Dog on Nexgard still itchy from fleas. How to prevent bites?

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.

Hello. I am so sorry for your concerns with Harley. Unfortunately, you must have a terrible flea problem in your area. Everything you are doing is appropriate & good, but it can take 3 months of constant battle to eliminate a current flea problem. Continue the Simparica, & retreat your yard & home as needed. You can bathe Harley weekly with a an anti-itch shampoo, one that contains either 1% hydrocortisone or pramoxine. They also make leave on conditioners & mousse's you might try. Because Simparica ( & all other oral & topical flea products ) require the flea to bite in order to die, you can also use a flea shampoo along with the anti-itch shampoo for an immediate knockdown of the fleas on Harley. I would also consider a injection of Cytopoint, which is immunotherapy that your veterinarian can administer. This will do nothing for fleas, but may help the irritation from the flea bites. Hopefully, this will all help. Thanks for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

You can get Nexgard at any one of our VETCO clinics in your area: ( https://www.vetcoclinics.com/services-and-clinics/clinic-locations-and-schedules/?zip=34639 ) I suggest you use Knockout Spray ES to treat the house and a yard spray to treat the yard. ( https://www.allivet.com/p-1389-knockout-es-area-treatment.aspx?SearchTerm=knockout+Auto ) ( https://www.allivet.com/p-9065-vet-kem-yard-spray-32-oz.aspx?SearchTerm=yard%20spray+Auto ) You can use this hot spot medication on the lesion that he still has on his body. You will need to get him a cone collar to stop him from chewing that spot until you can get the fleas and his discomfort under control. The lesion will not heal unless he stops chewing at it. ( https://www.allivet.com/p-2846-vetericyn-plus-hot-spot-spray.aspx?SearchTerm=hot%20spot+Auto ) ( https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/contech-procone-soft-recovery-collar ) If he doesn't improve then you will need to get him back to the vet for an exam.

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It sounds as if Blitz is becoming re-infested with fleas even after applying appropriate flea preventative measures (i.e. Seresto collar). I would suspect that the environmental control has not yet been adequate to appropriate kill the fleas. I would recommend to my clients to hire a professional parasite control company to perform a treatment for the area (inside and outside). It can take as long as 3 months to adequately control all life stages of the flea life cycle. It is also possible that even though the fleas have been controlled (if you are no longer seeing live adult fleas), that Blitz suffers from a flea allergy. In these cases the itch can last long after the flea is gone. You can continue to bathe Blitz in a soothing shampoo, but if the itch does not resolve it is best to have him seen by his veterinarian to determine what additional anti-pruritic (anti-itch) medication may be needed. It is not uncommon for us to also see secondary bacterial infections (pyoderma) happen due to chronic itching, and a topical medicated shampoo may also be required from his veterinarian.

I would recommend bringing Aries to the veterinarian to get medication to help with the itch. For the fleas I would either get Bravecto, SImparica or Nexguard. You can even use a Seresto collar. These flea preventions work great. You need to treat every animal in your home for at least 3 months. You can also get Capstar. Capstar only lasts for 24 hours so you have to do this in addition to flea prevention. This pill kills adult fleas only. For baths (if you wanted to give them) you can use dawn. I would leave dawn on for 10-15 minutes prior to rinsing it off. If by cleaning and vacuuming multiple times a week and all of this does not help you may need an exterminator. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

If he has a flea allergy than it will probably take a little bit of time for the itching to resolve. You could ask your vet for an anti-histamine or a corticosteroid to help relieve the itching. Make sure to use a monthly flea prevention, like NexGard, Frontline, Advantage, etc every month to prevent him from getting fleas again.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I would not recommend that you switch him yet as this may be completely coincidental. Nexgard is a great preventative and I would give it more time before switching to something else. Hopefully the scratching is not a reaction to it as that would be quite unusual. If the itchiness continues despite giving it a few days, that would likely be due to allergies rather than a cause of using Nexgard. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing his allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. A secondary infection is likely and also needs to be addressed. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!