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Originally Posted by grapeguzzler  We found a flea!!! I'm a new pet owner so I have no idea what to do. I've started washing everything he uses to sleep and lounge on. I finally agreed to let Marley sleep in our bed too, so I will be washing all our bedding too. He takes a heartworm pill (Sentinel) that is supposed to make the fleas sterile, so do I really need to fumigate the house? He just had a regular bath 2 days ago, do I need to give him a flea bath? Should I just put a flea collar on him (which he doesn't wear) and walk him hoping the remaining fleas jump off during the walk?
This is one of the main reasons I didn't want a dog, so I'm freaking out a bit. I know how hard they are to get rid of.
For the future, should he also be wearing a flea collar? |
We have never had a flea problem when we used Borateem (Borax) dry on our carpets. It suffocates the fleas. The important thing is to empty your vacuum bag, if it uses bags, as the eggs can hatch and then start the problem all over again. I was also told that using baby powder on my puppy would suffocate any live fleas and was safe to use. That's great, if your dog is white.... Anyway, we now use Frontline Plus (a chemical, I know, but none of the organic or holistic methods worked for us). My vet told me that my little Kipper, who is 2# 9.5 oz. should only have 0.05ML of it between his shoulder blades. It works great. We use it on our cats, too (the cat formula, of course) and our oldest kitty is 14 years old with no health problems. My sister did not believe in using any chemicals on her Great Pyranees and he lost all his hair from such a bad flea infestation. She bought some Frontline Plus and he is getting a new, beautiful coat of hair back. Fleas carry tapeworm and the plague, so I don't want to take any chances. In the Pacific Northwest, we have recently had some incidents of the pneumonic plague (carried by rats that get it from fleas). I am all for natural methods, if they work. That is why I suggested the baby powder and powdered borax. You sprinkle the borax on your carpet (always check in a hidden place to make sure it won't hurt your type of carpeting, first) and let it sit for about 15-30 minutes and then vacuum it up. Make sure your carpet is not wet! There was a company out here called, "Flea Busters" who guaranteed you would not have fleas after they treated your house and my vet told me this is what they used. I was the only pet owner in my neighborhood at the time that did not have a bad flea infestation that year. Hope you can get rid of them without too much trouble!