Last night instead of putting out the presents, we were up until 1am vacuuming our whole condo and washing loads of laundry and the dog with a flea soap from Walgreens. Our dog was not acting different at all, but we found the 2 fleas on him, a total of 4 after his bath. I keep a very clean house and feel so gross and dirty now. I've read that it's not so much the fleas to be worried about because they can be killed off, rather it's the larva and eggs that multiply. So we have sprinkes the powder everywhere the dog goes, and vacuumed it up 2x now, dog has had 2 baths and seems flea free. What else can or should I do? I have a 2 year old and don't want to use harsh chemicals if I don't need to, but I'm worried about the eggs growing. Besides from physically seeing them on our dog, I wouldn't think we really even had them. Oh, small condo building has 2 other dogs, one living right across from us. Ours is an indoor dog just going outside to potty, so I don't want to keep getting these if another dog gave them to us. Please help!!
First off, thanks so much for the responses! I feel better about the situation from you all. We got the Frontline yesterday and started it. I did do the water/light test for 2 days and nights and no fleas were in the water - good sign. I am not washing the dog anymore but am using the powder every other day. I just don't see how the dog would get them from going potty outside when there's so much snow outside, but that seems to be the only idea. Thanks again Mamas, I believe we'll have this situation under control soon enough.
my mom use to put cedar shavings in cheesecloth and put inside the couch cushions. Flea's are not suppose to like the scent. GOOD LUCK.
i would be more worried about all the chemicals you just put around your home around your kid?
Have you ever owned a dog before? I find this to be a very cute post since growing up with numerous dogs I've never known a dog not to have fleas. There are treatments that you can do to control them like dips and I think there are drops that work pretty well that you can put behind their head on the back of the neck....but a dog without fleas???? And your dog most likely got the fleas from going outside to do it's business.....I seriously doubt he/she got them from another dog in the building. Your vet would probably have the best advice.
To see if you have a massive problem with fleas in the house, or just a couple on the dog, you can do the following simple test. Get a bowl/pan and fill it with soapy water. Place it out on the carpet at night. Place a desk lamp, or some other source of smaller light to shine on the bowl/pan. The fleas will be attracted to here and jump in...then die. You can check in the moring to see if you have an fleas in the pan. If your carpets are infected, you will have lots of fleas in the morning. If you don't have many, they are probably just on your dog.
There are several flea and tick meds available through your vet. There is a liquid one you put on the skin on the back of the dog's neck once a month. It kills fleas and ticks that may get on your dog. Ask your vet what flea preventative is right for your dog.
Here is a link to a website to keep at hand, you can ask various questions when you go to answer tab.
Search fleas and two year old, you will get suggestions for natural flea killers and repellents.
http://www.dogster.com/?utm_source=dog%2Btip%20email&...
Hope this helps now and in the future.
Just keep vacuuming. The fleas/larvae will die in the vacuum. This is the advice from our Vet. No chemicals. After washing the dog you can use the "spot between the shoulders method" (frontline) on the dog. It spreads thru out the dogs fur and lasts a month. We had fleas just over a month ago, did this with our 2 dogs and no fleas since then. Important to vacuum everyday for at least a week.
D. C
1st, no more baths for your dog!! That's way too many chemicals for him/her, also no powders for your house because of your son. Simply continue to vacume, however you should throw the bag away each time, they can live in your vacume bag!! Call your vet and get monthly Frontline or whatever they suggest. As much as yes it is gross you are not dirty!!
I run a daycare/boarding in my home so I'm very careful when it comes to fleas. I make sure everyone is on flea preventitive.
Good Luck
V.
Put a flea collar in your vacuum cleaner bag and vacuum frequently. I've gotten rid of fleas just by doing that.
Frontline plus, the treatment you put in the animal is wonderful. We've had great success with that, too.
First, calm down. This is no big deal and can easily be treated. Fleas don't mean you're dirty. Fleas live in our yards and when our dogs go outside, the fleas jump on. Unless of course you use flea preventive, which makes your dogs uninhabitable to fleas. Flea dips and baths and collars, etc., won't do any good. My ex-husband is a vet. I get a solution from him that I put on my dogs once a month. It's a combination heartworm/flea/tick preventive. It's a little vial of liquid that you squirt on the dog's neck once a month. Not harmful to the dogs or humans like all the other things you can do. The one I use is called Revolution made by Pfizer. Your dog needs to be on heartworm preventive anyway, so this combination solution is great because it prevents all three. Get your dog on it right away and no more fleas. The fleas in your house will die off because there isn't a host for them to live on. Clean well and vacuum and all the eggs and whatnot will be gone too. This is an easy solution I promise. We have never had fleas, ticks or heartworm.
I had the same thing happen about a month ago, except my dogs stomach was covered in fleas!! I too felt dirty, but they are truly no big deal. The flea shampoo does not do anything. We got a pill from our vet that took immediate effect. We got a cream from our vet also. I have a 1 year old, so I was also worried about using harsh chemicals. The best thing to do for the larva and eggs is to keep vacuuming. The vibration of the vacuum will make the eggs hatch faster, and then the fleas will jump on the dog and be killed. Don't remove your dog from where he/she normally lays, or the fleas will find a new host. Good Luck!!
Fleas are blood-drinkers. Their presence has absolutely nothing to do with the cleanliness of a house. If you only found 4, it could be they hitched a ride when your dog was outside doing his business. Get some frontline to treat your dog. It lasts for a month and acts as a "de-flea" treatment for the house as your dog sheds. It's not cheap, but it is really worth it. The cost to de-worm your dog if he ingests a flea is much higher than the annual cost of frontline. If you see any more fleas, I would call a local pest control company because the flea life cycle is 14-16 days and it can become a real nightmare. There are several that use more environmentally friendly treatments that won't require you to wash everything your child comes into contact with.
Make sure that you buy the Frontline from your vet. 40% of all frontline out there is fake. We made the mistake of buying frontline from a feed shop and ended up with fleas and ticks! Yikes. We finally got the fleas under control with the Frontline and with vacuuming and washing the floors. You need to put a flea collar in your vacuum. We kept our vacuum outside so that we did not reinfest. After a month or so of fleas and feeling like we weren't getting anywhere, we had our carpets cleaned. That did the trick. Good luck. It is a hard battle!!!
Wow... you really did a lot of work. Relax...it really wasn't necessary. Go to your vet..get a flea preventative gel that you put on the nape of the dogs neck. You use it monthly and it kills the fleas, eggs, etc. Don't remove the dog, because it needs to be around the house to pick up the fleas that will then die from the medicine. If not, it will find something else to host on.
Fleas are soooo easy to get. The cleanest "inside dog" pees on 2 inchs of grass somewhere and they can hop on. Can't really control it, unless you get the preventative flea methods and use it regularly. Don't keep washing the dog..you are exposing it to to many chemicals. Ask the vet when its okay to use the medicine after all the washing and let it do it's job.
Hang in there...it's not as bad as it was "back in the day" when your only options where nasty shampoos and "collars".
