I know HATE is a strong word, but.........
 

I hate those little critters called FLEAS!!!!!!

Have any of you that have different dog breeds experienced more fleas with your Yorkie than the other breed? My Chi has NO fleas or problems with fleas, but Miss CoCo keeps at least 2 - 3 fleas on her at all times!!!!! Yesterday I immediately saw 5 and had her daddy bathe her right away and apply another flea treatment. I have even tried 2 different flea treatments on her over the past 5 months. Every time she gets a bath, I also wash all of her bedding and vacuum the carpets.

It's not even like she spends time outside like that. She goes out for potty breaks and that is all!!!! It's very frustrating to say the least. I live in an apartment and the area where she likes to potty is under a bush. However, there is no grass growing there. It's only dirt and leaves. I have taken it upon myself to buy some outside flea spray in the hopes that will help. I don't know what else to do at this point. :questione:questione

its been a bad flea season and i hear you!! hate the varmits myself. i know there is a spray you can treat the outside area of the yard with, forgot the name but i know there is another thread listing the name. if i can find it i will post the link.

It sounds like maybe they have laid some eggs in your apartment. I was reading that one flea can lay thousands of eggs. Try to vacuum under all the cushions of your furniture and along all the edges of your rooms as well as where you usually vacuum. Make sure you throw out the contents in a tightly closed bag right away. Vacuuming every day is one way to keep them from establishing in your home this time of year. Using a good outdoor powder like diatomaceous earth is a good way to kill the outdoor population. It can be used in dog beds and under cushions in your house, too. Make sure you use the food grade and not the stuff for pools.

I hate them almost as much as I hate ticks! :eek: Are you using anything on her? Like Advantix or Vectra? My friend told me Dawn dishwater detergent will kill them. You might try it.

Bless you guys! We use Frontline and so far have not had any problems. We did come down to Alabama these past couple of weeks though and I was worried the whole time we were there. I need to check KS again to make sure. I have friends who have different breeds of dogs in AL and they all have mentioned how bad it was this year. I'm not sure what medication they use though, if any. Sorry I am not much help, but I do hope you can get them figured out and taken care of. Best of luck!

I think it's because all our Littlies smell so sweet and scrummy and irresistable.....;) :D Sally + Harry x

Of course! :eek: why didn't we think of that! :facepalm:

:thumbup: :sidesplt: x

This is strange! I found Dexters first flea yesterday :/ Thankfully, I think it was fully grown and didn't see any others.

Can you see flea eggs on the fur? Is that where they lay them?

I understand about this flea problem all to well. You can but organic DE for using around the yard. It's perfectly safe for pets and humans but it kills fleas. The only draw back is it has to be put down after it rains and you are not to breath the dust. Not good for the lungs. I used to order mine through Permaguard but our Menards sells an organic brand for about $8. Some people also use nematodes.

The focus has to be directed on the pups environment. At any given time only about 1% of the fleas are in the adult stage, which is what we see. The rest are in one of three stages, the egg (about 35%), the larval (about 55%) and the pupal (about 9%). Combined all four of these stages could take from egg to adult about 5 months. That is why your going to see them even when you pup chemicals on the pup. Vacuuming is the most effective weapon you have to get this under control....

Dutch journal Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata:
The old upright is not only lethal to adult bugs, but it completely wipes out their young. Scientists from Ohio State University had set out to determine what additional measures might be needed to kill a bunch of Hoovered-up fleas: burning, freezing, poisoning, maybe even a little good old fashioned stomping. But it turns out that getting sucked into a vacuum bag does the whole job.
The researchers were so surprised by the results, they repeated the study several times. In each experiment, they sprinkled a kitchen carpet with 100 cat fleas, either adults or juveniles. And they found that the vacuum snuffed out pretty much all of them.


Don't let them accumulate in the vacuum the survivors will hatch in there. When they are in the pupal stage they are in a cocoon. This cocoon is like a suit of armor. Using chemicals in your home will have no effect on them. But, when you run your vacuum they sense the heat and vibration from it. This fools the flea into thinking it's a mammal so it emerges in search of the host it want to jump on. This helps eliminate the little buggers by running the vacuum more. I just left my vacuum plugged in at all times reddy to go. Some days I ran it several times a day. It's very important to do places where the eggs can rool or where they like to hids. The don't like to be in sunlight or in the middle of the floor. The larval will crawl to darker places as in under furniture or in cracks and along baseboards. Hope this helps some and Good luck to you....:)

By jove...you could be onto to something...:yelrotflm

I think she's got it....;) :D x

Ah yes...the other half of the quote...roflmao Love it, Sally!

If you saw the actual flea that would be the adult. Fleas will go through four stages, the egg, the larval ( it looks like a worm) then it spins into a cocoon, then it will emerge as the adult we see. Yes, a flea can lay eggs on the dog but they tend to roll off. That is why most of the flea problem is off the dog in the environment. The eggs will be in their beds or any place the roam and lie down and they also tend to roll into cracks and crevices. Get your vacuum out...:)

I really, really love the De-Flea products by Natural CHemistry. They're pretty inexpensive too, at PetCo I think; but you can get them online too. Back when we lived in the city we had a bad infestation last summer after taking in a loaded foster. The lil man got my whole house infested. >.< Luckily we had hardwood floors and no carpetting, but we still had to spray down our furniture and bedding. It worked great; after spraying the house with the Pet & Bedding Spray (yup it works on pets AND bedding) we treated with a (precisely measured, for my 5lb dogs!) dose of Frontline.

And say it all you want; I HATE the little buggers too!!! =D

I just looked at this, I believe it uses essential oils like cinnamon and cedar.....I also use a cedar product from Cedarcide,it works great too. Good to know there's an alternative.

In my house hate is especially a 4 letter word just like the f one!

My kids aren't supposed to say it unless they are willing to justify its use.

However I hate any type of parasite...yes I am prepared to justify the use of such a negative emotion word.

Cedar oil is great, I LOVE the DE FLEA spray too and organic food grade powdered DE...weapons in the arsonal used for all out war on fleas

Dawn works
 

It's true - Dawn dishwashing detergent does work - watch out for the eyes though. I read up on it last month and it was very accurate. Start at the head, as otherwise the little critters will just escape to there when you wash the rest of the body. Supposed to suds up the dog and leave it on for 5 minutes. We have two sweet puppies and needed something safe, as too young and small to use most of the usual remedies (i.e. Frontline, etc.). Also, other info posted about vacuuming is also important. You will only see the adults and they spread FAST. Make sure to throw out vacuum bag too.
Good luck :) I also went as far as to spread spectracide on the yard in attempt to minimize or eliminate the fleas out there too. Can't tell if that has truly worked or not? The vet's office has said it's been a really bad season for them.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I knew about the blue dawn and have been using that as well as a topical flea traetment for her. She would be flea free for like 2 days max before I would see a couple of fleas on her. I continue to vaccuum, wash bedding & blankets, etc. Yesterday her daddy sprayed her potty area. This weekend I'll be getting the other items suggested here as well as ordering her some additional flea treatments from Pet Meds.

Thnaks for the advice and support.

Be careful with repetitively treating her with flea meds. They can become very toxic if given more than the recommended dosage.

The last two years have been very bad for fleas here. I had to battle for a couple of weeks to get rid of the fleas. I have no carpet, thank goodness!!! I used Enforcer Flea Spray for Homes, finally, and that did it! You must keep at it, and wash everything in hot water and dry on high. Spray the baseboards, under furniture, the furniture itself, etc. while pup is safely somewhere else.

Good luck and I feel for ya!!!!!!!!

I have the same problem....my yorkie will get fleas and my other long legged short haired dog doesn't get them as bad. My yorkie has long hair and I think she gets the fleas because she is closer to the ground and the hair provides the fleas with a way to attach.

I use comfortis and have no problem with fleas as long as I use it every month through out the spring and summer.

That's what I use too! In fact, just bought another bag of it this morning.

Organic Crawling Insect Killer at Menards

I buy mine at our local Menards. It's in the garden section with other organic items. I sprinkle it under the potty pads (ants love dog pee...) and on dog beds and by doors/windows (you can even sprinkle it right on your dog!). It's ok it the dog ingests it, infact you can feed it to your dog if it has internal parasites. I love having something in my arsenal to fight the pests that is also safe for ZoE.

Oh wow!!! No Menards in GA. I'll have to try to locate this someplace else.

Don't forget about the good old flea comb. If you think you are picking up fleas when your dog is outside use the flea comb on him as soon as you bring him in. Many times when the flea gets down to the skin you cannot see it. You will be amazed what that flea comb can find that you had no idea was there. You can put any fleas that get caught in the comb in a dish of water with dish washing liquid in it. The comb may also pick up some flea eggs. The eggs look kind of like a partially clear grain of sand. Fleas will lay eggs on an animal but they love all the cracks and crevices they find in your house, too. Flush anything you get in the comb. Once your indoor situation is flea free and under control the flea comb will help keep it that way. The comb will also detect ticks.:eek:

I feed some feral and homeless cats in my area. (Outside) I have checked the ones that are tame enough to touch to see if they have signs of fleas. Strangely they do not. All I can figure is that indoor animals tend to get more fleas because the fleas can multiply so quickly in a contained indoor environment. Maybe the feral diet has something to do with it as well.

[QUOTE=CoCos_Mom;3985588]I hate those little critters called FLEAS!!!!!!

Have any of you that have different dog breeds experienced more fleas with your Yorkie than the other breed? My Chi has NO fleas or problems with fleas, but Miss CoCo keeps at least 2 - 3 fleas on her at all times!!!!! Yesterday I immediately saw 5 and had her daddy bathe her right away and apply another flea treatment. I have even tried 2 different flea treatments on her over the past 5 months. Every time she gets a bath, I also wash all of her bedding and vacuum the carpets.

It's not even like she spends time outside like that. She goes out for potty breaks and that is all!!!! It's very frustrating to say the least. I live in an apartment and the area where she likes to potty is under a bush. However, there is no grass growing there. It's only dirt and leaves. I have taken it upon myself to buy some outside flea spray in the hopes that will help. I don't know what else to do at this point. :questione:questione[/QU

My son lives in an apartment. His little shihpoo and his maltezu have had fleas like crazy. They also go outside to potty. I gave my son some diatomaceous earth to put out where his kids go potty. They both take comfortis for fleas but were picking them up and bringing them inside. Since he used the DE a couple of weeks ago he has not had a problem.

We had a terrible problem a couple of years ago and none of the topical treatments seemed to work on our furbutts so our vet put them on comfortis now we might find one flea a month on them. We treated the yard at the same time we did the furkids and it seems to have done the trick.

That's great stuff but a bit pricey!

We get a 25 pound no name brand from the local nursery for $20!

We buy it same as commercial people would I think.

They just started carrying it 10# for $12

Home Depot & Lowes sell it too....just different brands. (again, usually found in the Garden department)

I used to buy it at Home Depot, but a new Menards was built the other year just a couple of miles from my house, so it's my quick run to hardware store.

I did find it at Lowe's and me & my sweetie are buying it for the girls tomorrow. I can't wait!!!!

Knock on wood I have never had issues with fleas. Ticks are another story though. My goldens have always been allergic to ticks yet my Yorkies are not.