Chachis Allergies
 

We went to the vet today because Chachi has chewed up his entire back. He gave him a shot. And about $200 of meds. He said he is highly allergic to fleas. He found a flea on him. We have kept the advantage on him so now the vet wants us to have our house sprayed and to continue to have it sprayed at least once a year. He said the only way we are going to be able to beat this is if Chachi doesnt get any fleas on him. Does anyone else have a dog that allergic to fleas. I really thought it would be somethine else. He looks real bad. All scared up and bloody on his back. If we do all this and it still doesnt cure up with the meds hes going to run tests on him.

IMO, Id rather test first then treat blindly with meds.

My Yorkie is also highly sensitive to flea bites, also has other allergies, does the same thing as your baby. But I don't/WON'T treat her with advantage or any meds. Luckily, I moved to a place that so far doesnt have a flea problem.

I did the whole advantage/med approach with only left my Yorkie drowsy. I felt it wasnt actually treating the problem, just avoiding. I guess you can say I take a more holistic approach.

If I even see one flea (with happens occasionally), off she goes to the tub to get an all natural flea soap bath. If she starts chewing/itching, I put on her jammies for a day or so.

At my old place, we did have a flea problem. I treated everything with boric acid, all natural. You can use it on the lawn, on carpets, everything. Then vacuum like crazy, and wash all the bedding. Treat it as you would head lice. Works great.

I remember my holistic Vet saying that healthy dogs are more prone to fighting off parasites such as fleas, so he gave all natural supplements to help boost her immune system. So, treating my house and trying to boost her immune system have worked fine. No major problems since.

I would suspect that fleas could bother some dogs much more severely than others.

When my son was young, he used to have a terrible allergic reaction to misquito bites. Any bite would become very red, raised, itchy, and weepy. These bites were terrible and he was almost only a baby. I felt so sorry for him. AND - these same misquitos did very little to the rest of us. We just got a little red spot that went away after a short period of time.

I forgot to notice where you live. When I lived in California - fleas drove everyone with animals absolutely crazy. They were a constant problem. Now, I live in Spokane, WA (with four seasons) and we very rarely have a flea problem here. They are almost unheard of.

Good luck. If flea bites are your puppy's problem, do whatever you need to do to make him more comfortable.

Carol Jean

Don't have much advice for you. I hope that Chachi gets to feeling better. :(

My 2nd yorkie Zorro had a horribel allergy to fleas. Unfortunately back then I lived in an apartment building in the pet section. This was also before all of these new flea meds (1979) No matter what we did we could never get rid of them until we finally moved even then he got fleas a couple of times. He scratched out his coat so bad, they put him on some itch meds I beleive were steroids, but I didn't keep him on them since he had some side effects. I would smoke bomb the apt/house wash everything vacuum and take him to the groomer for a flea dip. Finally when he wa about 4 we never had fleas again, but his coat never came in good. It is so much easier to control fleas now with the new products, All of my dogs since then have been on the new flea products and we have never had fleas again. I know what you are going through it drives both you and the poor puppy crazy. Good luck.

Well thats the thing I cant figure out is he has been on the advantage so I dont know how a flea was living on him anyway.

Bubba too shares this malady. We live on 1500 acres with no other animals that would carry fleas...ticks yes, fleas no. Bubba is not allowed outside except on a leash with one of us due to hawks and coyotes.

Bubba is bathed once a week but we do go to a place at the beach on weekends. He got A FLEA on him and I didn't know it on a Thursday night. I had to "rush him" to the vet on Friday night after getting home at 5pm to discover one miserable dog and a hot spot on his behind.

$ 300 later he had a shaved butt and mine hurt too after paying the vet bill!

He is on the flea preventative stuff and has been for 3 years without incident.

Have you tried the Revolution product. I could never believe that living in Chicago that even during the winter I would have a flea problem with Zorro. SOmetimes I swear we would get them from the vet!

Advantage will only kill the flea if it bites, so it will help with infestations but not from it keeping them from biting, unless you try to elimate where the fleas are breeding from (carpet, yard, etc).

I don't have any advice, but just wanted to say I feel so bad for Chachi and hope you find a solution soon. It's so miserable to be so itchy...poor little thing! Good luck...wish I could have been of some help!

I also don't have any advise for you but wanted to say that I feel so bad for poor little Chachi. I really hope Chachi starts feeling better soon. Poor little guy. :(

The first thing I would do is make certain that's what causes him to itch. The only time we had an itchy problem with Toto, she was actually pulling out wads of her hair, coughing & had weepy eyes! Turned out to be new carpet in our house in Alabama! Got it cleaned & never had another problem!! ;)

Thanks Bettyanne I suspect it is more than fleas because he had one dying flea on him. WE are going to do what the vet says for now but I suspect we will be going back. By the way I love your new avatar with the close up of Toto. Very cute and what an adorable face she has!