Flea quandry

[Dixie]

I figure y'all can help me with a non-typical flea issue.

My dog is on Nexgard oral flea medicine. It kills any fleas that bite him, but that doesn't keep him from getting bit. This usually isn't an issue until now. The flea population, post hurricane Idalia, has gone insane! My poor little dog is getting eat up.

So, how can I mitigate this issue? He's tired of hiding from the fleas.

[Steve Carlton]

Check with your vet. There is something better than Nexgard, but your dog will need to be tested before you start and again if don’t stick with it. It sounds like you need to bomb your house, though.

[Zeke]

I've had this issue. You go online and buy treatment for the house and the animal. You have to quarantine the animal during the house treatment (yard optional but rain will wash any treatment away). While the animal is separated from the house you treat them with a bath and whatever you choose. I have used the bite stuff and it's amazing to put them on a white sheet and watch.

Of course the fleas go through stages of development. The egg, the worm and the flea. The house treatment should kill the worm when it hatches. You should vacuum as thoroughly as you can prior but you'll never get them all.

Once the house is dried from the spray and the animal is flea free, you can let them loose. If they go outside or pick up fleas while being walked you must brush as well as you can before entering the house again. The treatment however, should work for the worms as they hatch for a few months. When you see you are losing the battle you rinse and repeat, usually 2wice during flea season (which is 12 months indoors).


I buy my stuff from a pro pest control in AZ. They are big so you can find them. There is a place in TX and GA that I have bought from when I didn't remember. Now I keep the bottles because these folks will have their own brands. Expect to pay towards $100 for everything. It really works done correctly so no need to hire a pest control just for fleas.

And forget diatomaceous earth and all that boric acid powder stuff. While they do work, they don't go the 100% you will get doing the spray and the direct animal treatment. Lastly, simply poisoning the animal repeatedly (after all, that is what it is) is not the way to attack the situation. Total house and possibly yard treatment is the only way.

Last note, occasionally have the animal rest on a white sheet and examine thereafter with a loupe and you will know the status of your environment immediately. Eggs are oval and semi sheen. Worms are very small, curved and almost black. Fleas won't stick around to be looked at but you might see a couple laggers. If you see one, there are many. What you want to see is dead worms. Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum and throw out the debris immediately in a sealed bag.

This is how it's done. YMMV.

[ramonesfreak]

^^^^this

I sprayed the yard with a natural flea spray that smelled like mint….can’t confirm if it did anything


And I would never again put diatomaceous earth in my house. I don’t think the danger warnings are strong enough. Breathing in abrasive silica dust is not good for dogs or you.

[Zeke]

Yeah, there's that too. And think of the animal, they are nearer the ground and clean themselves by licking. While diatomaceous earth is good for worms and parasites, they are still breathing it. With their nose in their fur that has picked up DE while being on the floor.

BTW, that was another stupid and dangerous fad in the 80's. We were bombarded with solicitations and advertising to 'treat' the home for only $99. I actually bit on that once. I had mostly wood floors and before I knew it the place was dusted to a mess. They should have known better even if I didn't. I expected the bedroom carpets to be done and that only.

I almost beat the guy up I was so angry. He knew he wasn't coming back to my street.

[ramonesfreak]

Last time we had fleas and only time we used DE one of our dogs had a brain tumor. After the flea situation, a few months later she had a cough and by Xmas she had an X-ray that showed lungs filled with cancer and she had to be put down. I’ll never stop wondering if using that crap, and the flea spray for weeks in the house made her condition worse.

[Steve Carlton]

Wouldn't hurt to get a flea comb.

[HobieMarty]

Get a few disposable pie pans, fill with water and place a light over the pie pan at night. Fleas will be attracted to the light and wind up in the water and drown.

Sent from my SM-S916U using Tapatalk

[Steve Carlton]

[otto_kretschmer]

I had two cats in California. One time they both got fleas and I found the Seresto flea collars would get rid of the fleas in a day.

[Dixie]

Time for an update.
I'm a bit embarrassed to tell y'all it was grass seed, not fleas. The good news is the vet prescribed an allergy med called Apoquil, and it appears to be working. The only down side is the pills are pricy!

[Steve Carlton]

I've had several Shih Tzus. Zeke looked sort of like yours. He was a good boy!

[Dixie]

Originally Posted by Steve Carlton

I've had several Shih Tzus. Zeke looked sort of like yours. He was a good boy!

Awwww... What a great photo.

[Steve Carlton]

Say "STOP" when you've had enough...

[WPOZZZ]

Originally Posted by Capt. Carrera

Time for an update.
I'm a bit embarrassed to tell y'all it was grass seed, not fleas. The good news is the vet prescribed an allergy med called Apoquil, and it appears to be working. The only down side is the pills are pricy!

This is what I tell all my friends when theor pets need maintenance meds. Check Costco.

[GH85Carrera]

Fleas suck big time. I am glad you did not have fleas.

One of the reasons I sold my rent house was fleas. My tenant had me fooled into thinking she cared about the place. She had a dog that was not neutered, and proceeded to mark his territory all over the inside of the house, and bring in a bad case of fleas. When she moved out, I went over there to check it out and my legs were covered in fleas in seconds. I had to use several rounds of whole house insects bombs, and rip out all the carpet from the house. I was fortunate that I had an empty house to keep spraying and in the time it took me to paint the house and get it ready for sale I managed to kill the fleas inside and in the back yard. I was happy to get out of the landlord business.