Help! Fleas!

[dvcnewgirl]

I need help. I have never had this problem before. My girl dog has fleas and I can't get rid of them. I have done frontline, flea bath, bath in dawn detergent, flea collar... Nothing is working. Anyone have any tried and true help? Thank you!

 

[usnuzuloose]

How long has she had the fleas? If she is in the house , they are probably in the carpet and the carpet will need cleaning. Mine had them so bad, took him to the vet as he was allergic, they had to give him a shot and meds. I finally had to change his food and started him on benadryl. sp? He has not had any problems since. Poor little girl. I also get my meds for fleas from the vet as they are so much better than over the counter stuff. Remember it may not just be the carpet it could be your furniture and they are outside.

 

[MaleficentRN]

I really feel for you. I had this problem last summer and it was terrible. What I am going to tell you is not easy and not cheap. Number one, Frontline, or any over the counter treatment, is now useless. Fleas are becoming immune to it. You need to get another treatment from your veterinarian and use it year round.
Second, same thing with those bug bombs you get at the store. The only thing that will kill the fleas nowadays is something you really don't want in your home. You need to vacuum EVERY DAY for two weeks. And you need to vacuum not only the floor, but the furniture. Toss the bag or empty the canister after you are done. And don't forget to wash not only your bedding, but your pets.
Good luck!

 

[Disneefun]

I second the vacuum every day. Also, cut off a piece of a flea collar and put it in the bag/canister. That will help kill them off. (Make sure you get one that says it will kill flea eggs, too.)

Also, get a flea comb and comb her multiple times per day. It's time consuming, but sometimes you just have to manually remove the fleas. Keep a bowl of water with some dish detergent in it nearby and if you get a flea, drown them in the water (the dish soap suffocates them).

Also, you can pour table salt on your carpets, work it in with a brush and let it stand overnight. Vacuum the next day. The salt acts as a desiccant on the fleas.

 

[karliebug]

Sprinkle borax on your carpets and dog beds. Leave it overnight and vacuum up the next day. We use advantage on our pets. Frontline no longer works in our area.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

Go to the petstore (petsmart) and buy capstar. They sell it by weight. This medication will kill all ADULT fleas on the dog within an hour.

Then, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum.... and make sure your dog is up to date on her flea medicine and consider having the vet switch to something new

We have used Revolution with great success in the past and have just been switched by the vet to Sentinel (which is sold in six month quantities and also covers flea eggs/larve/mites/worms and all other parasites!)

 

[dvcnewgirl]

Thanks all! I will be using your ideas and let you know how it goes!

 

[JandJ]

The Borax really works. You have to sprinkle it everywhere the dog has been - carpet, furniture, blankets, even your car if she's been in there. Let it sit for at least a few hours, then vacuum it up with a flea collar in your vacuum bag and then throw away your vacuum bag in a zip lock baggie. Do this every single day until you notice the fleas are gone. Many years ago our dog, who had never had a single flea, got infested when we moved from Colorado to south Florida. She had to be flea dipped twice and they had to shave her (she was part Collie so you can imagine how much hair they had to remove!). I paid a guy almost $200 to do a flea treatment of the house - come to find out he used Borax! I could have done that myself! It's not harmful to you or your pet as the flea sprays and bombs are, but granted it is a lot of work to sprinkle, wait, and vacuum every day. SO worth it though!

We use Trifexis on our current dog year-round, and we have the yard sprayed for fleas monthly, too.

Good luck - fleas can be such a horrible hassle to deal with.

 

[usnuzuloose]

Trifexis works excellent

 

[barkley]

just a suggest-while you're trying all the excellent suggestions to eliminate/minimize the flea issue in your home, if you're getting bitten by the critters too, consider taking vitamin B1. fleas can detect yeast and do not like it. B1 gives off an odor (not perceptible to people) that will discourage fleas (and mosquitos) from biting.

I get big, nasty welts when bitten by fleas, gnats or mosquitos, B1 greatly reduces my appeal to these nasty little critters (I've read it can be used with pets, but needs to have the dosage determined by a vet).

 

[PatMcDuck]

Flea Busters!

I called them and had them treat my house (years ago). But you can order the stuff online, too.

It really works. http://www.fleabuster.com

 

[ktate82]

Trifexis and Comfortis both work great! We use the comfortis for the cats and Trifexis for the dog. Fleas will be jumping off of them within an hour and then vacuum, vacuum, vacuum! If it's really bad, you might be better off to have a professional come in instead of spending money and time on stuff that isn't helping. Hope it gets better!

 

[boltfan]

We had this issue last year, with all three of our dogs infested. We tried everything, and nothing worked. Then I read about this product, Comfortis. We didn't want to waste money going to the vet, so I ordered it online from Australia from a store called Hoofanhound. I was very skeptical, but had read great reviews. The stuff was amazing. Within about 3-4 hours, all of the fleas were dead on the dogs. We bathed them and cleaned all the carpets, bedding....in hot water. Will definitely use again if we ever have the problem come up again.

 

[JLKennedy]

We had an infestation when we dug for our pool. They live in dirt 1st - vacuuming agitates the eggs and causes them to hatch faster. Contact a exterminator and there is a spray that can be put down that is absolutely safe after 12 hours, so you and dog will need to leave house. 2nd stop with the flea treatments - if you bathe with flea shampoo and then put on a flea collar - they essentially will cancel each other out....you have to give it a couple days to work. As a holistic alternative, feed your dog garlic, the oils found in garlic aren't too tasty for any biting bug.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

Also, if you have your own yard, consider having it treated as well. We treat our yard every six months.

 

[lsenquiz]

Order flea stoppers from Amazon. We used it the first time in 1995 at the suggestion of our vet when we had a flea problem so bad we thought they would actually kill our dog. You just sprinkle it on the carpet and rake it in with a small rake we purchased from walmart. We did it once and did not see another flea for the entire 9 years we lived there. We have since used it in our new house once and four times in rental houses both my children have rented while in college. The four rental house had fleas so bad you could not step foot in the house without having hundreds jump on you. In all cases within 1 week the fleas were completely gone never to be seen again.

 

[sarahk0204]

I second the vacuum every day. Also, cut off a piece of a flea collar and put it in the bag/canister. That will help kill them off. (Make sure you get one that says it will kill flea eggs, too.)

Actually, you shouldn't do this one anymore. It just aerosolizes the chemical when you vacuum. Definitely throw away the bag/clean the canister.

Yeah, it was great when all you had to do was put on Frontline. Now we are back to treating the environment too and working on breaking the flea life cycle. They have 4 life stages just like moths/butterflies do, so you can't just kill the adults. You have to do stuff to kill eggs and larvae. The cocoon stage (pupa) is pretty much impossible to kill, so that's why you have to treat consistently for several months in a row to take care of the newly emerged adults.

Yeah, with flea products, it is really a "you get what you pay for" scenario. Get thee to your veterinarian and make sure you get all of the products explained to you as to how and when to use them. Good luck!

 

[jillbur]

I feel for you. Our dog got horrible fleas last year & it took weeks to get rid of them completely. It was a bad summer for fleas here because the previous winter was very mild. Our groomer even said she was seeing dogs with fleas that had never had them in the 10 years she was grooming them!

Our dog had been on frontline & it was no longer effective. We switched to Advantage & it is much better.

We went with the Borax on the carpets and flea combing daily. We did the Borax for about 2 weeks to make sure we got all the eggs in the carpets. Then we rented a carpet cleaner and cleaned the carpets. Flea combing got most of the live ones off of her. After you comb, dip the comb immediately into a bowl of water with dish soap. Our dog actually loved being combed with the flea comb!

I hope you get rid of them soon. It's a tiring process!

 

[SUSIEQ]

Try Advantage.

 

[secretpantssam]

I also agree that Flea Buster's works

http://www.amazon.com/Fleabusters-R...F8&qid=1402930911&sr=8-4&keywords=flea+powder

Our cat got fleas a few years ago. I vacuumed constantly and emptied the container each time. And then I put this stuff down and it really worked. But make sure you cover all your electronics when you're putting it down because it does leave a thin layer of the powder everywhere.

We also gave the cat Capstar which kills all the fleas on and around the animal.