My dog has fleas...

ConfusedChicca

ConfusedChicca

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Laura
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There's a place we walk our dogs regularly and just discovered there's rats there, so I'm thinking our dog got his fleas from there.
I've flea-bombed the bedroom today, doing living room tonight, and put flea drops on the dog last Sunday..

My question is this.. would the dog still be scratching if all the fleas had died? As the drops shoould have killed existing fleas and any new ones that hatch for the next 3-4 weeks, but the dog keeps scratching.

I'm wondering if it's habit?

Laura
 
Maybe your dog has an allergy to flea bites? I know this can happen (but I have no experience of fleas!). I would have thought that if all the fleas were dead, then the dog would stop scratching. Is the dog scratching in just one place or in random places?
 
Id have thought the same as Min... where is the dog scratching, is it randomly or in one place?
it could be a skin iritation.
Also, I know that the cheaper over-the-counter products dont always work, Frontline is the flea treatment recommended by vets.
 
You say there is a place you walk your dogs (plural)

but it sounds like only one dog is scratching...is this the case?

If so then I doubt its fleas ... or the other dog would have them too....unless like already stated this dog is allergic to flea bites.

Also, flea stuff from the petshop doesnt work as well as the stuff from the vet.

And try him with a flea collar on too. My labrador had a bald red patch above his tail from biting and scratching........nothing worked for him till i put a flea collar on.
 
Frontline from the vet will probably be the only thing that will work. You could try giving doggy a cool bath for now though. Try filling it and encouraging it to lay down in the water for a while. That should ease the irritation.

I also recommend garlic tablets from any pet store as a deterrent to fleas and tics ;) they hate garlic and will not go near your dog if you give them 1 tab a day. They are pretty cheap and dogs seem to like them so you can give them like a treat. My dogs have always begged for theirs :lol: If your dog doesn't like the tablets for any reason, you can also try using a garlic mill (you can buy it from the supermarket, intended for cooking and found in the spices section of the store. It's dried not fresh) and just sprinkle some on to their meals. We have not had fleas on our dogs (although we are now down to 1 dog :( ) since the day we started with the garlic tabs about 5 years ago. And we live in a rural location...
 
Agree with all that has been said - only use Frontline or other stuff form the vets, over the counter products are as good as useless.
yes, he could have a skin irritation, maybe due to the bites though not necessarily, the warm wet weather we have been having is a haven for all sorts of microbes that cause skin annoyances. Also, the fleas often have to bite to take the poison in, so if you are still walking dog in same area, plus any new hatches will possibly continue to cause some irritation, it can take a month or two of treatment to totally eradicate them. If its specific itching, check his skin under the fur for any redness or scaliness. If its random, it could be something as simple as he is just too warm, you know yourself how sometimes the muggy heat just makes you feel miserable and aggitated.
 
Pest contol tech. hat on
Its unlikely that rats are the source of your problem BUT
You dog may well have caught fleas from another dog or more likely a fox especially if you walk him where there is long grass, fleas hitch a ride, feed hop off onto long grass hedge rows etc. and wait for the next victim. Not all the fleas will hop off though some will hop off later in your home etc. I come into contact daily with these things and just keep flea collars on my dogs this works very well.( for me)
Generally the "drops" you get from a vet make the fleas sterile, so they die out "naturally"
Flea bombs unfortunately only kill the adults at "the time of use". The eggs can lay dormant for upto a year.
A pest control tech. Will use a residule insecticide. Eggs / lavea of most insects are pretty much indistructable / impervious. The point of using a residule insecticide is that as the lavea change into adults they will still bite but once in contact with the product will soon die. Are you sure its fleas and not a mange mite? you will start to notice a slight balding in some areas if it is.
As a precaution bath the dog (s) with a good quality insecticide shampoo.
Mites are actually arachnids ( as opposed to insects) but thats close enough.
feel free to Pm me if you want more
 
Our two get fleas, ticks and ear mites from goats, tortoises, rats that our cats have caught, and just going for a walk. Frontline is the only thing that'll sort them out and we dose them every two months but they both scratch for a week or so afterwards. I thought the bites took a while to stop being itchy.
 
Flea treatments don't work instantly - they break the reproduction cycle. Be patient.

The six-monthly injections (program or frontline) are far more effective, IMHO, than self administered liquids or tablets. But bloody expensive with five cats. When our vet sees me struggling in with five cats, he reaches for the holiday brochures.

There is a much quicker cure for dogs with fleas. Shoot them.

If it were my dog - I'd shoot myself.
 
Frontline kills fleas and ticks immediately and then stays in the hair follicles etc, reapply after a month or so. Info here clicky
 
Sounds like you have already had all the advice you need/can handle in one go ... :shrug:


But just a word for Stronghold ... another offering available from your vet we have found it is a comprehensive deterrent against these pesky little critters ... :thumbs: ... I guess very similar to Frontline but our vet swears by this particular brand ... applied every six weeks to two months, easily applied to the scruff of its neck job done ... :D

Good luck with resolving your doggy issues ... ;)



:p
 
The scratching might not be caused by the fleas, there are a lot of grass mites about at the moment and they have a similar effect on the dog causing them to scratch like mad, ours have ended up with bald spots where they have been scratching so much.
 
iirc Stronghold is like Frontline but is also supposed to get rid of (some) worms.

Our cats don't seem to get fleas, but one of them collects ticks and they are absolutely disgusting. :gag: She gets them whenever we go away and a friend looks after the cats - she must find a tick-infested nest somewhere she doesn't normally go. Anyway, the record is 16 ticks. :(

Frontline seems to keep them at bay, but we still have to to a manual search and removal using a little device to unscrew them :eek:rather than pull them straight off. There's also a Frontline Spray which seems to work.

Who invented insects? :thinking:
 
chrisiow said:
The scratching might not be caused by the fleas, there are a lot of grass mites about at the moment and they have a similar effect on the dog causing them to scratch like mad, ours have ended up with bald spots where they have been scratching so much.
Click to expand...
I saw something crawling on him yesterday, it moved so fast I couldn't tell what it was though! It was about the size of an adult nit..

Dog is scratching his side (mainly one) and chewing near his back end, nowhere else.
Yes the other dog is fine.

Me and hubby have been bitten a few times since the weekend.. the bites look like midgie bites though, but they're all up hubbys legs and I have some on my torso.
Guess we shall give it another week or so, then get some Frontline or something from the vets if he's still scratching.

Thanks for all the advice.

xx
 
Hi

You really need to treat both dogs, I can guarentee they will pass them on.

Jojosmojo's advice about Garlic is spot on. Don't go crazy though as if you give too much it can be a poison as its part of the onion family. We regularly sprinkle a little garlic on the rescue dogs dinner.

Re: Stonghold, we dont' normally use it just for fleas, frontline is usually enough. We save that for mange as it is a far stronger product and I'm fairly sure quite a bit more expensive. You can also buy frontline over the internet these days which makes it a bit cheaper.

Its alway best to keep the flea treament up to date, they always seem to go a bit crazy in summer (yeh I know like we've seen summer this year).

Just another small tip, when applying any of these products make sure you don't get any on your skin. Don't stroke your pet for a good 12 hours after application and make sure your children don't either, better to apply once they have gone to bed. As it soaks in through the skin it can also be soaked through human skin and can cause serious asthma attacks.

Andrea
 
Anybody else scratching after reading this?

:)
 
Chuckurbarla said:
Frontline kills fleas and ticks immediately and then stays in the hair follicles etc, reapply after a month or so. Info here clicky
Click to expand...

I love it :D
Its stuff like this that keeps me in a manner to which I can very soon become accustomed to.
 
Well the dog is scratching less. He does have some small scabs but nothing looks fresh, if that makes sense?
The other dog has very short hair, checked her over - no sign of anything on her at all. No scabs and no scratching.
So I'm wondering if it is fleas, as surely the other dog would have em by now?
x
 
jojosmojo said:
I also recommend garlic tablets from any pet store as a deterrent to fleas and tics
Click to expand...

and no more bother with the bloody vampires either :lol:
 
"my dog has fleas"

i thought this was a build up to a joke

"My dog has no nose"

"how does he smell"

"horrible"

I'll get me coat
 
RobertP said:
Anybody else scratching after reading this?

:)
Click to expand...

When our cat had fleas, I was scratching for ages.

Also, why has no one suggested getting a macro lens out, this is a photography forum!!

:)
 
Ha ha. I wish I had a macro lens lol. Getting a zoom and a fisheye this week though.
x
 
If they scratch themselves raw it is a good idea to bath the area with surgical spirit to stop any further infection.
 
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