Fleas

[LaurenBay]

Hi all,

I’m really embarrassed to say that my dog has picked up fleas. I give a preventive for fleas every month so not sure how it happened.

I spoke with the vet’s who advised that fleas can become immune to certain preventatives, so I changed to one the vet sells which was in a tablet form, I’ve washed all bedding, clothes, sofa cushions, dogs bed etc. hoovering twice daily and I’ve got a spray that I am treating the house with.

Dog still has fleas! I’ve been using a comb and getting them out that way (there doesn’t appear to be many so they are becoming much fewer)

He is also having a bath twice a week.

What else can I do?

 

[Gloi]

Flea bomb all the house.

 

[lizziebell]

Don’t ever be embarrassed- fleas are very resilient no matter how vigilant you are. They can hide in the tiniest nooks and crannies of the house/ car. You can buy “bombs” but depending on size/age of house you might be better off getting pest control in to fumigate.

 

[LaurenBay]

Thanks guys, I’ve never had this issue before.

Feel like the worst owner too!

I’ve signed up to the vets programme now going forward so hopefully it won’t happen again.

I can’t see any fleas in the house but I know they are very good at hiding!

 

[LaurenBay]

Is there a particular flea bomb brand which is good? Will every room need one?

 

[AmyMay]

Have you washed the dog in flea shampoo?

What treatment did the vet give you?

 

[malwhit]

When I got Lola at 8 weeks old, she came with fleas which spread to my other dogs. I got flea medication off the vet, used flea bombs, household flea spray and herbal sprays for the dogs, furniture and me

It took weeks to get rid of the fleas. Even though I have not seen one for months, the house still gets flea bombed when I remember.

 

[minesadouble]

I think a lot of over the counter treatments are pretty useless. Hopefully one from the Vet will work.
As far as the house goes Indorex is hard to beat,y dog groomer daughter always has a stock in case she gets a dog in with fleas.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Second Indorex, kills everything, even the spiders move out.

 

[LaurenBay]

Have you washed the dog in flea shampoo?

What treatment did the vet give you?

No, just normal shampoo: after this mornings combing only 2 dead ones but he is still a bit itchy.

Can I get a good flea shampoo in shops or would I need to get from vet?

 

[CorvusCorax]

No, just normal shampoo: after this mornings combing only 2 dead ones but he is still a bit itchy.

Can I get a good flea shampoo in shops or would I need to get from vet?

Get everything from the vet, shop bought stuff is (generally) crap.

 

[LaurenBay]

Thank you, I’ll give them a call and also look into the flea bombs

 

[Gloi]

Is there a particular flea bomb brand which is good? Will every room need one?

I just got the ones from the farm supplies store and let one off in each of the rooms , closed the doors and went out for the day. Then aired the house when we got back. A small house and you may manage with one upstairs and one downstairs with all inside door open. They come in different sizes giving the area they can cover.
Indorex is good too.

 

[Squeak]

I used this flea shampoo and you could literally see the fleas dropping off in to the sink:

https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/dog-flea-shampoo

I'd tried the vet stuff and it had made no difference. In the end it was lavishly spraying the house with indorex and using that shampoo (I can't remember how often) although I made a mistake and put the shampoo on neat rather than in a solution with water and I don't know if that helped. I did the house with another bout of indorex after only one month to try and be really thorough.

Before my dog had fleas I'd genuinely thought that you could just treat a dog with flea treatment and that would be it sorted, I had no idea they were such a pain.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

You can buy flea traps, basically very sticky paper with a fairly strong light on it. Indorex each room thoroughly, close up for an hour, hoover, repeat. They’re blood6 persistent. I’ve had a couple recently with the heating being on.

 

[FinnishLapphund]

Hi all,

I’m really embarrassed to say that my dog has picked up fleas. I give a preventive for fleas every month so not sure how it happened.

I spoke with the vet’s who advised that fleas can become immune to certain preventatives, so I changed to one the vet sells which was in a tablet form, I’ve washed all bedding, clothes, sofa cushions, dogs bed etc. hoovering twice daily and I’ve got a spray that I am treating the house with.

Dog still has fleas! I’ve been using a comb and getting them out that way (there doesn’t appear to be many so they are becoming much fewer)

He is also having a bath twice a week.

What else can I do?

Don't feel embarrassed, I presume that it can happen to anyone of us. Many years ago I bought a new puppy which turned out to have a type of scabies. This was so far back the only treatment was a special shampoo/mixture = it was a powder you mixed into a bucket of water and applied wearing gloves. First I had to shampoo with ordinary shampoo, and rinse, to make sure the treatment shampoo could get all the way in to the skin, then apply the treatment shampoo, let sit 10 minutes, and rinse. Besides 1 dog + 1 puppy, we also had was it 3 or 5 cats? I can't remember at moment. But they all needed the treatment, and it needed to be repeated once a week, 3 weeks in a row. Did I mention that we had cats?

We gathered all dogs + cats in one room, changed our clothes to newly washed ones, and while I started washing one of the pets, everyone else started cleaning 1 bedroom. They changed the bed sheets, sprayed to wash off any eventual house plants, sprayed + wiped off both windowsills, and any furniture in the room (paying extra attention to anywhere the dogs + cats liked to sleep, or sit), hoovered the floor, and mopped the floor, then they closed the door to that bedroom, and moved on to do the same to all the other rooms in the house. When I had finished bathing 1 pet, I placed it in the first bedroom the others had cleaned, closed the door, and went to get the next pet.

Lets not talk about the other cats, but the Persian behaved beautifully for the first 2 baths.
The 3rd time she curled up around one of my lower arms, and ripped the gloves to shreds from the elbow and down.

But we did get rid of the scabies. Hope you find something which works for you, too.

 

[maisie06]

Hi all,

I’m really embarrassed to say that my dog has picked up fleas. I give a preventive for fleas every month so not sure how it happened.

I spoke with the vet’s who advised that fleas can become immune to certain preventatives, so I changed to one the vet sells which was in a tablet form, I’ve washed all bedding, clothes, sofa cushions, dogs bed etc. hoovering twice daily and I’ve got a spray that I am treating the house with.

Dog still has fleas! I’ve been using a comb and getting them out that way (there doesn’t appear to be many so they are becoming much fewer)

He is also having a bath twice a week.

What else can I do?

There's a stage in the fleas development where it is in a coccon and immune to pretty much everything - nuclear war incliuded! It can take a few weeks to get an infestation under control. Steam cleaning can be a great help, let the treated dogs stay in the house - don't banish them they are now walking flea killers - treat your car too!

 

[Highmileagecob]

You are probably on it, but fleas do not breed on the host. The eggs can survive for up to eighteen months, and hatch when heat, moisture levels and a source of vibration all coincide. Your vacuum or pets walking around is enough vibration, we have all turned the heating on (well, most of us), and don't mention the moisture levels. Indorex is really good, but does not kill - it prevents eggs from hatching, so if you do use it, put a note in the diary to repeat next year.

 

[Spotherisk]

Often people forget to treat the car, and thresholds always seem particularly busy flea areas.

A localish pub used to buy loads of flea spray from our feed merchants, they just couldn’t clear the fleas out. The pub burnt down, which is an extreme way to deal with the problem!

 

[poiuytrewq]

Don't be embarrassed, I once took my dog to the vet as he was suddenly really itchy and he had fleas. I was mortified but it happens, dogs get fleas from time to time. I think they were a bit rife this year particularly with the hot dry start to summer.

 

[Umbongo]

As previously stated because of the flea life cycle, it can take about 3 months of constant treatment to fully eradicate fleas.
They will only jump on the animal to feed, so very important that you keep up with cleaning/treating the house and soft furnishings.