My mother's neighbor has a pit bull with 4 10 week old pups. All are very infested with fleas. Their skin is covered with scabs. I have offered to bath and treat them. I am looking for suggestions on how to treat them. I assume the first step is to bathe them in some sort of flea shampoo. What about a follow-up rinse with a skin/coat conditioner? Would K9Advantix be safe for the pups? Their website says it is safe for pups 6weeks and older. Thanks for your feedback.
Need advice on treating flea infested pups and mother
- Thread starter Back40
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How horrible !!! I had a litter during a terrible flea summer before the days of Advantix ....only sprays and powders . All I could do is wash bedding ALOT and go over the pups with a nit comb and dip comb in soapy water to kill them . Mom was combed 3 or 4 times daily , but it was the pups I was worried about until they were old enough to be safely powdered . With Mom grooming them daily it was a tricky timing .
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aww the poor things. Personaly I would call the humane society on their owners. Fleas infestations can be very dangerous for young pups. Fleas can carry tapeworm and can cause animea which can very easliy lead to death in a young puppy. The owners need to be educated on how to properly care for thier dogs, esspecialy if they are going to allow them to breed.
My understanding is that you can bathe a dog in any soap or shampoo -- any suds will kill fleas if you lather them up and leave them soapy for 7-10 minutes before rinsing them off. A flea shampoo will have chemicals that, in addition to killing extant fleas, will repel fleas for longer, after the bath, if you don't mind exposing the pups to those chemicals. But really, fleas die and will drown in any soapy water, given a good enough lather and time.
Then, I'd let the pups have a good soak in an oatmeal bath. You can either buy fancy Aveno colloidal oatmeal bath powder, or you can make your own by just putting some regular oats in a blender and turning them into powder. Sometimes, I have put regular oats into a long gym sock, then tied off the sock. I fill the tub with warm/hot water and let the sock soak through. After 10 minutes or so of "steeping" I squeeze the sock to get the gooey, liquidy goodness from the oats and swish it through the bathwater. The more cloudy/oaty the water, the better. After a good soak, rinse them off well. This will really soothe their skin and should reduce scratching dramatically. Even if you don't bathe/shampoo them every few days, you can give them an oatmeal soak and rinse them off. This will reduce the itching.
Then, I'd recommend going with the spot-on flea stuff -- but generally you don't apply that until 3-4 days after bathing. It IS safe for pups, as indicated on the box.
You'll also want to be super careful about not introducing fleas into a non-flea-infested area. If you bathe the pups to kill the fleas on them, then give them a medication to kill future fleas, you should be okay... but not if they go back to the flea-infested environment. My understanding is that Frontline and Advantix and the like only kill fleas after the fleas have bitten the animal. Unless you address the problem of their environment, they may continue to suffer.
Best of luck! You're a good person to undertake it.
Then, I'd let the pups have a good soak in an oatmeal bath. You can either buy fancy Aveno colloidal oatmeal bath powder, or you can make your own by just putting some regular oats in a blender and turning them into powder. Sometimes, I have put regular oats into a long gym sock, then tied off the sock. I fill the tub with warm/hot water and let the sock soak through. After 10 minutes or so of "steeping" I squeeze the sock to get the gooey, liquidy goodness from the oats and swish it through the bathwater. The more cloudy/oaty the water, the better. After a good soak, rinse them off well. This will really soothe their skin and should reduce scratching dramatically. Even if you don't bathe/shampoo them every few days, you can give them an oatmeal soak and rinse them off. This will reduce the itching.
Then, I'd recommend going with the spot-on flea stuff -- but generally you don't apply that until 3-4 days after bathing. It IS safe for pups, as indicated on the box.
You'll also want to be super careful about not introducing fleas into a non-flea-infested area. If you bathe the pups to kill the fleas on them, then give them a medication to kill future fleas, you should be okay... but not if they go back to the flea-infested environment. My understanding is that Frontline and Advantix and the like only kill fleas after the fleas have bitten the animal. Unless you address the problem of their environment, they may continue to suffer.
Best of luck! You're a good person to undertake it.
Thanks for the feedback. Going to bathe the mother and pups this weekend and plan on spraying their environment with a nontoxic product that should at least repel the fleas. I may broadcast some flea/tick granules in the yard they inhabit if there is still evidence of fleas in a couple weeks. Wish me and the "pityfull pits" luck.
Close observation of the dog is highly essential to rule out the occurrence of fleas disturbing the animal to a greater extent. Similarly, the skin of the animal needs to be tested for the presence of ticks, lice etc. For this, the hair materials need to be separated and the close observation with patience is required for the proper diagnosis.