Need help with fleas!!

[Home'scool]

I have two dogs, a corgi and a great swiss mountain dog. Everything was fine until I took in my mother's cat after she passed away. Unbeknownst to me, the cat had fleas.

 

Now the dogs and the house have them. UGH!!!

 

This is what I have done so far:

 

I no longer have the cat (he was always an indoor/outdoor cat, and after having him indoors for about a month to get used to us, I let him out and he never came back.)

I brought the dogs to the vet and they gave us flea collars that supposedly last 8 months.

I washed all of the dogs bedding and any of the blankets the cat used to sleep on.

I vacuumed the whole house, especially where they sleep, and they sprayed with a flea spray.

 

The dogs are still itching all of the time.

 

I started all of this last Saturday, so it has been less than a week. What is a decent time frame to expect results? Or am I not doing enough?

[Okra]

Well, I think the first thing you should do is buy some of the flea drops that you squeeze onto their backs.  Advantage is the brand we use. Use them every month until you know the fleas are gone.

 

Vacuuming is okay, but you have to empty the vacuum every single time because the fleas will just crawl right out of the vacuum.

 

Then, you have the problem with flea eggs.  You can't vacuum these out of a carpet.

 

For me, we own a steam cleaner.  We steam cleaned the carpets, then I vacuumed every day after that, including where pets sleep.  Then, we steam cleaned again the next week, just to make certain that we were getting all flea eggs our of the carpet.

 

Fleas are nasty, I'm sorry you have them now.

 

 

[Beth78]

We had a bad flea infestation this summer. The only thing I found that actually kept the fleas off the dogs was Happy Jack Kennel Dip II.  I bought it at Tractor Supply for $20.  We do not have carpet but I have heard that food grade diatomaceous earth works wonders for fleas in the house

.

[dancingmama]

Capstar. Add capstar to your mix. You can get it on amazon.

[gingersmom]

The one time we had fleas I took dog to petsmart for a flea dip bath and never had another flea.

[MotherGoose]

Do you see fleas in the house or are they confined to the dogs? I agree with emptying the vacuum bags, and throwing them away in outside trash can. Also I would use some of the drops or something to put on the dogs' backs--I don't think flea collars work very well. I'd ask the vet for other recommendations. If you are seeing fleas in the house away from the dogs, I'd hire a professional exterminator.

[PrairieSong]

We had a slight flea infestation once. There were fleas in the basement carpet. Besides treating the cats I also sprinkled boric acid all over the carpet, let it set a while (I think a few hours) and vacuumed it up. No more fleas.

[hornblower]

Flea life cycle is a couple weeks so you need to keep it up.

 

Collars are IMO pretty useless.

Use a topical like advantage, Advantix or revolution.

 

Vacuuming has been scientifically proven to work. They don't crawl out of the vacuum. The air and suction dries the out and they die. You need to vacuum daily, using the crevice tool around the edges.

 

When I get foster dogs coming in, they pretty much always have stray fleas and testing them with a topical + vacuuming lots is my main strategy. Has always worked so far.

 

Also consider long term immunity boosters like salmon oil supplements or Recovery. All my dogs get exposed to fleas a lot but we don't get infestations. I think parasites affect weakened organisms more.

[amyk]

Fleabusters. Saved my life. The fleas aren't immediately gone, because new fleas hatch. But every flea that hatches dies. 

[Justified]

I used food grade diatomaceous earth. It's cheap and safe. I left it overnight on the carpet and sofa and vacuumed first thing the next day. I also put it in the bedding area of the dog, but just during the day. I wouldnt leave that overnight in the dogs bed. While safe it will dry out the skin. It doesn't take much either. You are just sprinkling. It's very effective. http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Labratories-Diatomaceous-Powder-3-Pound/dp/B001THVH9G/ref=pd_ys_sf_s_rp_a1_2_p?ie=UTF8&refRID=1YB3V0W1BYA7C0HR7YWY

[JustEm]

Your dogs need a topical treatment, flea collars are pretty useless.  I like Advantage, Frontline, or Revolution.  My protocol for an active infestation is to treat the dogs with a dose and then 2 weeks later give them another dose.  After that its once a month if you continue after the infestation is gone.  If you have bathed them recently you need to wait a few days before putting it on them because the bathing washes away all the natural oils on their skin that spreads the medicine.

 

In my experience with a small infestation that is only on the animals this is enough to deal with the issue.  If the infestation is so bad that you are getting bit or you can see fleas on your furniture, not just after the dog gets up from lying down, then you need to vacuum daily and possibly treat any areas that are particularly bad.

 

One test to see how bad the infestation is:  AT night, set up bowls with soapy water in the rooms you think are infested.  Turn off all the lights in that room and surrounding rooms and shine a flashlight on that bowl. In the morning see how many fleas are in the bowl.  The light will attract them to jump in and the soap will kill them.  With a huge infestation this can be very useful with helping you see if what you are doing it working since the number of fleas decreases.  But if its mainly an infestation on just the animals then it won't be very effective.

[Chris in VA]

Be careful when mixing pesticides on your animal--they can get overloaded. I'd check with my vet before adding anything with pesticides to your pets' bodies.

 

We had a terrible infestation two summers ago. Mop everywhere you can, along with vacuuming (and don't forget to vacuum/steam clean your upholstry, too).

[Pawz4me]

I'm guessing you got Seresto collars?  I've heard some very good things about them.  So I don't think the vet necessarily steered you wrong.  However, not all products work well for all dogs and all situations.  It's possible something else would be more effective, or that you need to add an additional product.  I'd check with your vet about that.  IIRC, there are two active ingredients in the Seresto collars.  But off the top of my head I don't remember what they are or what other product, if any, can safely be used along with them.

 

It's also possible that you need to do more work at getting rid of the fleas in the house.  It sounds as if you just vacuumed once?  You need to do it a minimum of once a day for a week or two.

 

You may need to treat the house again, and you may need to treat the yard.

 

The other possibility is that the fleas are gone, but your dogs are having an allergic reaction to the flea bites.  A flea bite allergy (which is very common) can make dogs itchy for days or even weeks after the fleas are gone.  Have you seen any live fleas in the past day or two?

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

 

 

Capstar to kill adult live fleas asap.

 

And Program or similar for dogs. Works like flea birth control stopping the cycle.

 

Capstar can be given once every 24 hours for screw days or every couple of days as existing eggs hatch.

Program is once a month and prevents future fleas. Seems to work better than the drops.

[Chelli]

I started this thread earlier this month about the same problem. 

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/530183-make-the-fleas-go-away/

 

There might be some more suggestions in it.

 

Good luck! I'm still working on getting our flea problem under control!

[StephanieZ]

Trifexis or Comfortis. Either is perfect for fleas, but the Trifexis also is a heart worm preventative and intestinal parasiticide. It is awesome. Buy from your vet.