Is your yorkie ITCHING ? Read this Grrrrrrr...
 

Well - it's my turn to fight that nasty creature problem.

I posted a week ago how I THOUGHT the water at my new apt was making my girls itch...I checked them OVER AND OVER fleas... was told by someone who's lived here 4 years she's never had a flea problem here & has never had to use a flea product and I pretty much did all I could to stop the itchies. A good friend even sent me some medicated shampoo (THANK YOU !!) but they were still itching....

So - I DID THE DAWN DISH DETERGENT bath and GUESS WHAT ?

oh yes - A tiny spec was in the water..... I GRABBED it and threw it into my sink and when I finished the baths looked very close and I'll be d*mned if it wasn't moving (but slowly) :(:(:( IT WAS A FLEA FOR SURE.

Dawn Dish Detergent works. If we see ONE flea there's more.

I went straight to the vet for Frontline Plus and ordered a big pack off Pet Meds and am working on this but wanted to post this for everyone - EVEN IF YOU SEE NO FLEAS but your puppy is scratching - chances are they are THERE. IT SUCKS ! I can't tell you how much I looked and looked and saw nothing....no flea 'dirt' ...no bugs nothing...it took that BATH to know the girls have them - I'm SO upset with myself that I didn't think of the Dawn soap sooner.

oh and ps - IF ANYONE DOES A BATH WITH Dawn (or any other shampoo) - DO NOT GET IT NEAR THEIR EYES - we all know how much soap stings.

thank you Villette! I will be looking out.
just one question which one (dawn )do we get you know they have a million scents now and I don't believe I have seen the original in a long time.

LOL GOOD question :thumbup:- I used what I had ...which was the Dawn 'power' or something - it's deep blue.

I didn't leave it on for 10 minutes either - I lathered them up (except for their faces) and then rinsed..I watched the water VERY VERY CAREFULLY and used my turbo-hose to rinse them - and boom - saw this tiny fleck in the water and sure enough - DEAD FLEA....

I still can't believe I've seen NO sign of fleas till that bath - I still haven't seen one and I REALLY do look. Under their chins - under their arms - bellies - nothing. But they are THERE LURKING like the nasty bloodsucking evil creatures they are :eek:

so....it takes frontline up to 18 hours to work and I already see a result from that - but now I need to treat my apt and especially my bed. I'm washing their little beds in hot water this weekend and solve this before it gets out of hand. Then I'm using the medicated shampoo my friend gave me to help their skin.

I HATE HATE HATE fleas and have never had them on my girls before :(:(:(:(

THE NERVE of these disgusting creatures getting on our pets !;)

you should still be able to find the original....especially at wal-mart or a dollar store. it is the only kind I buy so I know it's out there.

thanks for the heads up V. good luck on getting the problem nixed. fleas are a pain in the #@$. We had a small problem last year and I vowed to never go through it again if I could help it...my girls stay on advantage now. I just can't handle going through that again!!!!

and yes, the dawn does work!!!!

also...there is a pill called "capstar" if you have a bad problem. it kills all fleas for 24 hours. it is only a one day pill and you get it from your vet...but if the fleas are getting the best of you....this pill does the trick. it is the only way I was able to completely rid my house of it. I gave it to all the dogs for 3 days straight and during those 3 days, I completely treated my house each day for any that might be in the floors or furniture or whatever. it was such a pain in the butt but it finally killed them all off and we haven't stopped giving advantage since then.

be sure to keep some flea treatment on them all the time because living in an apartment, if any one of your neighbors has them, they will be back!!!! you might want to keep something around to treat the carpet and treat it once a month or so. you can even go to your apartment office and ask them who they use to clean their carpet and see if you can get a good deal through them. it should only cost them 20-30 dollars each cleaning and if they would be willing to pass the savings on to you, it would be worth it to you and them to clean your carpets every couple of months just to ensure there are no fleas in the carpet. owning a property management company and managing several apt. complexes in the past, i know how much I would appreciate if someone had taken those steps in my apartment or house. :)

Yup !! I'm treating this weekend - one room at a time and going to wash everything. I read all about these little suckas online and they can lay dormant for TWO FREAKING MONTHS (the eggs that drop off):mad: I read everything I could about treating.

it's very minor so far but I'm going to nip this before it IS a problem....I just can't believe for 2 weeks I was thinking it was the water cause I haven't seen a bug. Not seeing them doesn't mean they aren't there :( my poor itchy girls

on the upside - since using the frontline plus 2 days ago - they're hardly scratching and now that I'm living in an apartment I'll be using it once a month for sure.

and ps - I AM going to tell my apartment manager AND my neighbor who thinks her dog will never get them - (she has a little chi who walks in the same areas I take my girls)

thanks for that V. I'll give it a try if I need to!

That's a good idea but I already spent my refund check on flea stuff lol - I'm pretty sure it isn't bad cause I still have not seen ONE LIVE bug - but I've treated my patio already and will treat in front / inside of my apartment myself ...and use the frontline every month now .....forever.

man - having your own home is so different from apartment life - I NEVER had to deal with fleas cause I used to treat my yard.....

my apt has ALOT of cats - I should have known this would happen.

you're welcome...we read about it all the time - but when it actually happens you kind of go into shock and feel TERRIBLE for the dogs ....I know I do.

My point really was about the Dawn Soap. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I still wouldn't know they have fleas. Al that stuff about Flea dirt is true - BUT - I haven't seen even a drop of it. All I knew is the girls itch and I felt bad

and I just want to say - SINCE POSTING THIS ...I can't stop itching lol ....they give me the WILLIES !

my apt has ALOT of cats - I should have known this would happen.[/QUOTE]

suuuure V blame it on the cats and non yorkies:sidesplt::sidesplt::sidesplt::sidesplt::si desplt::sidesplt:

LOL !! that was kinda mean sowy....but you should SEE these cats ! They're fed and people take care of them but Holy Cow - They're like Gang-cats - they stare us down like we're the invaders here lol

One day I'm going to see them in bandanas wearing their 'colors' :eek:

Seriously - I should have known better though. When my neighbor said she's never had to use flea products here in 4 years ....I should have used my head and started on Frontline Plus when I moved in....

PS -- FOR THose battling bugs - don't forget to treat their brushes and combs too - very HOT WATER Will take care of that

I haven't posted about this yet because I hate, hate, hate the thought of my dogs having fleas BUT.... a few months ago Tatum was scratching like a maniac. Got to the point where she was leaving balled up hair around the house. I never saw fleas on her so I assumed she had developed an "allergy" to the shampoo/conditioner that I was using so I tried two other ones within a couple weeks and still no change. Finally took her to the vet and wouldn't you know, he saw two fleas on her. I was flabbergasted! She and Stormie (Aust. Shep) and both outdoor cats are on monthly topical flea stuff (forget right now which one) and also the heartworm/flea monthly pill. The vet saw how upset I was and assured me that the fleas this year are SO way out of control that even the best treated animals are getting them. Turns out that Tatum's problem is that she's actually allergic to the flea bites. The treatment stuff kills them but if even one bites her first, that's it... she's gonna itch and scratch. The first time we went to the vet about this, he gave her a shot for the itching which lasted about 6 weeks and also some capstar pills. Then last week she started itching again (although not nearly as much). Took her back this weekend and there was one flea again. I know she's up to date on all flea treatment stuff so he gave me some "itchy pill" (can't remember the name right now) and after a day on those, she was all better. I only have to give her those for a day or two if she itches again. He did say that if you find yourself having to use the capstars often, then there is a new oral pill that can be given along with the other heartworm/flea pill that will protect them even more for a whole month. It works like the capstars. I didn't get all the details on that because I just took home two capstars for each dog but if it continues to be as awful of a flea season as it's so far started out as, we may consider it.

I have such an issue with this because when I lived next door to my grandparents (about 18 years ago) with my poodle Dax, he would get SO infested because of all of their outdoor "country dogs". I just couldn't possibly treat my part of the yard as much as it needed and because they didn't treat their dogs, Dax didn't stand a chance. I actually got so flea-bitten myself right before my wedding that I went to the vet to get some ointment - actually worked better than what my dr. gave me! It was a terrible experience and one that I never want to go through again!!

Wishing you luck on getting your situation under control!! And I'm glad to hear that the Dawn thing works so well. You know, one other thing (as if this isn't long enough already! :p)..... During the winter months, I tend to lengthen the time between doses on the dogs and cats and that was one thing I was doing wrong in our situation. I didn't start religously back to the "every 4 weeks" as soon as it got a little warmer. I was giving it about every 6 weeks. Now that we're back to the regular dosing schedule, I hope that all gets better.

Eck!!!!! Villette that is so awful for you and the girls!!:eek::eek: What is the Dawn test....I dont think we get that detergent over here , would it work with something else?

We use frontline and we have never had anything on the dogs but Alfie always acts very strange for a few days after we put it on him...like he stares into space!!!:eek: So i was thinking of stopping it! But now I have heard this it makes me think twice about stopping frontline...I dont know what to do!!:rolleyes::(

Hope thats the last you see of those things Vi.....loved the comment on the cats wearing bandanas.... i now have a picture in my mind LOL:D

I have heard this before about frontline having side effects. We have used advantage since they first put it on the market, and have never had a problem with it at all.