To ladies with pets...especially dogs

res932 · July 2011

A week and a half ago right before we went on vacation we discovered the dog and a couple of the cats had fleas. DH gave them all a flea bath, we vacuumed the house and put down flea powder and spray. The dog went to the kennel where they gave her another flea dip. We have been home for two days and last night I noticed the dog was scratching like crazy. I checked her belly and realized that she had two fleas on her! I am home by myself this week and I am 16 weeks pregnant so I can't touch any of the sprays or powders. I am beyond frusterated and have no idea how to get rid of these.

To make things worse, this morning I woke up with a rash on both my arms and I am afraid it is an allergic reaction from the fleas. Please help me before I lose it!

Temp401037375003448 · July 2011

Call your vet, have them give you a few Capstar tablets. These will kill the fleas that are currently on your animals, also purchase frontline (apply with gloves or have them or your DH do it) this will kill any eggs that have been laid. Have someone spray your yard, fleas usually come into your yard via other animals like squirrels. This should do the trick.

niknak1128 · July 2011

Oh man that sucks! Did you call the vet? I would call the vet again and see what they suggest you do. Were they live fleas or dead? Maybe the dog just needs another fea bath to kill the rest of them. I hate fleas. We have two big labs and we had that happen last year. Our chocolate lab, believe or not, never had fleas throughout the whole ordeal but our black lab had them pretty bad. The vet said that fleas are like anything else and some dogs are 'allergic' to them and some aren't so our Sam just didn't even get bothered by them but Jake had them really bad. We had to spray the whole house and give them baths and dips and oh.. it's just no fun at all!! And I don't know about you but after that I always feel like they're still around somewhere. I had a hard time even sitting on our furniture after that. It's horrible!

Good Luck!

GirlyGirl319 · July 2011

I am so sorry that you are going though this. I agree with the other posters comments and think you should call the vet and see what you should do next. Maybe you can drop the dog off at a groomer to give him a bath so that you don't have to touch the chemicals.

I would call your doctor to check on the rash and see if they can possibly give you something for that. Hopefully this all clears up fast for you!!!

megmarissa · July 2011

wcoates:
Call your vet, have them give you a few Capstar tablets. These will kill the fleas that are currently on your animals, also purchase frontline (apply with gloves or have them or your DH do it) this will kill any eggs that have been laid. Have someone spray your yard, fleas usually come into your yard via other animals like squirrels. This should do the trick.

This plus, if you haven't, wash all bedding the dog may lay on in hot water with detergent followed by a hot dryer.

I just had this issue last week. We used the gel stuff you put on the dogs neck (we have 3 dogs). Luckily so far haven't seen anything else.

jennz201 · July 2011

Oh man that is a total bummer. I worked at a vets office for many years and can tell you totally getting rid of the little buggers is a PITA! You need to get frontline on all of the animals in your house. Then ideally have a professional bomb your house and spray your yard. The problem with fleas is that their eggs can live for YEARS in your carpet and couch cushions etc. If you can't afford a professional. You can buy home bombs. Then you need to clean out your vaccuum really well then place a cut up flea collar in the bag or dirt cup and vaccuum the crap out of every soft surface in your house: carpets, furniture, curtians etc. Wash all bedding that doggie might have been on in hot hot hot water or better yet throw it out and start new.

I hope this helps a little. Total bummer I am so sorry, and, as you already know, don't touch any of the pesticides.

GL

Ivana_Stolichnaya · July 2011

I would call the vet, you guys need to cool it with all the pesticides (flea dips, sprays and powders), especially since you're pregnant.

res932 · July 2011

My mom is already taking one of the cats to the vet today so she is going to ask them what I should do for the fleas. I also have a call in to the doctor but the assistant thinks it probably has more to do with the pregnancy than it does with the fleas. I'm hoping my mom can get some answers when she goes there. She also said she would vacuum the house, and the furniture while I am at work. I think I am going to go stay with my parents for a few days until my mom and DH can get things cleaned up some.

res932 · July 2011

Ivana.Stolichnaya:
you guys need to cool it with all the pesticides (flea dips, sprays and powders), especially since you're pregnant.

The flea dip was done at the boarders while we were away. DH gave the animals a bath at home but that was just using shampoo that you can get at Target. Also, the sprays and power were done while I was out of the house on vacation and DH vacuumed it up before I went back in the house.

A PP did mention using the flea bomb though. Isn't that dangerous when you are pregnant?

Nichie2 · July 2011

There are things you can buy that are organic. Organic flea shampoo, for example. You can also give your dog some garlic (minced) mixed in the food (fleas don't like the taste of garlic), or garlic tabs. As for the house, like people said..vacuum, and wash/dry in HOT HOT water and a HOT HOT dryer. As for what you can put down...I went through this last year with our dog, and we bought FOOD GRADE diatomacioius earth (spelling?). It's a white powder that you can put in your house, on carpets, dog bedding and even on the dog. You need food grade though. It is used in foods we eat all the time to kill any insects or eggs that may be on grains. Other than that, I now have the dog on Revolution, which you can get from the vet. It is FDA approved and not a pesticide. I don't like the idea of putting pesticides on my fur baby, for her safety and ours.

TomsShugShug · July 2011

It's important not to bomb your house for fleas. I don't know if it's unsafe for pregnancy, but we had an exterminator at our house on Friday and he said that when you bomb, the fleas crawl up under your baseboards and up into your walls where they make their nests. Then it will be near impossible to get rid of them! Sorry that your having to deal with these stinking fleas!! They are such a PITA! Good luck getting rid of them!

zurawsk5 · July 2011

Whatever you do, make sure that you are not using the same medication on your dogs as on your cats. They are formulated VERY differently and most dog pesticides can kill cats.

mhandy · July 2011

We have had to deal with fleas too many times over the years and I have experience with all of the treatments. Honestly, the best thing we ever found was Frontline Plus or K9 Advantix. They both worked well and we didn't have to do any other treatments. You should give it at least a couple of days, but up to a week I would say before you expect to not see anymore fleas. It will take a little bit to kill all of them since they are so tough. Oh, and get the Frontline for the cats too. If we treat all of the animals once a month we don't have a problem. Good luck! They are nasty little creatures!

MrsNash37212 · July 2011

When we adopted our dog last year, she had a horrible case of fleas. If you can actually see them crawling on her, it's bad. We took her to the vet and he gave her a Capstar pill, gave us a monthly pill to use called Sentinel, and also Frontline. We haven't had a flea since. Besides the Frontline, I don't allow pesticide chemicals in my house, pregnant or not. Do NOT use flea collars.

And just a heads up, it sounds like your dog has bad fleas since you can see them. The Capstar kills the fleas on your dog by inciting them to bite her skin and then killing them when they bite. About 30 minutes after we gave it to her, she went NUTS. Running in circles, running into walls, diving on the ground and rolling. We were afraid she was having an allergic reaction and rushed her back to the vet. They told us she was just basically being bitten all at once by the fleas and it was driving her crazy. They hadn't warned us about that, so be ready for it if it happens.

res932 · July 2011

MrsNash37212:

And just a heads up, it sounds like your dog has bad fleas since you can see them.

There weren't many. I only found two on the dog and one on the cat but it freaked me out.

callaann27 · July 2011

I have a large dog who had fleas when I wasn't pregnant. My solution: Remove him from the house immediately.I ended up stripping all bedding and washed it at the laundromat. While I was at the laundromat I had set for the foggers to go off. Once I had my house under wraps, I worked on the dog.You can give them a bath in Dawn dish soap(only once because it takes away natural oils on their skin & fur). The Dawn kills the bug or adult flea instantly! And then you can treat them with Frontline to kill the eggs(check with vet on how soon you can treat with Frontline after Dawn bath.) I set up a nice spot for him in the garage for the night, and then treated the house one more time to be sure nothing was missed or that any eggs didn't hatch over night in the carpet.

Its a no fun process--if this ever happens to be again, I'm just goig to pay the money to have people come in and do it for me!

mamaofmoose · July 2011

We had a "flea infestation" on a farm about 2 years ago. It was horrible. I can't describe in words how bad it was. We would leave for the weekends with our animals and cry.

What did we do? We begged for more help from the vet and this was our answer... no bombs, no pesticides, no dips, sprays or dusts, but COMFORTIS. It is a pill that the dogs take and it kills fleas within 30 minutes. It lasts all month, and you can bathe or let your dog swim as often as you want. They don't make comfortis for cats. We do use the Advantage-once in a while (indoor cat). It worked and it worked fast. Suddenly, our socks were white again and we were back to smiling and sleeping.

Our dogs have taken Comfortis since and we've never seen another flea. Ask your vet about it. Write back and let us know how you're doing!

Jshort914 · July 2011

I would have DH vacuum the house again a couple times this week, vigorously, even furniture. You want to get up as many flea eggs and larvae as possible. What happens when you vacuum also is vibration, which will get the larvae out of their pupae stage (they hibernate until something like heat or vibration wakes them up).

I only know this because after being a vet nurse for 5 years, I worked for a flea and tick company. I could tell you more about the cycle of life but it's kinda gross. Wink

turtlewifey · July 2011

Capstar works wonders. We used it on our dog last summer when she had fleas and we noticed a difference in her scratching the same day. It makes dogs really thirsty/have to pee a lot, so keep that in mind. For our dog, that symptom lasted about a week and we had a few accidents that were totally our fault because we just weren't used to letting her out as often as we needed to while she had the Capstar in her system.

If you use the bug bombs, all people and animals must leave the house. DH and I have used bug bombs in the past (only once since I became PG and we decided that we'll refrain until after baby is born) and he usually opens up the doors/windows and lets the house air out for a while after we bomb to get the fumes out. Also, make sure you put away anything on the kitchen counters that you don't want coming into contact with the chemicals - toaster, fruit bowl, stand mixer, coffee maker, etc. After we bomb, I wipe down the counters and range, as well as wash all of the bedding to remove the chemicals.

Good luck!

Want a personalized experience?

To ladies with pets...especially dogs

Re: To ladies with pets...especially dogs

Choose Another Board

Search Boards