fleas!!

jamesP · 02-26-2007, 08:16 AM

Dear all,

This is my first posting ever on a forum. I hope you will be able to help.

My dog ypsilon is a 7 yold golden retriever. He never had fleas in the past but now I dont seem to be able to get rid of them. Help!

I tried ''bob martins'' from tesco and it does not work.

What do you suggest?

Thanks

James

crazydog06 · 02-26-2007, 08:22 AM

First, bath your dog with flea shamppo and then put on some flea spot on your dog like Frontline or Biospot.

Then clean your whole house! VACCUMM like crazy!

LeRoymydog · 02-26-2007, 08:50 AM

I'm having problems with fleas too, and it's the middle of winter. I gave LeRoy a flea bath, then I put some of that flea stuff on his back and also bought him a flea collar. I vacuumed everything- including sofas, and knock on wood, haven't seen one sense.

opossum · 02-26-2007, 09:29 AM

Frontline is great stuff.

carolann · 02-26-2007, 09:51 AM

When I adopted my dog from the local shelter he was infested. the vet gave me Capstar which is pill that starts to kill the fleas within 4-5 hours and is suppose to kill all adult fleas on the dog within 24 hours. It can be given often in case of reinvestation. It worked great. We are still flea free. Ofcouse we also use advantix once a month.

One other suggestion, vaccumm at least once a day and throw away bag, in outside trash can if possible, after each time. I wrapped mine in a plastic grocery bag first. This way any eggs picked up by vaccumm cannot not escape after hatching. Our bug man made this suggestion.

luv4gsds · 02-26-2007, 09:55 AM

WOW! All these chemicals. Have you looked into homeopathic flea treatment? I use this treatment. I bath my animals in Neem Oil shampoo

In a 16 ounce bottle, I mix 1 to 2 ounces of Neem oil,emu oil and/or jojoba oil, some extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil and just a few drops or half a dram of tea tree oil, To this, I add a tablespoon of golden seal extract. I fill the rest of the bottle 1/2 with organic white vinegar and water. I mix all ingredients well and massage the mixture into the entire surface of the skin or just the affected areas. I do NOT rinse. l usually do this once a week.

http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/F...ut-Poisons.htm

Captbob · 02-26-2007, 10:01 AM

Most people use Frontline or Advantix. I wouldn't recommend Biospot, it is cheaper but not as good as the two major ones, and some people have had problems with it. All the cheaper solutions don't work very well for most people.

http://www.k9advantix.com/

http://frontline.us.merial.com/home/

cjac&mac · 02-26-2007, 10:08 AM

First of all, what you have seen (flea wise) is only 1% of the population in your entire house. Yes you should treat the dog with some flea product, but you need to stop the cycle--so also treat your house.

There are plenty of products out there to treat your animal, ie. Advantage, Frontline, Capstar, Revolution, etc., as for the house you need a product that kills adult fleas and their eggs. Make sure you don't get products that say insect killer or has fleas grouped into their "house insect" sprays. You really do want flea specific.

Look for products that contain Permetherin, Pyrethrins, Pipernoyl Butoxide, and Methoprene. These ingredients are specific in killing fleas, flea larvae, and flea eggs.

If it were me, I would treat the dog with a topical treatment, then I would spray my home (only where the dog goes, including furniture) with a house spray like Zodiac Premise 1000 or 2000. That way you are keeping fleas off your dog and preventing them from jumping on your dog from indside your home.

Some quick flea tips:
-Fleas only live 4-8 days at the most.
-Females can lay up to 50 eggs a day.
-Eggs don't stick like lice, they roll off and all over the floor or furniture.
-Eggs can lie dormant for up to one year.
-Nothing kills the pupae stage, so keep up with home treatments for the first six months.(as it kills adults, eggs, and larvae.)
-Fleas don't LIVE on your pet, they FEED on your pet.
-Fleas don't jump from host to host.(ie. from cat to dog and vise versa)
-Fleas don't like human blood. When you have several "flea" bites on you--that's several fleas biting you and spitting you out!

Tamara · 02-26-2007, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jamesP

Dear all,

This is my first posting ever on a forum. I hope you will be able to help.

My dog ypsilon is a 7 yold golden retriever. He never had fleas in the past but now I dont seem to be able to get rid of them. Help!

I tried ''bob martins'' from tesco and it does not work.

Fleas have been terrible here in the UK the past few months (maybe because it has been so mild?) I suggest Stronghold - you have to get it from the vet. Mine have never had fleas using it and it immediately got rid of them on our cat (who came with fleas). It's also good for Roundworm, mites and fox mange.

briteday · 02-26-2007, 10:21 AM

We found a combo of Advantix on the animals (treat everything in the house, we had dogs, cat, rats) and borax on furniture and rugs stopped them cold.

Borax can be found in the laundry section of the grocery. It dries out the exoskeleton of the fleas. We were pretty infested so the vet told us to sprinkle liberally, wait two hours vac up, throw vac bag away immediately. We then sprinkled again, waited overnight, vac'd up again, and disposed of the bag. We did the borax thing every 24 hours for the first two weeks to break the breeding and hatching cycle. Then we did it about every four days or so for about 6 weeks. Then I went back to my regular weekly vacuuming schedule, no borax, but kept a flea collar in the vac bag just in case there were any stray critters left around. But I still changed the vac bag every week.

In addition, we did 3 rounds of advantix and two initial flea baths (a week apart) and then the problem seemed to be gone.

Keep the pets off the furniture if possible.

Chloef_2799 · 02-26-2007, 11:29 AM

I use advantix on my dogs and they get bathed once a month atleast (both of them). Chloe had fleas once when she was a pup and we bathed her in a flea shampoo that the vet gave us and vaccuume the heck out of our house and steamcleaned the carpets. The steam will kill any larvae in the carpet. There are some natural products that you can get to help treat fleas but in my experience they really only work if you dog has a few fleas. If the infestation is bad then you want strong stuff to kill the majority right away.
My friends cat was literally crawling with fleas, he was so bad after we bathed him he still had so many fleas on him we had to bring him to the vet and have them bathe him again and then they gave him a does of flea medication that was very powerful. Her poor cat had to be quarentined in the back room for six days until he was 100% flea free. He is doing well now and hasn't had a flea since.
Chloe still gets ticks in the summer time even though we use advantix they have never bitten her but we find them crawling in her fur after walks.

rik · 02-27-2007, 07:13 AM

Found a couple of pretty cool and informative videos about fleas

Every little help!

http://www.vetstoria.co.uk/templates...familypet.html
http://www.vetstoria.co.uk/templates...familypet.html

Ryk

tirluc · 02-27-2007, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luv4gsds

WOW! All these chemicals. Have you looked into homeopathic flea treatment? I use this treatment. I bath my animals in Neem Oil shampoo

In a 16 ounce bottle, I mix 1 to 2 ounces of Neem oil,emu oil and/or jojoba oil, some extra virgin olive oil or coconut oil and just a few drops or half a dram of tea tree oil, To this, I add a tablespoon of golden seal extract. I fill the rest of the bottle 1/2 with organic white vinegar and water. I mix all ingredients well and massage the mixture into the entire surface of the skin or just the affected areas. I do NOT rinse. l usually do this once a week.

http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/F...ut-Poisons.htm

hey, thanx for the added info.....i have been using olive oil and brewer yeast in my dogs food for 2 1/2 yr now and i haven't had a flea or tick since.....and the mosquitoes stay away, as well......but now i have something else to bathe them in should i need something......

the thing w/ using any pesticide treatments is that the fleas become i,,une to them so then you have to switch tastics....my husband did pest elimination for many yrs and he had to use different things each yr for each bug just to keep them from gaining resistance to the products.......they don't seem to do this w/ the natural stuff.....