you also need to get the flea stuff from the vet, but it takes them off. Any way it works pretty good

 

[jan]

You can also bomb your house with a total release aerosol that's available at most stores or your vet. You'll have to leave the house for a couple hours with your pets, but it sure would help to kill anything in the carpet, couch, chairs etc. Check the label for the amount of square footage the aerosol bomb covers and buy enough bombs to cover your space. Place couch cushions on their edge to get both sides and underneath the cushions as well.

 

[Zoom-boing]

Frontline used to be great, but the fleas have mutated to become resistant to it. I took my remaining supply back to the vet & got my money back. I am now using Comfortis & Happy Jack spray. The fleas & ticks fall off instantly. Someone told me fleas hate the smell of Palmolive dish soap.

I was reading up on the Frontline (which has worked great for us in the past) and it said that if your pets don't have fleas the FL will prevent an outbreak because the fleas will land on your pet, bite it and die. But if your pets already have fleas you have to give it time. The adult fleas will bite and die but any eggs that hatch ... those fleas have to bite the pet and then will die. I think we're seeing that now. It's been one week since the dogs got the FL and they are much, much less itchy. Haven't seen any on our thick coated dog (and I've looked) or on our other dog (but he's black so it's hard to see). The fleas are def still on the cats, just got one off this a.m. and saw another then saw another jump off the cat. But we're seeing them on the floor dying so I'm thinking eggs hatched and those fleas are now dying. It's such a pain. I'll use up the FL we have and if the fleas are eliminated then I'll stick with it; if not, I'll try a different brand. Thx for the info though!

 

[Zoom-boing]

You can also bomb your house with a total release aerosol that's available at most stores or your vet. You'll have to leave the house for a couple hours with your pets, but it sure would help to kill anything in the carpet, couch, chairs etc. Check the label for the amount of square footage the aerosol bomb covers and buy enough bombs to cover your space. Place couch cushions on their edge to get both sides and underneath the cushions as well.

I'm trying not to go the flea bomb route. Getting the dogs out of the house would be ok but the cats? Won't happen, especially our grumpy old cat. Don't like the idea of pesticide on every single surface of the house either. The DE and vacuuming daily is helping a lot and hopefully that, combined with the FL, will eliminate the little buggers. What purpose do fleas serve anyway? Stupid pests is all they are.

 

[Samson]

You can also bomb your house with a total release aerosol that's available at most stores or your vet. You'll have to leave the house for a couple hours with your pets, but it sure would help to kill anything in the carpet, couch, chairs etc. Check the label for the amount of square footage the aerosol bomb covers and buy enough bombs to cover your space. Place couch cushions on their edge to get both sides and underneath the cushions as well.

I'm trying not to go the flea bomb route. Getting the dogs out of the house would be ok but the cats? Won't happen, especially our grumpy old cat. Don't like the idea of pesticide on every single surface of the house either. The DE and vacuuming daily is helping a lot and hopefully that, combined with the FL, will eliminate the little buggers. What purpose do fleas serve anyway? Stupid pests is all they are.

Well, without fleas, the Bubonic Plague Bacterium, Yersinia pestis, would have a tough time surviving.

 

[Katzndogz]

If you have carpet don't use a flea bomb. Treat your carpet with non toxic diatomaceous earth. It's very cheap. Kills fleas in minutes and lasts for several year.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Katzen is on the right track and its true the bomb won't work. But what works better than diatomaceous earth and is way cheaper is Twenty Mule Team Borax. Its also easier to get.

Borax is made of mined boron which is a naturally occurring desiccant. It works by breaking down the exoskeleton of insects. If you have ticks, spiders, cockroaches, ants, etc, it will also kill them. Best of all, and this is the reason why bombs and poisons do not work, it kills all phases of the insect's life. If you dip for fleas/ticks, it will kill the pests that are on the animal at that moment but more will hatch. Not only that, you have put your pet and your family at risk because of the poison.

Buy a box of Twenty Mule Team Borax in the laundry aisle. When you get home, vacuum really well. Put maybe a half cup of the borax into the vac bag and remove the bag from the house completely.

Run a narrow but solid line of borax along all of your walls. In addition, scatter it freely on CARPETED closet floors, on the animals' bedding, on carpeted areas where the animals lay. You can also scatter it in between couch cushions and similar places.

Important: DO NOT put it directly on any of the animals and DO NOT scatter it on bare floors. If you do put it on the animals, its possible it could cause the skin to break down. On bare floors, its very slippery.

In the future, you can clean as usual and replace the thin and solid line of borax along your baseboards -OR - you can be a bit lazy and not disturb the borax, cleaning more completely in the center areas of each room.

When you vacuum, remove the bag from from the house and put a fresh bag in every time you vacuum.

Continue to use Frontline but your fleas will be gone in a few weeks.

The borax is non-toxic and cheap. And, it really does work.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

I didn't read every post....but a really good thing to use at first even before using the vet flea stuff, is bath your dog with Blue Dial dish soap! Google it! The Blue dial is good for SOOOO many things....we used it on our dog and it killed them off pretty quickly. We then used some stuff from the vet (can't remember the name!) and we haven't been bothered anymore!

Dial

or

Dawn?

I know Dawn is gentle enough to bathe your pets. It has been used extensively to clean wildlife after oil spills. It does not so much "kill" fleas but removes the fleas from your pets as you bathe them. It will not kill eggs or larva.

Oh crap! You're right....it's DAWN!! I know it doesn't kill them, that's why i said you also need to get the flea stuff from the vet, but it takes them off. Any way it works pretty good

Dawn is a very harsh detergent. Its not a soap. That's why its used to cut through oil. BUT, that oil is then replaced before the animal is released. It will wreak havoc on your poor animals' skin and won't do anything to even slow a flea infestation.

Don't use it on your dishes either. It contains Quanternium-15 which, when added to water, releases formaldehyde.

 

[PixieStix]

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.

Frontline sucks. A waste of money

Revolution is very affective. Not only does it kill fleas and eggs, it repells them and prevents and kills ear mites