Same here (dang Frontline! Urgh!) Strider got a bath two days ago and I let the soap sit until all the fleas died....2 hours later I found a new one. 
We've been vacuuming like mad. I can't try Advantix until the Frontline "wears off" so he doesn't get poisoned.
We're picking up some Diatomaceous Earth as soon as I am able. One of my friends swears by it. She made a carpet powder by putting it in a baby powder shaker thing, and added some cinnamon for cinnamony goodness. Shakes it all over the carpet and vacuums it up. It totally slices the ribbons out of flea eggs and fleas, so no toxins involved. I'm wondering if it would be safe to put directly on the dog. We used to feed it to our chickens as a non-toxic dewormer, but they eat rocks and I know you're not really supposed to inhale the dust of the DE.
Does anyone know of something to relieve the itchiness of flea bites? Some kind of cream or spray? He's completely miserable.
We've been vacuuming like mad. I can't try Advantix until the Frontline "wears off" so he doesn't get poisoned. We're picking up some Diatomaceous Earth as soon as I am able. One of my friends swears by it. She made a carpet powder by putting it in a baby powder shaker thing, and added some cinnamon for cinnamony goodness. Shakes it all over the carpet and vacuums it up. It totally slices the ribbons out of flea eggs and fleas, so no toxins involved. I'm wondering if it would be safe to put directly on the dog
. We used to feed it to our chickens as a non-toxic dewormer, but they eat rocks and I know you're not really supposed to inhale the dust of the DE. Does anyone know of something to relieve the itchiness of flea bites? Some kind of cream or spray? He's completely miserable.
Try the frontline spray. It killed all stages of fleas in the house when they jumped on the dogs. Washed their bedding, don't have carpet so no vacuuming, but the spray stuff work GREAT. They stopped itching within 24 hours. Seriously. And I've seen fleas, but there are none on the dogs or cats, and any I find are dead.
Now for the yard, which is why we still have fleas around.
Now for the yard, which is why we still have fleas around.
Flea Free
I found myself paying significant amounts of money for flea medication, and finally decided to research other options. It seemed like nearly every time I woud apply the flea medicine, one of the dogs would need a bath. I know they say it still works even if you give your dog a bath, but it didn't work for me.
I started using a product called Flea Free, which is this garlicy smelling juice that you put in their water. I use it for all of my animals, and it works great. I haven't seen a single insect anywhere in my home. It doesn't make my dogs (or their breath) smell either.
I found myself paying significant amounts of money for flea medication, and finally decided to research other options. It seemed like nearly every time I woud apply the flea medicine, one of the dogs would need a bath. I know they say it still works even if you give your dog a bath, but it didn't work for me.
I started using a product called Flea Free, which is this garlicy smelling juice that you put in their water. I use it for all of my animals, and it works great. I haven't seen a single insect anywhere in my home. It doesn't make my dogs (or their breath) smell either.
Update: The diatomecious earth worked!
I treated all rugs in our house with it, vacuumed it up. Did the car. Washed all the bedding and cushions. Haven't seen any fleas in two weeks. We don't have a yard, but apparently you can sprinkle it on your lawn to kill the bugs. Just be aware that it will kill beneficial bugs as well, so don't go too crazy with it.
Some very important things I learned though:
DO NOT buy the pool grade DE. It is treated with chemicals that are toxic.
You can get human food grade DE from health food stores. I got a huge bag for $3.00. It is used for killing internal parasites in people. I took it (supposed to be 1 tbsp per 100 lbs of person, it's impossible to overdose) just because I am always paranoid that I have worms. So now I know for sure there are none, lol.
For roundworms it has to be taken 7 days straight. This is because it doesn't hurt the eggs. After 7 days the cycle has been broken.
It takes 90 days to get rid of lungworms with it. Same thing, have to catch them at the right part of the lifecycle, where they are vulnerable and in the digestive system.
Gets rid of tapeworms. Don't have a timeframe on it. When I first started giving it to Strider he pooped out a giant mess of round and tapeworms *barfs*. That was the worst dog doo ever to pick up. Not too surprising though, since most dogs get tapeworms from fleas. The 7 days are up, but it is so cheap that I am giving it to him (and myself) every day now to prevent any re infestation.
I treated all rugs in our house with it, vacuumed it up. Did the car. Washed all the bedding and cushions. Haven't seen any fleas in two weeks. We don't have a yard, but apparently you can sprinkle it on your lawn to kill the bugs. Just be aware that it will kill beneficial bugs as well, so don't go too crazy with it.
Some very important things I learned though:
DO NOT buy the pool grade DE. It is treated with chemicals that are toxic.
You can get human food grade DE from health food stores. I got a huge bag for $3.00. It is used for killing internal parasites in people. I took it (supposed to be 1 tbsp per 100 lbs of person, it's impossible to overdose) just because I am always paranoid that I have worms. So now I know for sure there are none, lol.
For roundworms it has to be taken 7 days straight. This is because it doesn't hurt the eggs. After 7 days the cycle has been broken.
It takes 90 days to get rid of lungworms with it. Same thing, have to catch them at the right part of the lifecycle, where they are vulnerable and in the digestive system.
Gets rid of tapeworms. Don't have a timeframe on it. When I first started giving it to Strider he pooped out a giant mess of round and tapeworms *barfs*. That was the worst dog doo ever to pick up. Not too surprising though, since most dogs get tapeworms from fleas. The 7 days are up, but it is so cheap that I am giving it to him (and myself) every day now to prevent any re infestation.
depending on your areas advantix will work better than forntline and visa versa. this area of CT fleas and ticks will bite through and live thought frontline plus, but the advantix kills them all in 12 hours...
the next woen over most prefer frontline because the opposite is true...
fleas and ticks DO become pesticide resistent!
in terms of helping with its peppermint (or any mint based) shampoo will help with itching.
i keep a bottle of peppermint/teatrea around simply because my parents cocker has nasty flea allergies...the peppermint teatree helps the itching and steralizes.
this time of year is FLEA SEASON, there out, there biting and biting HARD. same goes for mosquitoes!
the next woen over most prefer frontline because the opposite is true...
fleas and ticks DO become pesticide resistent!
in terms of helping with its peppermint (or any mint based) shampoo will help with itching.
i keep a bottle of peppermint/teatrea around simply because my parents cocker has nasty flea allergies...the peppermint teatree helps the itching and steralizes.
this time of year is FLEA SEASON, there out, there biting and biting HARD. same goes for mosquitoes!
We had to really hunt to find some. DO NOT use the pool grade stuff, it is treated with chemicals and is toxic!
One of our local health food stores had bags of it. The clerk was like, "dia-tenacious what?" lol. The manager heard me ask though, and he showed me where it was. They had it in their pet section, though it is human food grade. If you can't find anywhere that carries it locally, you can buy it many places online. Just google, "food grade diatomaceous earth" and a whole bunch of websites will pop up. It is light as a feather, so even with the smaller poundage you will be getting a lot in volume.
One of our local health food stores had bags of it. The clerk was like, "dia-tenacious what?" lol. The manager heard me ask though, and he showed me where it was. They had it in their pet section, though it is human food grade. If you can't find anywhere that carries it locally, you can buy it many places online. Just google, "food grade diatomaceous earth" and a whole bunch of websites will pop up. It is light as a feather, so even with the smaller poundage you will be getting a lot in volume.
Our vet just prescribed something called "Comfortis" for Strider. It is a pill that is taken internally and kills the fleas for a month. And from what I understand, the fleas don't have to bite him. They jump on, get poisoned, jump ship, and die. Within 4 hours of eating the pill all fleas on the dog are supposed to be dead. D-E-D dead. lol. The diatomecious earth controls the fleas in his environment, but the second he steps outside dozens jump on and reinfest his poor little body. And he is reacting worse and worse and time goes by, so we needed something to just keep them from biting him at all if possible.
Anyway, since it's pretty new I googled reviews and read the whole thing carefully. A lot of people are raving about it, and there seems to have been few poor reactions, and those seem to be limited to puking the pill up or loose stools. It should come some time next week, so when it does he will be under close scrutiny and I'll give you guys some feedback about how it works for him.
Anyway, since it's pretty new I googled reviews and read the whole thing carefully. A lot of people are raving about it, and there seems to have been few poor reactions, and those seem to be limited to puking the pill up or loose stools. It should come some time next week, so when it does he will be under close scrutiny and I'll give you guys some feedback about how it works for him.
Frontline did absolutely nothing for us
I did the 'old fashioned' way - dawn dish soap bath, and then a good old fashioned flea comb. I vaccuumed twice a day, putting baking powder down both times. Put baking powder under their beds, and gave them brewers yeast. I'm not sure what worked, but something did
Good luck!
I did the 'old fashioned' way - dawn dish soap bath, and then a good old fashioned flea comb. I vaccuumed twice a day, putting baking powder down both times. Put baking powder under their beds, and gave them brewers yeast. I'm not sure what worked, but something did
Good luck!
Although treating fleas on a dog is one thing, getting them to leave from your house and yard is another!
Although I've luckily not experienced this problem with my pup, the article below might be of some help...
http://www.dog-names-and-more.com/Dog-Fleas.html
If you're not aggressive now, you'll pay later with a larger infestation that's harder to get rid of.
Although I've luckily not experienced this problem with my pup, the article below might be of some help...
http://www.dog-names-and-more.com/Dog-Fleas.html
If you're not aggressive now, you'll pay later with a larger infestation that's harder to get rid of.