I just bought a 12-week-old female Westie pup from a breeder a few days ago. When I brought her home everything seemed fine until I decided to bathe her and that is when I saw the dreaded flea. To be exact she had about four on her that I caught. The next day I began to look and see if she had fleas and found two more, this is when I decided to do something. I decided to go to the vet and bought frontline top spot, which seemed to do the job until I saw her scratching. She keeps on biting and scratching herself and it seems to me that she may still have flees. Is this normal or should I get a different flee medication? Could it be something else?
Answers:
Wait at least 48 hours after bathing your dog before you put on the topical flea treatment. It takes at least that long for the oils in the skin to replenish themselves and the flea treatment spreads through those oils. She may be having and allergic reaction to the flea bites, may have dry skin, or may be irritated from the shampoo you used. If you don't get all of the shampoo out of her hair then it can cause an irritation. For some crazy reason fleas are also more attracted to lighter coated dogs such as a white Westie. I've always used Frontline and find it to be very affective. My dogs are swimmers too and it doesn't wash off of their skin as easily as Advantage. If you decide to switch to a different medication make sure to wait until it is time again (one month). Don't want to be over dosing your puppy.
the flea medication is very good and you only have to put it on once in a few weeks.it takes around 72 hours to fully work when you start it off and also westies are prone to sensitive skin and itching so give it a few days and then if the itching doesnt go dont put lots of different things on its skin go back to vet.did you spray your home and the pups bed for fleas too?they get everywhere and jump on the dog as it lies down.yuk!but generally your doing everything right.
she may have a flea allergy.. that is, she's allergic to the flea bites. The fleas may already be gone from the frontline, but she is itching where she got bit (kinda like how a mosquito bite itches like crazy a few days after you get bit).. if she keeps digging at herself, you may want to take her to the vet for an allergy shot. I had a dog with a mild flea allergy and the vet gave him a small dose of cortizone.. he stopped itching right away.
I personally prefer Advantage. I find it to be most effective and gentle. Invest in a flea comb (a good one should be about $10). It should have metal teeth that are so close together you almost can't see through them. Keep combing him every day to help get the fleas off manually.
Check with your vet to see how long they would recommend waiting before trying a different product. Advantage should show you excellent results within 24 hours.
But you should be aware that there is a stage in the flea life cycle when it cannot be killed. Those larvae will hatch out, but should die out soon thereafter. Then be sure to keep up with your monthly flea control and heartworm preventative and you should be fine.
Each time she scratches, quickly search the region she is scracthing to see if there is anymore flea. It may take time for the medication to work. If you see no flea but her skin is reddish from the scratch, she could be allergic to flea bite.
Boosting her immune system is also a good alternative to getting rid of the flea in the long run.
Check out this article that talks about it.
http://www.dogcarezone.com/blog/natural-...
I use Advantix on my dog.
Advantix (not to be confused with Advantage) kills all stages of fleas, ticks and mosquitoes.
Ours in an indoor/outdoor dog and we have never seen a flea on her.
Quickly wash off the Frontline Immediately! She may be having a reaction to the chemicals and may be burning her.
There have been many dogs that have had reactions to spot on treatments, and have died from that exposure. I had a friend who had convulsions within 2 days of having a spot on treatment provided and he died a week later. Spot on treatments act neurologically on a dog. They are absorbed through the skin and some dogs are very sensitive to the poison that is used. Aproximately 3 dogs a day die from spot on flea treatments... Please review the website below.
I use a holistic approach to flea treatment. Wash the dog with a sudsy shampoo. I like to use Ivory dish soap, which does not alter the dogs natural PH, Wash the dog and leave the suds on for 20 minutes without rinsing. The suds will drown any fleas on the dog. Then rinse the dog off. I feed my dog a mixture of 2 parts brewers yeast to 1 part garlic powder and place a tsp of the mix over their food. Fleas and ticks and mosquitos are not attracted by the bitter smell of the blood. They will not use your dog as a lunch table.
Then vaccuum your house well to rid the eggs and any fleas that may jump off. You may want to put Diamoutrous Earth (food grade) on your carpet for a few days. Recheck the house and dog in 2 weeks for reinfestation.
You can place a 13 x 9 inch pan filled with soapy dishwater under a lamp light in your room. The fleas will be attracted by the heat of the light and jump into the soapy water and drown.
Check the pan the next morning.
I went to walmart and got puppy flea shampoo
worked on the spot
then we combed him with a flea comb
im sure that fleas lay eggs on the puppy
thats why they are comming back
or it just didnt kill all of them
hope i helped!
I give my dog heartworm pills, brand name SENTINEL. The SENTINEL tablets not only take care of heartworm, they also kill fleas and ticks. I live in a house in the woods and my dogs have long fur and have never had ticks. SENTINEL is great and soooo simple I cannot say enough good things about the product.
You can get SENTINEL at your vet. I woud recommend using a "bug-bomb" in your house/apartment. A bug-bomb is a device that will kill all the bugs in your house - make sure nobody is home when you ignite it (that includes your dog of course). You can get bug-bombs at ACE hardware, Home Deport, Lowes, etc.
Finally, if you already purchased some other heartworm meds for your dog, don't throw them out. Keep them for the winter when you don't have to worry about fleas and ticks. I give my dogs a cheaper brand of heartworm pills in the winter. Good luck.
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