Ok, my dog is a long haired chihuahua and is almost a year old. He’s had fleas for a month or two maybe more. Everyday I swear he gets almost a billion new fleas. The flea shampoo we’re using is by Hartz. I just bathed him in it and it’s worse than ever. We’ve been trying to stay consistent with the shampoo using it once a week. I used it just about four days ago. And a weeek or two before that. The fleas are mainly on his belly and hide legs area. I think most of the fleas are coming from our backyard. But it’s strange he’s like infested with fleas and we have three cats and they seem just fine. We let them roam around the outside one of them lives outside. What would be the best possiblem least costly, and most effecient way to get rid of the fleas on our dog and in the backyard and keep them out?
Sounds like he may need a flea dip by a professional. Fleas can cause a lot of problems and your dog can become anemic and die.
Please take care of his flea problem as soon as possible.
Flea shampoos, collars and over-the-counter topical treatments are NOT good for your pets! Do not use them! Go to your vet and get your dog started on Frontline or Advantage. You probably should get your cats on it too because fleas typically jump to the warmest body in the room and cats have a higher body temp than dogs. For your yard, you can go to a lawn and garden center and buy a yard spray (one that connects to a hose is easiest) that kills fleas, ants, etc. Spray down your yard very well and let it dry before you let the animals back out. You’ll need to do this about 1x a month during the hot months. That will help cut down on it, but the odds are, it’s not going to eliminate all fleas. That’s why you have to do both – protect the yard and the animals!
You can buy the stuff to dip your dog yourself, but be sure and ask a lot of questions about how to use it, follow the directions exactly, and be thorough. You can call a pest control company and see if their pesticide kills fleas. This might be an option to spray your outdoor areas. You also need to treat your house if the dog comes inside. You can buy powder to sprinkle on your carpet and spray to use on furniture and stuff you can’t wash. Anything you can wash, throw in the washer with a little bleach. Once you get rid of the infestation, you’ll need to treat your dog to prevent them in the future. You can ask your vet for product suggestions, or I’m sure other answers here contain good medicines. I don’t use chemical medications on my dogs, so I’m not help there.
go to the supermarket or petstore and buy the flea medicine that you put on their back between the shoulder blades. it usually kills them within 24 hours.
frontline is good, but i dont know if you need to go to a vet for that particular brand.
This works whether it is your yard or house that is infested. More than likely it is both.
You need something like FrontlinePlus…good source and cheaper than the vets is petshed.com…I use it so I know it works. A flea comb with a cup of hot water & a little dish liquid to dip the comb in when you comb your dog/cat. LOTs of vac bags and vac everyday and remove the bag and tie it in a shopping bag and take out of the house. This will work and you should see improvements within two months. DON’T use sprays, powders, house bombs, flea collars and over the counter products. They are dangerous and are full of pesticides and can harm you and your pet! To let you know as I was given a paper from the vets…cycle of the flea…They hatch from a cocoon like a butterfly…in one week they are an adult….as a adult they lay a egg every hour of their lives up to 1-2 years they live. The eggs hatch into a larva in about two weeks…they spend three weeks as a larva and then they wrap themselves into a cocoon. In the cocoon stage you can’t kill them unless you plan on burning down your house…fire is the only way to kill them in this stage. What makes them hatch from a cocoon is vibration, heat, and all sorts of things. They need a host to feed on within one week or they will die. ( problem being is the cocoons can take up to five months to hatch! and they all hatch at different rates!) WOW that is a lot of fleas! FrontlinePlus uses two ways to kill the fleas…they first have an ingredient that paralyzes the flea so it can’t feed and it dies…it does this for two weeks. The following two weeks it just inhibits the flea eggs of the fleas that feed on them and eggs don’t hatch. This is why it takes a few months, but it does work. BTW…flea baths don’t work either and will make it so the FrontlinePlus won’t work.
Definetly try a Capstar, Capstar almost instantley kills fleas, BUT does not prevent them so I would suggest getting a flea prevention for him and getting your yard sprayed.
I had the same problem with my Poodle. His fur is so thick & long it was virtually impossible to get the fleas off. First of all, the house definitly needs to get spray, you can find these at like Petsmart or something. The backyard needs to be sprayed also. I tried Frontline & everything on my dog, but he just kept getting the fleas and the medicine was giving him seizures. So, we were told to use AVON! The skin-so-soft oils & lotions. Bathe the dog normally with your dog shampoo, (regular or flea), then apply a small amount of Avon’s skin so soft & let it sit for a few minutes. Blow dry him or towel dry & rub skin so soft lotion on him. Especially under the belly!!! The fleas hate the smell! I could see them all hopping off in the shower!! It might take a few days if it’s really bad though. & he’ll keep getting re-infected if the house isn’t “de-flead”. And best part is, you can put the lotion on everyday without having to bathe him! It keeps the strong smell that the fleas hate! Hope this helps!
I use frontline spray that I bought from the vet (you don’t have to take your animal to them to buy it) I called around and found the cheapest. I bathed my dog and then sprayed her and the next day she had no fleas. The lady at the vets office told me to spray her feet and underbelly if she was outside for a long time before she came back inside. The thing that you put down their back never worked for me, at least not the ones from the supermarket, but I have heard the ones from the vet do work wonders. Good Luck.
I use Frontline which we can buy at the vet or at some retailers here. It is a bit more expensive but I have never seen a flea on them since we’ve been using it and I know there are fleas around cause we have wild bunnies all around the yard and I picked a baby up the other day and it had a flea on it. I’d go quick cause those fleas have got to be driving your dog mad.
Frontline spray purchased from a vet. Not the spot on version the actually spray and the fleas will fall off as you spray it on. Fantastic stuff I use the spray rather that the spot on Frintline for my boys. Ask the vaet about the oustaide yard.
Good Luck
I had a vet tech tell me to use DAWN soap for my kittens and dogs (who are all under a year old)… and it worked! crazy, but good. I had to wash a few times, but no more fleas.