My 6-week-old puppies have ticks. What's safe for them and mom?

Oh no, how frustrating! I would not recommend using Adams flea and tick products for dogs of any age, as they tend not to be terribly effective and can lead to some serious reactions. Your puppies are currently too young to be treated with any oral or topical flea and tick preventatives. However, one method of managing fleas at this young age is to bathe the puppies in original Dawn dish soap weekly. The original (blue) Dawn will kill adult fleas, but it will not kill eggs or treat the recently hatched larvae. Be sure to dry them well and keep them warm after their baths since young puppies are not able to regulate their body temperatures as well as adult dogs. By 6 weeks of age, your vet can prescribe Revolution to be used topically, or you can purchase K9 Advantix II OTC when the puppies are 7 weeks old. Also be sure to wash their bedding and any soft materials they contact in hot soapy water. Assure that the puppies' mom and any other dogs in the house are also receiving flea and tick preventatives regularly. K9 Advantix II is labeled as being safe for pregnant and lactating bitches. I hope that all goes well!

I like to use a flea comb dipped in a solution of dawn dish soap to comb off the fleas. That is safe and dipping the flea comb in the soapy water will kill the fleas. I would comb them daily and manually remove the ticks. All puppies get intestinal parasites from their Mom. Giving nemex every two weeks once they are four weeks old will take care of them. You can apply Advantage to the mother and place a drop on each pup when they are six weeks old to kill the fleas. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to help you get answers to your veterinary questions.

Poor girl. I would recommend contacting a mobile vet to see if they can lure her away from the puppies to get them taken care of. A topical vet approved product may be able to be used on the puppies, off label, to help remove the fleas. Either that or a quick dawn detergent bath (if they are old enough to maintain their body temperature) and making sure not to get it in their eyes. Mama dog also needs to be treated for fleas with a product from your vet, as over the counters are typically topical and not recommended. The vet also may need to give her a mild oral sedative (i.e. trazodone) to help calm Emily enough to be able to treat everyone safely. It's important to get this done quickly to prevent severe blood loss anemia that can happen if the fleas are continued to have their blood meal on them. I hope this helps and best of luck with your flea issues. Take care. http://www.vetlocator.com/

There are a few different options for effective treatment of ticks. The topical products are often the best and it's always best to get them from a veterinary clinic, because they will reccomend the best and safest products. You can also get certain products at the pet store. Frontline and Revolution both have products made for puppies and work well for killing ticks. I hope that helps and all is well with the pups.

You can treat the mom with revolution but there are no products labeled for kittens until they are 4 weeks old. I would not place the revolution on 3 day old kittens. all you can safely do for them is bath them in dish soap or baby shampoo and pick them off the babies. Keep the environment clean and treated and by treating the mom, then you can control the problem until they are old enough to have their own medicine

You can use Advantage II. It is labeled for use on puppies 7 weeks of age and older. ( https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/advantage-ii-once-a-month-topical-flea-treatment-for-dogs-and-puppies-3-to-10-lbs )

You should remove all the ticks with tweezers and then apply a flea and tick preventative spot on suitable for young puppies or Frontline spray (which is suitable for puppies). These are available at your veterinarian or in a pet shop.