NPCER - pet people, I have flea questions

[aw]

Our dog is 15 years old and is on his death bed. He has never had fleas before in his life and we have never given him preventative medicine, but somehow he got fleas this summer and we have been battling them ever since. We've done two rounds of some type of pill from the vet and he still has them on him. I do baths once a week too.

I'm now freaking out about fleas getting all over my kids. Just today I saw one jump on my me while I was standing around the dog.

I vacuum every day and we have used boric acid on the carpets because we read it is a safe way to prevent infestations. I called the vet and they said that we should not do any flea bombs because I am pregnant and we have little kids.

So what do I do? Does the dog just have to deal with fleas until he dies? Are there other non-toxic ways to deal with this?

I'm freaking out people. Bugs are just not cool with me at all.

ETA - The dog is sort of in quarantine right now. He isn't around the kids because he's deaf and blind and has arthritis. He nips at the kids because they can get too rough. So he spends his time outside and in his "room". I think this is helping from keeping the fleas from spreading around the house, but I want to be able to snuggle with my dog in his final days without worrying about infesting my carpet.

[emmybean]

Im dealing with this with my cats right now and it's the nastiest thing. The vet should be able to give you some drops for his skin---frontline is what we use. That worked well for me the other time they got fleas and seems to have gotten them off the cats at least this time. As for the fleas and the kids---it sucks but from what I've read they're harmless, just a nuisance... I have some power that gets shaken on to the carpet and upholstery that seems to be helping, but it can take a couple weeks before they completely cycle out, so you have to stay on top of things.

It's seriously the most annoying thing to deal with when you can't use chemicals.

[aw]

Aug 20, 2012 12:31:14 GMT -5 emmybean said:

Im dealing with this with my cats right now and it's the nastiest thing. The vet should be able to give you some drops for his skin---frontline is what we use. That worked well for me the other time they got fleas and seems to have gotten them off the cats at least this time. As for the fleas and the kids---it sucks but from what I've read they're harmless, just a nuisance... I have some power that gets shaken on to the carpet and upholstery that seems to be helping, but it can take a couple weeks before they completely cycle out, so you have to stay on top of things.

It's seriously the most annoying thing to deal with when you can't use chemicals.

We were going to use the frontline stuff, but the vet said we can't with the pills. Maybe I should skip the pills next month and try the topical stuff? The pills obviously aren't working.

You're right. This is really annoying. I mean, on one hand it's nice, because it forces me to keep the floors clean, but the thought of bugs ever biting my kids makes me ragey.

Do you know what powder you use?

[copzgirl1171]

DE

eartheasy.com/live_natural_flea_control.html

[emmybean]

Pretty sure its this: www.petco.com/product/111179/Only-Natural-Pet-All-In-One-Flea-Powder-for-Pets.aspx

[debatethis]

Is he on Comfortis from the vet? That's the only thing we've found that will get rid of them off the dogs.

You can also try using diatomaceous earth. www.naturalnews.com/034728_flea_killer_natural_pets.html

[aw]

Aug 20, 2012 12:42:39 GMT -5 debatethis said:

Is he on Comfortis from the vet? That's the only thing we've found that will get rid of them off the dogs.

You can also try using diatomaceous earth. www.naturalnews.com/034728_flea_killer_natural_pets.html

Yes, he's on Comfortis. Does it take a while to work? We're halfway through a second treatment.

I just made an order of DE, Fleabusters and some electric traps. Hopefully one of these things will work. We've tried the whole nightlight over a tray of soapy water and it hasn't done anything.

[ringstrue]

Re: the pills - how often are you doing them and how long do they last? Sometimes with the topical meds you gotta do it every 3 weeks instead of the usually 4 or 6 if the infestation is real bad.

I'm really pro-systemic meds (pills, frontline, advantage, etc.) for the animals as opposed to "natural" remedies for fleas. Its the only solution where you are taking away the flea's food source. Fleas can jump 6 feet, so treating just the surroundings with a temporary method just keeps them moving but doesn't get rid of them for real.

[zelda25]

We just went through this with our dog--apparently, this is one of the worst flea seasons on record. Even though our dog had been treated (Program, the pill you give them), he still brought them home after spending a weekend away at doggie daycamp. The vet ok'd us giving him another Program pill once we were two weeks past the previous pill, and we bathed him EVERY DAY--not with flea shampoo--that crap is poison--but with Dawn (per vet, it kills fleas and helps soothe dog's skin) or just plain water to help drown the little bastards.

Daily vacuuming, daily washing of dog bedding, sofa covers, etc.

It took 2-3 weeks, but we finally got it under control. I think I'm about done with Program, by the way--it kills the fleas after they bite, but that's poor comfort to a dog who's already miserable. I want the things killed before they bit him.

[aw]

Aug 20, 2012 13:12:22 GMT -5 ringstrue said:

Re: the pills - how often are you doing them and how long do they last? Sometimes with the topical meds you gotta do it every 3 weeks instead of the usually 4 or 6 if the infestation is real bad.

We're doing the pills every four weeks.

[aw]

Aug 20, 2012 13:21:20 GMT -5 zelda25 said:

We just went through this with our dog--apparently, this is one of the worst flea seasons on record. Even though our dog had been treated (Program, the pill you give them), he still brought them home after spending a weekend away at doggie daycamp. The vet ok'd us giving him another Program pill once we were two weeks past the previous pill, and we bathed him EVERY DAY--not with flea shampoo--that crap is poison--but with Dawn (per vet, it kills fleas and helps soothe dog's skin) or just plain water to help drown the little bastards.

Daily vacuuming, daily washing of dog bedding, sofa covers, etc.

It took 2-3 weeks, but we finally got it under control. I think I'm about done with Program, by the way--it kills the fleas after they bite, but that's poor comfort to a dog who's already miserable. I want the things killed before they bit him.

Dawn is what we've been using to wash him. It kind of dries him out, but it's amazing how the fleas just sort of fall off during the bath.

Ugh. I'm so annoyed right now. :@

[redheadbaker]

Aug 20, 2012 12:35:50 GMT -5 @copzgirl1171 said:

DE

eartheasy.com/live_natural_flea_control.html

I was going to post this, too.

Fleas are a much bigger problem this year because of the mild winter. They've also started to become immune to Frontline.

Neem oil shampoo and spray is a good, natural way to prevent them.

[Dumbledork]

We used Comfortis on our dogs. It should work within thirty minutes of the first pill. He's supposed to eat a full meal with the pill, is he? It's odd that it's not working. We loved it but we stopped because it was getting so expensive. They'd been flea-free for about two years, but we just started noticing them again. I read in a magazine that Brewer's Yeast is a natural way to prevent fleas so we picked some up at PetSmart yesterday to try.

Make sure you're cleaning the dog's bed when you do the carpets.

[mexicali]

Comfortis works really well with our dogs before. They stopped selling it our local vet. Our dogs have not had fleas in years and they have come back. At first I was blaming our neighbor. They had a liter a few months ago and the dogs are always outside and dirty. I can see now it's just common this season.

Has anyone done a dip? The vet now does this. I had never heard of it.