The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Pets & Working Animals => Dogs => Topic started by: ScotsGirl on July 30, 2014, 08:32:16 am
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All my spaniels seem to be constantly invaded by fleas. I have used Advantix which killed the ticks but not fleas. Next I tried a Frontline but still the fleas lived on. I have sprayed the house twice now and comb the dogs nearly every day, drowning 6-20+ fleas per dog.
Do they pick these up from grass while walking? Is there anything else effective that I could try? The spot ons are so expensive which isn't funny if not working.
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Try a Seresto collar. My vet now prescribes it for my dog who is allergic to the spot treatments. It lasts eight months and is really effective.
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My information is that fleas lay eggs on the dog which fall off and lay dormant until strong sunlight hatches them. They can then reinfect any animal laying near them. So spraying the carpets, thoroughly cleaning hard floors (lino, laminate, wood etc) and removing and hot washing all bedding helps get rid of these. But it has to be done every day over a period of three weeks at the same time as the dog is being treated to be effective.
I have never tried a seresto collar but my four dogs had a heavy infestation two years ago - the above regime cleared the fleas in three weeks, and touch wood, even with this year's very hot weather they have not been troubled again.
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If you've an infestation in the house, then Acclaim works well, I have found. Just do the whole house about once every 8 months, do it after vaccing so when the edges of carpets and under beds have been cleaned. Do the dogs' bedding too of course.
I haven't had house pets for a few years now, though, so there could be newer products that I am not aware of.
For fleas on the dog, I just read this on another forum
My three dogs are on Comfortis - (available for cats as well) a once a month pill on prescription only - our vet recommended it as he was finding Frontline etc wasn’t working effectively on some animals and fleas are particularly bad at the moment.
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My vet has changed from using frontline combo to something else - I have it at home but cant remember what it is called. Yes you need to treat the pet and the living environment too. Wash bedding >60 degrees, spray carpets - again I recommend acclaim and all areas pets come in contact with.
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Thanks all, I will give it a go.
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If you've a real problem it can be simplier to get the local pest control to zap the house. They usually make a better job than trying to get acclaim etc into all the nooks & crannies. Probably be cheaper too.
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We switched to Advocate when Frontline stopped working. Prescription only.
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You need to go for the nuclear attack cause of the life cycles of them - no one product will clear an infestation, but will stop one.
Capstar - kills all live fleas on the animal at that point in time.
Program - makes them all sterile so that any who jump on, can't then re-produce
Advocate or similar (not frontline) - will continue to kill any that jump on and feed. I can't remember if it'll make them sterile too, but program is better for that imo
Comfortis has made a fair few dogs sick after having it, so its worth chatting to your vet for options.
You need to hoover the house, as well as sofas/mattresses and stick all soft furnishings on a hot wash. Don't forget to empty the hoover bag too :D There are a load of home sprays to use too - under sofas, lift sofa cushions and spray in cracks and around skirting boards are places people forget :)
You can also (!) dust round the house liberally with food grade Diatomaceous earth (but avoid breathing it in) as this will also help kill the little monsters. You can use this on the dogs too, but imho the chemical assault is the quickest most effective way forward.
Billy no mates from CSJ is supposed to be really good as a repellent - you add it to food once a day and it's full of herbs that are unattractive to beasties. I've just ordered some :)
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Frontline stopped working for us on our cats.
We sprayed the house with Indorex (http://www.vetuk.co.uk/flea-treatments-household-flea-sprays-c-3_419/indorex-flea-spray-500ml-can-p-677 (http://www.vetuk.co.uk/flea-treatments-household-flea-sprays-c-3_419/indorex-flea-spray-500ml-can-p-677)) and treated the cats with Advantage (http://www.vetuk.co.uk/advantage-flea-control-advantage-for-dogs-c-3_660_874 (http://www.vetuk.co.uk/advantage-flea-control-advantage-for-dogs-c-3_660_874)).
Pretty much saw the fleas dropping off the cats and dying the same day we treated with advantage.
Hope you can get clear.
Dans
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we havent seen a flea on ours ever since wev been up here, though we do regularly use spot-on, but also because we have wooden floors and the dogs sleep in the conservatory on tiled floors with waterproof tuffies. fleas dont have anywhere to hide.
however when we lived in england and had rehomed 2 dogs from a dogshome, which were riddled with fleas, our house was infected, we had to spray the whole house aswell as the dogs at least twice if i remember right. the spray was expensive and we got it from the vet. on this occassion the house was fully carpeted and the dogs had the run of the entire house so it was hard work to get rid.
on the funny side...
i do remember seeing a flea hop into my OH's gravy....ha ha...so we were infected pretty bad :roflanim:
i also remember my parents dog absolutley crawling with them all over her belly so we sprayed her and they must have crawled next door as the neighbours dog had a flea collar on the next time we saw him :roflanim: :roflanim:
im sure areas vary greatly as we dont seem to have fleas around our farm, and hardly any ticks either (or rabbits for that matter, maybe theres a link).
was there not a comb that zapped fleas or am i thinking of headlice ??? ::) ::)