Why is my dog itching after flea medicine application? Is it safe?

In general, we do not want dogs to lick the ingredients in the topical flea products. Therefore, most products will contain a "bittering agent" which makes the liquid taste bad, so the dogs will not lick it. If they lick a small amount, they may drool a little due to the bad taste, but they will not lick enough to cause a problem. If you have any concerns about a particular product, I always recommend speaking to the company. I hope that was helpful and answered your question. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

No. Unfortunately the topical product will get on their hair. It’s almost impossible to prevent this. It is best to prevent them from licking it but it shouldn’t hurt them. I would just watch them for any abnormal behaviors. If that product doesn’t seem to be helping much I would consider an oral flea preventative next time. These sometimes work better due to a faster kill time. I hope this helps!

It would be helpful to know what specific type of flea medication is was, since different brands have different active ingredients. But in general, if he only ate a single dose, I would not expect this to cause any serious problems - these medications typically have a wide margin of safety, even if they are ingested rather than applied topically. You may see some mild stomach upset, but I would not expect any serious toxicity issues. To be safe, you should monitor for any neurologic issues such as muscle tremors or seizures, and take Oscar to the vet right away if he is acting abnormal.

If you’re noticing increased itching in that area and you found a flea, you may try switching the flea prevention to see if that helps. Fleas can become immune to products. The top products on the market are oral products such as Nexgard and Simparica. Most pets can use these products but you should talk with your veterinarian before switching. They are administered once a month and at this point appear to work very well. If the itching goes away, then you know it was related to flea bites. Best of luck.

High quality flea preventatives are very effective, so I would be surprised if your dog is itching from fleas. Different flea preventatives utilize different mechanisms of action to kill fleas. Some preventatives work by killing the flea after it bites, so it is not unheard of to see one rare flea. The important part is that the flea is killed before it has a chance to reproduce and lay eggs. The next time you see dirt on your dog, try to put it onto a white paper towel and moisten it slightly. Flea dirt becomes a reddish-brown color when wet. If you do not notice a significant color change, it is just regular dirt. The dandruff may be appearing as a result of skin sloughing when your dog itches. Allergies to a wide variety of environmental influences and food are a common cause of itching in dogs. Consider discussing this intense itching with your vet because dogs can develop skin infections by introducing bacteria or yeast from excessive scratching.

Yes, Gidget could absolutely be allergic to her flea treatment! Topical products can definitely cause redness, irritation, hair loss or sores at the application site. They can also cause system reactions such as seizures, tremors and trouble walking but these are rare. Oral products can cause vomiting, diarrhea and decreased appetite. Dogs that have epilepsy may be more prone to have increased seizure frequency but this is also not likely. Extremely rare cases can be anaphylactic reactions of collapse and hypotension and this could be to any product. If you are seeing problems, I would recommend to switch products. While some products have the same active ingredient (like Fipronil), many are different. I have had good flea prevention and very low reactions to Comfortis, Simparica and Revolution. Remember that itching all over can be related to fleas not dying from your product, food allergy or environmental allergies. I hope I answered your question!

Poor Simba! The twitching and irritability that he was showing you certainly sound like a reaction to this topical flea and tick medication. You did the right thing by bathing him to remove as much of the medication as possible. However, since he is still twitching and irritable, Simba should go to his vet for evaluation. There are muscle relaxers that can help with the twitching and steroids if an allergic or inflammatory reaction is diagnosed, both of which will likely make him far more comfortable. In the future, I typically recommend sticking with K9 Advantix II, Nexgard or Bravecto, but talk to your vet about their recommended products. I hope that all goes well!