The Damn Fleas Won't Die

[lillim]

I have just switched to Advantage, as when I first discovered Misha had fleas a fortnight ago, the frontline did not work.

I treated Misha with Advantage yesterday afternoon, washed all her bedding and other soft furnishings as well as sprayed any other soft furnishings I could not wash with Fido's Free Itch and vacumed the house.

This morning I discovered about a dozen fleas on her bed, not dead and while they can't jump they were still moving around, I then inspected the dog and she has these zombie fleas on her as well.

The advantage is meant to kill all fleas on the dog within 20 mins.

I'm a bit stumped and was wondering if anyone had experienced anything similar or had any suggestions?

ETA: the problem is I'm finding mainly half dead fleas, not dead fleas.

Edited April 25, 2010 by lillim

[darlingdog]

I have just switched to Advantage, as when I first discovered Misha had fleas a fortnight ago, the frontline did not work.

I treated Misha with Advantage yesterday afternoon, washed all her bedding and other soft furnishings as well as sprayed any other soft furnishings I could not wash with Fido's Free Itch and vacumed the house.

This morning I discovered about a dozen fleas on her bed, not dead and while they can't jump they were still moving around, I then inspected the dog and she has these zombie fleas on her as well.

The advantage is meant to kill all fleas on the dog within 20 mins.

I'm a bit stumped and was wondering if anyone had experienced anything similar or had any suggestions?

Get a Capstar tablet from the vet, it will kill the existing fleas that are still on her , and that will give the other product time to work. I always use a capstar first for any dog coming onto my place and then Advantage or similiar.

[Crisovar]

The Advantage is killing the fleas, as they jump on your dog from the environment.

You need to thoroughly treat the house and yard and continue to do so as each batch of eggs and larvae emerge. It sounds as if there are still many in the house and yard.

[lillim]

I have just switched to Advantage, as when I first discovered Misha had fleas a fortnight ago, the frontline did not work.

I treated Misha with Advantage yesterday afternoon, washed all her bedding and other soft furnishings as well as sprayed any other soft furnishings I could not wash with Fido's Free Itch and vacumed the house.

This morning I discovered about a dozen fleas on her bed, not dead and while they can't jump they were still moving around, I then inspected the dog and she has these zombie fleas on her as well.

The advantage is meant to kill all fleas on the dog within 20 mins.

I'm a bit stumped and was wondering if anyone had experienced anything similar or had any suggestions?

Get a Capstar tablet from the vet, it will kill the existing fleas that are still on her , and that will give the other product time to work. I always use a capstar first for any dog coming onto my place and then Advantage or similiar.

bugger forgot about capstar, I'll pick some up from the vet

[lillim]

The Advantage is killing the fleas, as they jump on your dog from the environment.

You need to thoroughly treat the house and yard and continue to do so as each batch of eggs and larvae emerge. It sounds as if there are still many in the house and yard.

I have been thoroughly treating the house for a fortnight and when I used advantage on the cats, that seemed to kill them off instantly on them, all I found was very dead fleas on the cats and their surroundings. I think I may have an infestation instead of a problem, how do treat a very large yard?

[julesluvscavs]

I think I have our flea problem mostly under control now. Not out of the woods just yet tho.

There's a recently been long thread about all the flea problems some of us dolers are having atm (in this section)

[julesluvscavs]

Here it is .

[corvus]

It takes 3 months to break the cycle. The eggs stay in the environment for that long. So as long as you keep treating and it's actually killing all the fleas you'll get there.

It is entirely possible that your fleas are resistant to most of the products available. Ours certainly were. I do believe my poor old corgi was breeding her own race of super fleas. We weren't finding sick fleas on our treated dogs, but perfectly healthy fleas. In the end, we used Comfortis. It took 3 months and no environmental pesticides to break the cycle. I'm VERY reticent about spraying poison around in my environment. I did it before Comfortis came out, but it only knocked them down for a week anyway. I wasn't keen on repeat bombing.

[Clyde]

The advantage is meant to kill all fleas on the dog within 20 mins.

I'm a bit stumped and was wondering if anyone had experienced anything similar or had any suggestions?

ETA: the problem is I'm finding mainly half dead fleas, not dead fleas.

It sounds as though it's working to me. The fleas that were on her at the time of application probably did die within 30 minutes, the fleas you are seeing on her now which are dying have probably been in your environment and only recently jumped on her. Hence the need to treat her fortnightly for about 3 months.

A flea you can catch is a dying flea.

[Darkrai]

Get the yard sprayed too, many ppl forget to spray the yard they do the house and pets, yet the back yard is also a breeding ground for fleas too...

If you get someone out to spray the yard remember to mow the lawn first

Even if your pets don't go outside, there are other facts that lead to fleas coming into the house...

[indigirl]

My investment property on the central coast had a terrible flea problem. The tennant had tried and tried to get rid of the fleas but was unable to. I was able to treat and rectify the problem over several days, this is what I did.

1. Flea bombed the house

2. Had professional pest company spray the entire yard and under the house

3. had handyman use galvanised mesh to fence off under the deck and house - the sand/dirt there was a prolific breeding ground for fleas.

4. Bath the dog with fle product then gave a Capstar daily for 2 months.

5. Applied Advantage flea control to the dog every month since.

6. Got tennant to get rid of anything likely to be a flea haven - including old carpet on the back deck and the like. Plus remove a pile of old timber etc.

7. Got handyman to mow all the lawns and pull the weeds and neaten the entire yard up.

This process cost me around $500, but it solved the problem. The daily Capstar ensured that any fleas that did jump on the dog would die immediately. the Advantage meant that the breeding cycle of any living fleas was stopped. I paid for the Capstar and still pay for the Advantage as my tennant is on a pension plus the fleas were introduced to the yard bya previous tennant and were not her fault.

Her yard has remained flea free for over a year now.

I also told the tennant that ANY dog entering her yard from now on MUST be on flea control or it isnt allowed in. I told her i will NOT be paying to treat any future flea infestations as they will be her fault.

[Earthdog]

We had a dreadful time with fleas. Speaking to the vet nurse at our local clinic, it seems our area has had a real problem over summer. She was using fortnightly treatments. We did the Capstar/Advantage bit too. It has been so dry and hot and everyone I speak to (with dogs or cats) has been having issues with fleas.