[OliverGreen]

We got an 8 week old 5.5lb American Cocker Spaniel last week. We notice lot of white flakes, dry, skin, and crusts on our puppies fur the very 1st day we got him home. We took him to the vet two days after we got him and they said it was most likely fleas and to treat, him, the two cats, and our home. We gave them all advantage 10 and fumigated for fleas. I woke up with bites all over my body the next day. He still had the flakes and was scratching a lot. One night I took a flea comb to the exact spot he was itching and found micro tiny white dots moving around. Took him to a vet that was open on Sunday and she confirmed that it was mites as we suspected and that it was the scabies mite (Sarcoptic Mange). We were prescribed Revolution for him and the cats. What we want to know is how to go about treating the home? We will both go see a doctor about our treatment. We have got a vacuum with a hepa filter and a clothing steamer we plan on using on the mattress and mattress box. After we steam I am going to put a “bed bug” mattress cover on the box spring and mattress (same for pillows). Any other tips?

Another important question is what to do about his potty training. He is an apartment dog so we build him a box to use as a potty on the porch outside. The vet said it had to be thrown away because it will continually re-infest him. So, if we can’t use that and don’t want to take him outside till he has all his shots and will not infect other dogs/people…what do we do? Let him go on pads and learn at a young age it’s okay to soil the house? We are very worried and confused… He was doing SO well on his potty training and having almost no accidents.

Anyone else have to deal with this? Any tips or advice would be much appreciated.

 

[odiesmom]

to start you treat your house much like you would if one of your kids came home with headlice. Wash everything, things that cant be washed like stuffed toys and pillows can be put either in sealed plastic bags for I think 45 days or you can put into a HOT dryer . not sure about the potty box I use weewee pads for my little ones when the weather is to bad to take them outside. If the people in your household show signs of the bug you also must be treated. Vacume and if you can, shampoo all carpets and mattress's where he has been. Sofas etc you can use a spray on again like the stuff they use for headlice . One of my kids when they were very young caught scabies from the daycare and it was not easy to get rid of. Everythign must be cleaned once then I reccomend a 2nd time about 10 days later ( after any eggs have hatched ) hope this all helps, goodluck !!

 

[OliverGreen]

Thank you for your help. We have never had to treat lice before, what kind of spray do you use? We have been searching the web for sprays to apply to sofas/mattress, but have found nothing that is specific for Scabies. Would Lysol help? Is it too toxic to dogs/cats? We thankfully don't have carpets to deal with. Also, there are two kinds of scabies, the ones that can have a life cycle on humans and the kind that are specific to dogs, which can only bite humans. We only have the dog ones, so no life cycles on us! We can still be bit and itchy for weeks or however long this takes to treat.

 

[odiesmom]

yikes, not sure on the brand names for the lice/rabies sprays , its been years and years . I remember getting them in the same place you purchased other types of products like RID for lice , ask your pharmasist he may know more . Just be thorough, one missed spot and you have to start over .