Fleas on my dog, are the in my house?
Question:We don't usually take my dog outside very much, but today we took him on a long walk. We came home and a few hours later we found two ticks on him. One when I was on the couch and the second one when we bathed him. My mom swept every inch of our house and we gave my dog a really thorough bath. Do we need to go all out with the sprays for the house and flea dips because of two fleas or do we just wait and watch for any more signs?
Answers:
Go ahead and take preventive measures by spraying some flea spray or set off a flea bomb for your house. Two fleas can turn into a lot more fleas...quickly.
Honestly, no. . .go to the vet, and get something called "advantage". Advantage keeps the flees off your doggy for a month. My dog has a flea allergy, and we have to make sure she has NO FLEAS on her, or else it gets really bad. Advantage works really well, it's about 15 bucks at petsmart, and the cool thing is, the advantage will kill the fleas wherever the dog sits. You know, by rubbing into the crapet and such.
Now, if you are still not sure, they do have powders that you can vacume into the carpet that are really cheap at petsmart. Don't go to Walmart, none of that stuff works, I 've tried everything. Good luck!
Whatever you decide to do, do NOT bomb. We had a cat a couple years ago, and she ran away, once she was gone, we realized that our home was full of fleas. We bombed and it lasted about 2 days, and it was worse, then we bombed again..same thing. We finally called an exterminator and they told us that bombing was the worst thing to do. Basically, the bomb will not kill eggs and the fleas will hide under baseboards where the bomb does not reach. Also, when you air the house out, it tells you to vaccuum, which vibrates the carpet and makes the flea eggs hatch! We have had no more problems with fleas since we called Terminix. I know this may not answer the question, but hopefully you don't waste your money like we did.
Use flea soap on the dog. I think the most important thing is to spray your yard often with a flea killer. You should talk to your vet.
I agree do not bomb. I wouldn't even call an exterminator at this point. Call the vet and get the flea treatment that you put on the back of your dog (Don't use the cheap stuff from the store...it is not quite as good as what you can get from the vet. Or so I have heard.) This will take care of any fleas/ticks on your pet. It will also take care of any fleas that may be loose in your house. Fleas are drawn to pets and as soon as they land on your dog...they are gone.
Good luck!
Bathe your dog with ticks shampoo and find something at home depot/Lowe's that kills ticks outside. Buy a collar, but me friend has told me about something called Advantage...she gets it from her Vet. So maybe you can also try that option. Even though it sounds like its too much, its best to prevent before its too late and you have a BIG problem. Good Luck!
Please don't panic. Please, call your vet and get some Advantaage of Frontline from the vet. He/she will need to see the dog, get the dog's weight, etc., and will "prescribe" the amount to be put on the dog once a month. It's cheaper and better to go to the vet to get this.
Take care.
I'm confused. Did you find fleas or ticks on the dog? They are two very different parasites.
If they were ticks, did you remove them? If not, your dog can get an infection from them.
Fleas procreate rapidly! Vacuum frequently, at least every day for a couple of weeks. This will zap up flea eggs and break the cycle. Also, vacuum the dog's bedding or shake up outside. Empty the vacuum cleaner outside too after each use. This will stop the eggs from hatching in your vacuum and making their way out into your home.
Most importantly, protect your dog with flea medication. DO NOT get stuff from the supermarket or pet store. Not only does it not work, but some of that stuff has been known to kill pets.
Go to a veterinarian. They will have either Frontline, Advantage, or Revolution. This must be used monthly to not only protect your dog from fleas, but from the worms and diseases that fleas can give him.
I'm with them--use frontline or advantage. If they should show up in your house, a good nontoxic way to rid your house of them is to get some nightlights that automatically come on when it gets dark, and get some sticky roach pads. Tape the sticky roach pads on the wall (sticky side up) above the outlet where you are going to plug in the night light (one per room). At night, turn off ALL lights in the house except the night lights.
Fleas will be attracted to the light and will jump on the pads and will be unable to get off. We had this problem because of
a cat we had in the house, put the cat out, used this method, and in a couple of weeks, the fleas were gone completely. We changed the pads out when they got pretty full, and vacuumed per our normal schedule, emptying our vac outside to get rid of eggs that would hatch in the vac. Good luck!
If your dog has fleas then they are in your house also. I would give your dog a flea bath and get some carpet spray for your house.
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