What My Vet Said About Fleas

[WeimMe]

I use Comfortis on my dog - but only if I see a flea on her, so months go by with no dose. We are pretty lucky here and don't seem to have an ongoing problem with fleas, so I prefer not to put any more chemicals on my animals than necessary after my cat became very ill after being treaded with a spot on. My dog doesn't seem to have any reaction to the Comfortis, and it does keep them off her for about a month.

[SkySoaringMagpie]

I used Advantix on all my dogs on 6 March 2012 and it seemed to do the trick at the time, but I have just found two live fleas on one of my dogs (she was scratching so I ran a comb through her) and it's only 26 March.

I am not sure what to do next. I worm with Milbemax so I guess the next step would be Comfortis?

Edited to add that I also did the carpeted areas of the house with a flea bomb the day after I dosed the dogs with Advantix so I'm hoping it's not environmental. I guess they could have come from the yard as they were on her rear end and she'd just been out for a pee.

Edited March 25, 2012 by SkySoaringMagpie

[nowstarin]

I used Advantix on all my dogs on 6 March 2012 and it seemed to do the trick at the time, but I have just found two live fleas on one of my dogs (she was scratching so I ran a comb through her) and it's only 26 March.

I am not sure what to do next. I worm with Milbemax so I guess the next step would be Comfortis?

Edited to add that I also did the carpeted areas of the house with a flea bomb the day after I dosed the dogs with Advantix so I'm hoping it's not environmental. I guess they could have come from the yard as they were on her rear end and she'd just been out for a pee.

[WreckitWhippet]

I used Advantix on all my dogs on 6 March 2012 and it seemed to do the trick at the time, but I have just found two live fleas on one of my dogs (she was scratching so I ran a comb through her) and it's only 26 March.

I am not sure what to do next. I worm with Milbemax so I guess the next step would be Comfortis?

Edited to add that I also did the carpeted areas of the house with a flea bomb the day after I dosed the dogs with Advantix so I'm hoping it's not environmental. I guess they could have come from the yard as they were on her rear end and she'd just been out for a pee.

for the yards, spray kennels etc with Malaban or Permoxin, and use lime on the grass and dirt areas.

[nowstarin]

You will still see fleas that have recently jumped onto your dog. After they come into contact with your treated dog the fleas will have gotten a dose (by contact with the hair) of the advantix and will subsequently die within 1 - 3 minutes after coming into contact. They will appear to be moving and will slow down (be paralysed) then die. This is normal. They do not bite your dog but will die in 1-3 minutes. When dogs reenter infested areas of fleas the flea jumps on and will then be dosed and die. If you watch the flea you will see this happen. Advantix is 100% effective for the full one month. It also kills fleas and larvae wherever your dog goes or lays too. It kills and repels flies mozzies and ticks ect. Fleas cannot be repelled.

I hope this helps.

Edited March 26, 2012 by nowstarin

[maltese11]

has anybody tried apple cider vinegar diluted and sprayed on the coat as a flea preventative? does it actually work? what dose?

[Maryjane]

My crazy cocker spends her day lying in the dirt, tracking everything that moves, so is very susceptible to flea infestation. When she first came to me, she had masses of fleas, and her constant scratching was really worrying to her, and to me, so I bought a Bayer tick and flea collar, plus I use Comfortis once a month, and haven't had a flea problem. I have found the odd dead tick on her - I still go over her most days - so I think her problem is solved, for the moment, but will try the lemon and rosemary spray talked about earlier, as soon as the weather starts to warm up again.

[Blakbelgian]

This thread is making me itchy just reading it.

OH found a couple of fleas on our 4 dogs last night now he wants them treated with MALAWARE or something like that.

They do get frontline once a month but guesing the fleas are immune to that now as we have used it ever since it came on the market. Have told him him I wanted to change treatment.

The Permoxin spray sounds very effective but I have a couple of questions:

1 Is it ok to use on a pregnant bitch & then the young pups when born? No where does it mention pregnant bitches, just not near cats (which we do not have).

2 Our dogs play rough with each other and grab each others coats/fur along their necks will this harm them?

3 HOw much would you spray onto a 7kg dog? Until coat is wet or you can just feel a wet coat/skin.

Thanks

BB

[MADAM SKYE]

Hi i just had skye with the same complaint as im into the natural medicine,this is what i did...I washed all skyes bedding in & mine with borax, i also vaccumed my carpets with borax.i put a teaspoon of organic apple cider vinegar in her food and spray her down as well with diluted apple cider vinegar.....she is now fine she also had an allergy to the grass,and i also give her half tsp of radiance / detox powder in her food twice a day with a tsp of olive oil every second day....her coat is beautiful....

I have always treated my dogs the natural way first where posssible and i have been fortunate to have had healthy happy dogs.My last dog a red heeler lived to 18yrs old...My vet always use to comment how do i do it and that i should consider writing a book on my treatments i use....I also do healings on my pets and have had them treadted by an animal communicator by the name of caroline Pope, she is amazing indeed...

I hope this has helped you in some way, its always worked for me and i am on a pension,and thankfully i haven,t had to take my pets to the vets, only to have them desexed & immunised. my naturepath also makes products for pets which i have found fantastic to all my dogs health.I myself am into health/fitness and visit my doctor twice a year....all the best with your pet..judi & skye.

[MarieEvans]

Our dogs don't usually have fleas but I do have a friend whose dogs had fleas. She told me that she'd bathe her dogs almost daily and use flea shampoos (I don't know the name). I did see that fleas were removed, along with ticks and she placed them in a basin. It was so weird to see those things floating around. I had goosebumps just looking at them.

Edited December 17, 2012 by MarieEvans

[Hank DDB]

Just thought I would post a little info to kill fleas in a yard, fleas normally will be in bare patches not were grass is growing, so look for areas in your gardens that your dog has been lying in or under the house, etc. first your will need to wet these areas to encourage the fleas to come near to the surface and to enhance the performance of any treatment you carry out. There are various chemicals that can be used to treat these flea infested areas, the labels on the following products may not say that they can be used to treat fleas but I am a qualified pest management technician and have some knowledge of same. You can use David greys ant kill granular (ant kill product) or malowash but this is carsonegenic, or any flea treatment for dogs that you wash a dog with. The David greys ant treatment works extremely well because it tends to last longer due to it being a gradual and it is a synthetic pyrethiod which is a safer type of pesticide. Tick will tend to be in long grass, or natural rocks and clay bricks of houses etc, you need to treat ticks with a liquid treatment like malowash because ticks require this type of chemical to eradicate them quickly. Always remember to treat your dogs bedding as well. I always empty the vacum cleaner into the outside rubbish bin, and also spray some flea treatment into the rubbish bin and vacuum cleaner after vacuuming to remove fleas, as the fleas will just crawl back out of the vacuum cleaner and then you will be wondering why you just can't get rid of the flea infestation. Hope this helps some of you in the future. Regards Crowley

[teddybeans]

We have no sand in the garden only a small area of grass.  My dogs have no flea issues most of the year but when summer comes like nov dec ish timeline, they start appearing.  My dogs are bathed every second week and they are indoor dogs, I don’t know where the fleas come from.

[persephone]

On 7/5/2019 at 7:44 AM, teddybeans said:

they are indoor dogs, I don’t know where the fleas come from.

https://www.vetwest.com.au/solving-fleas

excerpt :  

How do pets get fleas?

Flea eggs can remain dormant for astonishingly long periods of time under a variety of conditions. They lay dormant in the garden, or in your carpet and furniture until they are able to hitch a ride. They jump great distances to find a host and travel on pets and even on people.

[sandgrubber]

On 12/17/2012 at 2:50 PM, MarieEvans said:

Our dogs don't usually have fleas but I do have a friend whose dogs had fleas. She told me that she'd bathe her dogs almost daily and use flea shampoos (I don't know the name). I did see that fleas were removed, along with ticks and she placed them in a basin. It was so weird to see those things floating around. I had goosebumps just looking at them.

Flea bath and flea powder products are mostly based on synthetic premetherin (sp?).  Mostly harmless, I guess, but caused nasty seizures in one of my dogs.  Flea products are generally poisons that don't cross the body/brain interface... except for some dogs they do. 

[tomiandme]

Have a toy poodle. He suffered from flea for 3 months and I can't find any solution. My vet recommended to use anti-flea soap and also added this ointment that I should put after a bath but the fleas were still there. Until my vet recommended to take a med orally. It's just one tablet and is good for 3months and until now no signs of flea even though my neighbor's dog has a flea. Maybe you can try it. Ask your vet. 

[stellnme]

I've just put my older, tiny girls back onto Nexgard Spectra.  They are old and don't leave the house/yard too often but I think the wet weather and rapid growth of vegetation has brought in grass fleas and mites so it's a good idea.  A good bath and a preventative would be the best idea, but considering Justice's medical history, a phone call to your vet to ask which one would be the best for him would set your mind at ease.  With the house, thorough vacuuming is the best - wash the sheets, dog blankets, wipe down couches and vacuum every couple of days (pay attention to skirting boards) and empty the bag or clean out the canister after every vacuum. Also hot wash tiles, floors.  I also spray with Eucalyptus spray around the bottom of couches and skirting boards - it's meant to repel fleas as they don't like the smell but it's also natural and freshens everything. Pretty well normal cleaning, except maybe a bit more often!

With the car - a hot wash of the cover and some vacs of the car should be all you need.  I'm not sure about the chemical spray causing toxicity but maybe something to ask your vet as well?

The less chemicals the better, I think, but sometimes they might be necessary to control the little blighters in the environment.  Hope it helps a bit!

[batgirlbc]

We had a litter of pups who managed to get fleas. You can't treat puppies for fleas so we did our best to manage the situation with combing etc but you can image how tough it got in those 8 weeks - the stuff nightmares are made of!

 

We found frontline wasn't very effective. It definitely didn't work on our cat, and when we hired a pest controller he said the same about Frontline. We used oral tablets from the vet - Nexguard - and they worked far better for our cat and dog. We treated the pups with Frontline as soon as we were able but it wasn't very effective unfortunately.

 

Also, once fleas are in the house they're 30% on your pets and 70% in the environment. Flea eggs can hang around for a year before hatching.

 

Thankfully flea treatments really helped, and a lot of cleaning. Because our situation was so bad we had the pest controller come out and spray (which was worrying for our pets)

 

But a couple of fleas found on your dog should be easily treatable if they haven't laid eggs in the house, and once treated any hatching fleas which jump on your dog should die with a day.

[Kim.T]

On 23/02/2007 at 9:28 AM, ruthless said:

Hi,

We found 2 fleas on Angel this morn. She's been scratching like crazy for the last week but we didn't know why till today. She's scratched herself raw in places. I rang the vets and they said to wash all the dogs tonight with their normal shampoo and treat with spray on frontline tomorrow or the next day and wash all their bedding and hoover the house. I told him she gets Sentinel at the start of every month and he said that's not enough as it only sterilizes the eggs. He said we should use that and topical Advantage. Either all year round, but especially in the hotter months.

We're in Sydney and they don't hang out with other dogs very often, so I don't know where they could've come from. What's everyone elses flea routine?

Thanks

I use NexGard Spectra once a month it covers fleas,ticks,mange & mites,prevents heartwood disease,roundworms hookworms & whipworms,prevents flea tapeworm infections,controls flea allergy dermatitis. Easy to administer as it's a task chew.