My dog has fleas. How to treat, protect my home, and are they harmful?

Hello! My name is Dr. Elizabeth and I am happy to help. Ugh! Fleas are the worst but the good news is that you can effectively get rid of them if you use a good product and are diligent in the treatment. Here is a link about the flea life cycle: https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/flea-control-in-dogs The flea life cycle can last as long as 6 months. The key to getting rid of fleas is to make sure EVERY dog and cat in the house is treated with a good flea prevention AND that this treatment lasts an entire 6 months. Your vet can give you access to the best flea products on the market. Oral flea products like Simparica, Nexgard and Bravecto are the best products out there because they kill fleas so quickly. This decreased to potential for the female fleas to lay eggs which breaks the life cycle. Since the product is in the bloodstream, it also can't be washed off. Lastly, because they are new, there is not a resistance issue in the flea population. They are also cost competitive with a name brand product like Frontline. I recommend to get Smallie on one of these oral flea products and use it for 6 months. If you use a topical flea prevention, only wash Smallie just before the next application of flea prevention is due. Topical flea products like the one you applied can be washed off which means they won't work as well. Also know you will likely continue to see fleas for at least 6 weeks (assuming your product is working correctly) because of the newly emerging adult fleas. Lastly, know there is great variation in the effectiveness of topical flea products. As far as they go, for over the counter options, Seresto, name brand Frontline and Advantage/Advantix are your best options. Use them as directed. I hope this helps and please feel free to reach out with any additional questions.

I hate to hear that Sam is so miserable! Definitely for the fleas I would recommend an oral flea product such as Simparica or Comfortis. These are the top products on the market and will kill any fleas that land on Sam within 3-4 hours. Topical products take 12 - 24 hours. You will need to use a good flea prevention on him and any other pets in the house for a solid 6 months. To help his skin to feel better, give him a cool water bath daily. You can also give him an over the counter antihistamine. If you have an elizabethan collar for him, you can also apply a small amount of cortisone cream. The collar will keep Sam from licking. You need to rub it in well and make sure he cannot lick it. You might also call the clinic daily and check to see if they have any cancelations. You might be able to get Sam in earlier. I hope this helps!

YEs, this sounds like fleas. You need to treat all the dogs and cats in the household with flea prevention. And you need to treat the house and the outside yard. 1. I would first give all the pets PetArmor Fast Caps. This will kill all the adult fleas on the pets within one hour. However, it only works for 24 hours so after this you will need to apply a topical long-term flea prevention. Be sure to buy the correct product for their weight. https://www.target.com/p/petarmor-fastcaps-for-dogs-25lbs-and-up-6ct/-/A-15211237#lnk=sametab 2. I would recommend using the Pet Armor topical prevention. DO NOT use cheaper products like Hartz. They don't work and are often toxic. You need to apply this topical product EVERY month. Be sure to buy the correct product for their weight. https://www.target.com/p/petarmor-plus-f-t-squeeze-on-23-to-44lbs-3ct/-/A-16931100#lnk=sametab 3. Wait 24 hours after applying the Pet Armour and then bathe with a medicated shampoo. If you bathe too soon after applying the product or bathe before using the product you will wash it off or it won't absorb properly. https://www.amazon.com/SynergyLabs-Veterinary-Formula-Clinical-Medicated/dp/B0037Z6VLC/ref=sr_1_3?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1500935032&sr=1-3&keywords=synergylabs You can buy the shampoo online or often times Walmart carries it. Use it as directed. You can bathe every 3 days or so as needed to help soothe the skin. 4. Next you have to treat the environment - the inside of the house and the yard. http://www.allivet.com/p-1389-knockout-es-area-treatment.aspx http://www.allivet.com/p-1391-virbac-yard-spray-concentrate-16-oz.aspx I hope this helps. Best wishes.

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Ricky should be on a monthly flea/tick preventative such as Frontline. These products kill fleas over the course of several days to weeks and prevent infestation with new fleas. You should also consider treating your home for fleas with nontoxic sprays (available in pet stores) and vacuuming. Please keep in mind that scratching may be caused by conditions other than fleas such as skin infections, skin mites, or food allergies. It is important to have Ricky seen by a vet if his condition worsens. I hope this helps!

Great question! Your adult dog should be protected, but the house will be infested and he can get the fleas when the flea treatment wears off. I can give you a flea treatment for Brody, since he is almost 8 weeks of age. First, I would give him Capstar. It's a one time pill that starts killing fleas within 30. minutes. Then follow up with a spot on treatment, such as Advantage or Revolution. This is a treatment that has to be used once a month. You will also have to disinfect the environment. Wash his bedding in hot soapy water, and vacuum the furniture and carpet surfaces. You can use a spray to kill fleas in the house, such as Indorex, or a flea bomb would work well to kill the fleas in the home. I hope this helps!

Hello there! Just to let you know, the message caps off at 500 characters, so it ends at "I usually don't even". I think I have enough information to answer your question appropriately, I just wanted to let you know in case you said something pertinent after that. I'm sorry to hear about your flea invasion! Those are very frustrating! Fleas have a complicated life cycle that requires multiples angles of treatment to totally get rid of in a household. Coconut oil will only give you a greasy dog, which it sounds like you have already found out. Flea and tick shampoo is a great place to start!. Your next step is putting Boogie on a flea preventive that lasts a month. You can get a brand called Advantage from Petco without a prescription. 90% of the flea eggs are going to be wherever Boogie usually sleeps. When Boogie has the medication in his system and is going about his usual routine in the house, any new fleas that hatch will not be able to feed on him and thus starve. During this month, you need to be very diligent about cleaning all the fabrics in the house to eliminate the flea egg population. If you have carpet, I would recommend vacuuming at least three times per week. I would recommend washing any bedding that Boogie sleeps on at least twice per week with hot water. This, combined with Boogie's flea prevention, should eliminate fleas over a period of weeks. I know this is a lot of information, but tackling fleas is a big issue that requires a lot of work! I hope you find this helpful! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Hi and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Sorry to hear about Jaydence. Fleas are particularly bad near the end of summer and throughout the spring/summer depending on the weather. What you should do is EITHER discuss this with your local vet and let them evaluate your pets or treat him with multimodal flea/tick products and see if that doesn't help get the skin calmed down and the fleas under control. The irritated areas are typical for dogs that have a flea allergy and each time Jaydence gets bit by a flea the allergy intensifies. Flea allergy dogs may require antibiotics or topical treatment to calm down the allergy/itching. Multimodal treatment involves using a vet advised topical product (Revolution, Advantix, Vectra, Effitix, etc) along with an oral flea/tick medicine (Comfortis, Bravecto, or Nexgard). You should also treat your indoor environment since the bulk of the flea problem is immature stages in the environment. Your vet can help you with all of these treatments to get Jaydence and all of your pets back to normal and not scratching. Good luck with Jaydence.