Help my dog has fleas! Safe ways to get rid of them

irenecast

Ugh. One dog has fleas. The other doesn't. She must have gotten them somehow during the house renovation or who knows. But they are here. So we front lined both dogs but I need to clean the whole house, bed, carpets. Any suggestions on something safe? Orkin isn't that expensive and they say you just have to stay out of the house for 4 hours. I could stay away all weekend if needed but I'm wondering if anyone has had this experience and has already talked to their doctor or a vet with solid advice. Thanks ladies!

ju0725

I say bomb the house. Yes you have to stay away and take other precautions but I am pretty sure it's the only way...

Edit: when I say bomb, I mean bug bomb. Lol.

dannie2011

I use flee collars in my vacuum canister/bag. I cut off a piece pop it in that way with the fleas jumping around it can kill them, and they don't just jump out.

fat2fitnessmodel

Boric acid powder I just had this issue... You need to take care of the dog without fleas too FYI -- wash them with apple cider vinegar, dawn soap, and some dog shampoo after (they'll smell) and condition and dry them. Vacuum everywhere, spread the powder around the house, wash everything and treat the dogs for fleas.

maguire1202

Things to know/remember:

1. If one dog has fleas, all of the furred pets in your household has fleas  - whether you can see them or not. 

2. For every flea you are seeing on your dog, there are thousands of eggs, larvae, and immature fleas in your carpets, furniture, cracks of her wood floors, etc. The medications you are putting on your pets kill the adult fleas that jump on and bite. They does not kill all of the immature forms that exist in the environment. Therefore it is essential to realize that you will continue to see fleas on your dog for months as all these immature fleas develop, hatch, and jump onto your pet(s) to bite/feed/die. It takes 3-6 months for the flea lifecycle to be completely broken. 

3. Fleas suck.

General rules for treatment of the dogs:

1. Starting off, I usually recommend that you give all the pets in the household Capstar (available OTC at Petco/Petsmart/online). This medication kills 99% of the adult fleas on your pet for 24 hours. You can give this medication to both dogs and cats - just pick up the right size. 

2. ~ 4 hours after giving the Capstar, bathe your pet thoroughly to remove dead fleas and eggs from the haircoat. I typically just use Dawn dish soap for this purpose.

3. The next day, apply a monthly anti-flea product to each of your pets. For dogs, my favorite is Advantix. Other options include (but are not limited to) Frontline, Activyl, or Comfortis. For cats, I like Advantage and Frontline. DO NOT USE DOG PRODUCTS ON YOUR CATS (if you have any) - it can cause tremors, seizures, death (I see this ALL the time unfortunately).

4. Continue to apply a monthly to apply an anti-flea product monthly for a minimum of 6 months. All pets in the household must be treated.

5. You will likely continue to see the occasional adult flea on your pet for the next few months. This is to be expected, and does not necessarily mean that your treatment plan is not working. If the pets are having a particularly bad day your can give them a repeat dose of capstar to kill all the fleas on them fast.

6. I am not a big fan of flea collars as the primary means of treating infestations, but there are newer collars (ask your vet) that some have had success with.

Treating the environment:

1.  Vacuum all carpets, furniture, and hardwoods with either a flea powder or after having applies "Knockout" spray (available online). Danny2001's idea of the flea collar in the vacuum canister also works well.

2. Apply Knockout spray to carpets, furniture.

3. Continue to vacuum regularly (I usually say weekly) for 3 months.

4. Consider getting a pest control company in for bombing - especially if you live in the south where fleas can be miserable to get rid of. MAKE SURE THEY TREAT THE YARD AS WELL.

And finally - 3 caveats:

1.  I am a vet, but I am not your vet. It is always safest to check with your veterinarian prior to starting a flea control plan, because they will know if there are any contraindications to giving your pet certain products (based on their health history) and they may have a better grasp on what products are better at killing fleas in your area (we can occasionally see resistance).

2. Please DO NOT USE HARTZ PRODUCTS. Please, please.  I work ER and I see multiple cases of reactions to Hartz topicals a month - the cost savings just isn't worth it.3. Generic flea meds are not equivalent to name brands! One of the most essential components to medications like Advantix and Frontline are the carrier molecules - the molecules that allow the medication to distribute throughout the dog's skin. Just because a generic has the same active ingredient does not mean they have the same ability to distribute over the skin like the name-brand medication does. 
I think that's it! Hope it helps.

maguire1202

One last thing - I use these products all the time and I'm pregnant. But I'm also pretty non-chalant about my pregnancy. I simply do not know how the minor exposure you would have to these products would affect a fetus/baby - this is a question for your to pose to your medical doctor before starting a treatment protocol.

kls33145

When I got my 2nd dog as a puppy, she was infested!!! Since she was so little we couldn't use strong flea medications. Our vet recommended we use the original blue Dawn soap. Lather it on your dog and leave it on. It suffocates the fleas and they pop up so you can see them on your dogs fur/hair.
Be sure to use Vaseline around your dogs eyes and ears though, so the fleas don't escape and run to those areas!!
This worked wonderfully! We also used a flea comb for the remaining ones and put the ones we picked out into soapy water to suffocate them.

We were lucky that we didn't have a huge flea problem because I've heard horror stories. The second my DH surprised me with the puppy, I snuggled her and was like, wtf is that?! Boom, fleas all over her. We secluded her into a room with none of our other pets and every time we played with her, we threw our clothes into the washer. Thankfully the problem was gone within a few days!

At the vet though, they told us that our puppy was so low on blood from all the fleas and how it was good we brought her in because she could have died. Ugh, makes me SO mad at the place we got her from!!

Good luck!! Let us know how it goes!

Edit: spelling error!

kls33145

ju0725 said:

I say bomb the house. Yes you have to stay away and take other precautions but I am pretty sure it's the only way...

Edit: when I say bomb, I mean bug bomb. Lol.

Lol!!! Or you could just regular bomb it...problem solved, haha!

babylimas

Where I live fleas are horrible this year. We had to use a pest control service. The at home bombs just make them more resistant. And lots and lots and lots of vacuuming.

My dogs take trifexis and it works great for them

Bwagner91

I'm a vet tech. Wash all fabrics in your house and get revoultion for your pet . It's topical and easy to apply! Good luck but better than bed bugs lol

Emahhlee

maguire1202 said:

Things to know/remember:

1. If one dog has fleas, all of the furred pets in your household has fleas  - whether you can see them or not. 

2. For every flea you are seeing on your dog, there are thousands of eggs, larvae, and immature fleas in your carpets, furniture, cracks of her wood floors, etc. The medications you are putting on your pets kill the adult fleas that jump on and bite. They does not kill all of the immature forms that exist in the environment. Therefore it is essential to realize that you will continue to see fleas on your dog for months as all these immature fleas develop, hatch, and jump onto your pet(s) to bite/feed/die. It takes 3-6 months for the flea lifecycle to be completely broken. 

3. Fleas suck.

General rules for treatment of the dogs:

1. Starting off, I usually recommend that you give all the pets in the household Capstar (available OTC at Petco/Petsmart/online). This medication kills 99% of the adult fleas on your pet for 24 hours. You can give this medication to both dogs and cats - just pick up the right size. 

2. ~ 4 hours after giving the Capstar, bathe your pet thoroughly to remove dead fleas and eggs from the haircoat. I typically just use Dawn dish soap for this purpose.

3. The next day, apply a monthly anti-flea product to each of your pets. For dogs, my favorite is Advantix. Other options include (but are not limited to) Frontline, Activyl, or Comfortis. For cats, I like Advantage and Frontline. DO NOT USE DOG PRODUCTS ON YOUR CATS (if you have any) - it can cause tremors, seizures, death (I see this ALL the time unfortunately).

4. Continue to apply a monthly to apply an anti-flea product monthly for a minimum of 6 months. All pets in the household must be treated.

5. You will likely continue to see the occasional adult flea on your pet for the next few months. This is to be expected, and does not necessarily mean that your treatment plan is not working. If the pets are having a particularly bad day your can give them a repeat dose of capstar to kill all the fleas on them fast.

6. I am not a big fan of flea collars as the primary means of treating infestations, but there are newer collars (ask your vet) that some have had success with.

Treating the environment:

1.  Vacuum all carpets, furniture, and hardwoods with either a flea powder or after having applies "Knockout" spray (available online). Danny2001's idea of the flea collar in the vacuum canister also works well.

2. Apply Knockout spray to carpets, furniture.

3. Continue to vacuum regularly (I usually say weekly) for 3 months.

4. Consider getting a pest control company in for bombing - especially if you live in the south where fleas can be miserable to get rid of. MAKE SURE THEY TREAT THE YARD AS WELL.

And finally - 3 caveats:

1.  I am a vet, but I am not your vet. It is always safest to check with your veterinarian prior to starting a flea control plan, because they will know if there are any contraindications to giving your pet certain products (based on their health history) and they may have a better grasp on what products are better at killing fleas in your area (we can occasionally see resistance).

2. Please DO NOT USE HARTZ PRODUCTS. Please, please.  I work ER and I see multiple cases of reactions to Hartz topicals a month - the cost savings just isn't worth it.3. Generic flea meds are not equivalent to name brands! One of the most essential components to medications like Advantix and Frontline are the carrier molecules - the molecules that allow the medication to distribute throughout the dog's skin. Just because a generic has the same active ingredient does not mean they have the same ability to
distribute over the skin like the name-brand medication does. 
I think that's it! Hope it helps.

I. Love. You.

Shobb414

I would make sure to get both of them, if one has them the other one could maybe have eggs or they will jump while you deal with the problem.
Do it soon, it's miserable for your poor pet

Jme330

I usually just lurk, but I have used the capstar pill and it works great! It kills all fleas on the dog which will allow you to then bathe them and treat the rest of the house.

linzerd

This happened to me a few years ago, the fleas had become immune to Frontline and the only thing that worked for me to give the dog was Revolution, which you need a prescription for.  I never bombed my house, and I especially wouldn't do it now being pregnant.  But before I got the Revolution I would come home every day and sit outside with the dog picking the fleas off of him and putting them in a cup of hot water, then I sprayed him down with a couple different natural flea sprays-he was also shaved pretty close so I could see them.  Then I just Vacuumed everything, the carpets, the couch, the furniture and washed clothes etc and kept everything off the floor, and the dog was not allowed in any of the bedrooms.  Then sprayed them with the flea sprays too.  I sprayed that shit everywhere. I was doing this every day until I found out about the Revolution.  Then that took care of it and they were gone. 
Keep checking the dog, if he/she still has the fleas after you've given the Frontline, then they have become immune to it and your other dog WILL get them.  Then call the vet or just go online to one of the mail order vet med websites and order the Revolution and they will contact the vet for the Rx.  Good Luck!