Hi everyone,

Just wanted to ask some advice if possible please. We have just over 4 months golden retriever but we had dog cockapoo before her. I just want to ask if any of you could suggest us anything to treat her flea. We had her for just under 2 weeks but noticed she scratching all the time. We bathe her and noticed lots of small fleas on her fur. We normally goes to vet and ask for their advice but at the moment we are isolating and can't go anywhere really.

We spoke to vet but they want to see her first, which is unfortunately we can't at the moment. I was wondering if anything we could do to alleviate her suffering. We have used advantage for flea before but not sure if that will help her and also we cant get it at the moment. We tried ordering online but not yet receive.

I will really appreciate all your advice.

Regards

A good all over bath with puppy shampoo with some fairy liquid in it left on for 10 mins will kill fleas.  The problem is then in your environment.  Bedding needs to be washed, any areas of the house she has been in will need to be treated, Indorex is great, follow the instructions and then vacuum vacuum vacuum your way to eliminating them.  I am not an advocate of chemicals and you can deal with it naturally albeit Indorex is not natural, you need a bit of help in the environment where a lot of fleas are found, oh and don't forget to spray your car too if she has been in there.

I would recommend ordering online some Capstar and some Programme. They are both oral medications which will not contaminate water supplies, humans or your house with pesticides and they have been around a long time with excellent safety record.

Capstar kills all the mature fleas on the dog and Programme kills the eggs and larvae. Give the Capstar one day and then the next day, give the Programme. Continue the Programme for 3-4 months, given monthly as per the instructions.

You will need to order this online from an online pharmacy like vetuk.co.uk If you want something immediately, you can try your local supermarket and the pet section there will usually have flea products - however these won't be as effective as stuff online from an online pet pharmacy - rather than using these and ALSO the stuff from online, I'd just wait till the online stuff arrived and pay a bit extra for fast shipping.

I swear by Capstar (check re age use) coupled with a good commercial spray for the house, laundering of everything the dog has been on and vacuuming EVERYWHERE.

Talk to you vet about the most effective ongoing treatment.   Most are available online and it's a darned sight cheaper than via a vet provided it's off prescription but even then, and with the vet's prescription charge, it's usually still cheaper.   I used to get Metacam at a fraction of what my vet charged, even with his prescription charge.

You can buy really effective flea products online with next day delivery.

Like other people have said Capstar is a must, I use it when transporting rescue dogs, within half an hour dead fleas are falling off the dog. Then you need a good quality spray for the house and hoover, hoover everywhere.

phone your vets and tell them you are isolating, Our vets is dropping off meds to people who are in isolation, You need a decent spot on for the dog and then a couple of cans of spray to kill the fleas in your carpets and other soft furnishings

if its like our vets there is a requirement that they see the dog every ? months to issue flea treatments etc. If pup hasn't been seen before then they arnt suppose to dispense. Jeangenie is likely to be able to confirm.
What about whoever is walking pup can they take to the vet , any discussion could be had by phone with the vet.

As pup is only 4 m months old check that whatever is used is safe at that age.

Re age restriction for Capstar

https://www.drugs.com/pro/capstar.html

All good then just thought it was worth mentioning. Although not for.this pup may apply to toy breeds re weight or amy dog if its very young.

Another vote for capstar, that and spraying carpets in between floorboards etc with virbac indorex spray (We bought about 3 from amazon, the best we’ve ever found although you will need to properly air the place and keep windows open for a good hour as the stuff stinks - we went out after treating house so that by the time we came back the smell wasn’t all consuming!) The spot ons are good but will only go so far as the fleas and eggs will be living in the environment And the cycle will continue until the environment is treated. Indorex will continue to work until you hoover and mop, so I’d hoover mop then spray everything within and inch of its life and leave it for a good month. We had fleas about 5/6 years ago and that was the only way we managed to completely get rid of them. Hope you get rid of them soon, they’re nasty little things and will always check my girls whenever I see a dark ‘speck’ on them now as it’s much easier to ‘catch’ them early.

> and spraying carpets in between floorboards etc with virbac indorex spray (

This is the commercial product we used too.

Just to add to the excellent advice you've already been given, if you have any cats they would need to be treated as well.

Hi thanks for your kind advice. Before we had her we had the opportunity to get some doggy shampoo for her. Its branded from ham and hammer. it does her good the first time but over time shes back to scrathing again.

And yes all her bedding washed as much often as possible. I havent used indorex before and hopefully we could purchased it online. vacuum i am not sure as the first time ive tried it she runs and was so scared. Ive got tiled floor and since im at home, cleaning and mopping all the time as she is still toiletting.

Really appreciate it thank you.

I will have a look whether i could purchased it online. Hopefully this one dont need vet presciption?

thanks a lot. I have never use this product before only what the vet told us to use on our previous dog.

hi thanks. and yes I've got cats too which he is getting flea treatment every month and noticed he got flea since the dog came to us. I am not sure if that is the reason but he was always clean flea free as possible.

tnank you i will have a look at this now:

really appreciated it thank you

Just to add, fleas only spend short time on the animal, 80% of the problem is in the environment so a treated dog just gets reinfected.

You need to use a household flea spray, like Acclaim (or other brand), that contains an insect growth regulator, kiling adult fleas and preventing the fleas breeding,by breaking the life cycle. These variously last 6 - 12 months.

Once you have treated the house, bathing the pup with flea shampoi or spraying eill kill any adult fleas on the animal. 

I always spray the house before going out.

I can recommend ProGroom shampoo for mild infestations, if you catch them before they’ve started laying eggs in your house.

I noticed River scratching a month or so ago and on inspection found a flea which I squished. I thought I’d bath him before I used the Advantage spot on for both him and the cat. (I have to be careful what I use because I have three rabbits in the house too, so can’t use anything that isn’t safe for them.)

ProGroom is my usual shampoo so I used that. I picked off three dead fleas, no sign of any live ones at all, so clearly the ProGroom killed them.

Whether you need all this household flea stuff really depends on the extent of the infestation. In the last 15 years, I've seen fleas 3 times on our dogs. I've immediately treated with Capstar and then Programme for a month or two and have never seen a flea again. I've never sprayed the house and wouldn't want to, due to the pesticides involved which we'd all be inhaling. I would do it if I had to, but I've never had to... so do ensure you really need to do that and it's not enough just to treat the dogs first. Whilst the fleas can bite people, it's not their preference, they don't do it often and they can't live long-term on people-blood(!) so if all the dogs are treated in the house, bedding washed and house well vacuumed, most of the time you will be fine without spraying the house.

I agree 1234, I just wash all bedding, hoover sofas, etc, but I’ve never sprayed the house. I suppose with the spot on stuff any newly hatched fleas just die when they go back on the dog so the cycle is broken that way.

I don’t treat monthly either, it’s more like every two months in summer and a couple or three times over the course of the winter. Obviously I treat straight away if I see any parasites.

Since the rabbits don’t go outside much and they’re very sensitive to pretty much everything, I don’t routinely treat them at all. I just keep an eye out for any signs of nasties, and haven’t seen any yet in 20+ years of having house rabbits so I’ve never had to use anything.