Desparate flea situation
 

Hi all, newly registered yorkie owner here..

I have 4 dogs, 2 yorkies, 1 golden retriever and 1 cocker spaniel and I'm working very hard to get rid of the fleas they've picked up but as much as I try nothing is working. So far I've tried

Washing all the laundry, my bed, their beds, all clothes, curtains..everything!

Tea tree oil daily baths

Combing 3 times a day

Vacuuming everywhere 3 times a day

Treating the outside areas

I've been trying to do everything naturally as I'm scared of using a 'Spot on' as I'm not sure if it is safe to use on my Yorkies..It is really upsetting because as hard as I'm working to get rid of them they are soon back again when I run the flea comb through the dog's coats.

I am going to carry on my anti flee regime around the house..but am thinking about using Advantage Spot On..my 2 yorkies are 11 and 13 and very lively, but am petrified of any kind of side effect from the Spot on..

Can anyone please help me as it seems as if they are increasing rapidly the more I try to work at getting rid of them.

Help!

My groomer suggested a generic with "Fipronil" in it. I bought mine from Tractor Supply but she said Wal-Mart now carries one also.
Buddybear got fleas from a ferral cat under our porch. They were the teensy tiny little ones I saw on the tips of his ears.
You probably need to spray your vacuum bags with flea killer as they will breed and live in the bags. I know it's expensive but they can hide anywhere.
Best of luck.

I want to share this with you....for some reason, I am suddenly having an absolutely horrible time with fleas....I have not had that issue before, I have always managed to keep my home/yard/dogs flea free.....since the last bout of flooding we had, I am having a terrible time with mice and fleas running all over the property....so I brought out the big guns to combat the mice and have that eradicated, safely, from the property. Now, I am attacking the fleas. I use DemonMax for insect control all around my home, and go up 3 feet up my brick walls. Keep dogs off until the spray dries, then it is safe....with 100+ degree days here, dogs are being strictly limited to 30 minutes outside...everyone is down for naps by 2pm and I spray the entire outside home area, as well as lawn and patio areas following the directions on the container. When it dries, it is safe for animals to walk where it was sprayed....I spray it at 2pm and dogs do not go outside until the next day at 9am, just to be absolutely safe....I use this stuff every 4 months.....excellent results! I use granules in a spreader for grass areas in my yard....again, water the application in, safe for pets easily by the next day.

I will give you what I use for flea control as well as heartworm treatment on my dogs. This is cost effective for kennels, breeders, etc where we have a number of dogs to treat.....it would easily cost even a small breeder well over 2 grand a year, to treat effective for heartworms, as well as fleas. THIS IS SUGGESTION ONLY....I have used this for years for heartworms, it is effective, it has never made my dogs sick, and no one has ever gotten heart worms. I slacked up on flea control....MY BAD!!.....because the flea control used below has safely kept my Yorkies free of fleas for many years....

For flea treatment:
THE BEST WAY TO DEAL WITH FLEAS ON DOGS THE LEAST EXPENSIVE WAY
“Advice from J R Enterprises”

The best product to use for flea control is Frontline Plus or the new generic version, PetArmor. Many people do not use Frontline Plus because of the high cost. If you have a 20 pound dog and buy a 3-pack of Frontline Plus from the average store you will pay about $45 which is $15 per month.
To lower this bill considerably, do the following: Google online for the cheapest places for PetArmor. Buy the 3 pack of PetArmor (same as Frontline Plus) for the largest dog. A 3 pack of PetArmor for 89 to 132 pound dogs is only about $13.
If you have a 20 pound dog you can split each tube into quarters and give one dog 1/4 of a tube. This will let you get 12 treatments out of this 3 pack and this averages out to a little over $1.00 per month.
It is easy to draw 1/4 out of a tube with a little 20 cent 1 cc syringe. Remember, for economical heartworm prevention, go to www.HeartwormPrevention.com

( The calculations/"majic Number" is .0305cc/lb for our small dogs):
Calculation...... .0305cc/lb x weight of dog = dose of topical application.
Example.... 6# dog = .18cc, 7# dog = .21cc, etc.
MUCH SAVINGS!!!

Look up this same site, JR Enterprises for topical heartworm dosing....
This will save you hundreds of dollars a year on dosing your Yorkies topically for fleas and ticks....
He has heartworm med that will save you hundreds of dollars as well....no off market drug, something used for many, many years.....

Great advice! I work in a vet clinic and we also sell Frontline this way. We only advertise for using on cats but you can definitely do dogs too. This is how I treat my dogs and cats. I have 6 dogs and 2 cats so I get the largest dose of Frontline and break it down into the amounts I need. We also sell Ivermectin for heartworm prevention that's advertised on the website Yorkiemom1 suggested. Also you need to treat all of of your pets for a few months in a row to break the flea life cycle or you will never get rid of them.

:thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:
Great to be validated! Thanks! This will be such a great help to people that have a really tough time meeting the expense of heartworm and flea meds.

My breeder recommended Advantage for small breeds which is sold at the vets and @ Asda and/or Costco in the UK.

Just an alternate suggestion in the event you can't find what has been suggested thus far..

Fleas suck so wishing you a speedy resolution to a very annoying problem!

I would like to add that you can't do this with all flea preventions, only Frontline and Yorkiemom1 said you can do it with PetArmor also. We used to do it with Advantage too but they recently changed one of their ingredients, so we're not able to do it anymore. Make sure if you're going to do this you get either Frontline or PetArmor only.

Also if you're going to use the Ivermectin for heartworm prevention, make sure your dog has been tested and is heartworm negative before starting them on it.

I am ordering the heart worm stuff today and also the pet armour!!! Frontline plus and heartguard have gotten way too expensive for me!!! Both my furbutts get the same one so now I will get for largest and break it down !! Thank you yorkiemom1 for the great advice!!!♥

thanks!

I have used flea busters for years, you can order it online, it is powder you put in your carpet and it will last a year or longer. I had fleas when I moved into a place back on 209 and I done everything flea meds, vacumming every day and used this rarely see a flea on him. The powder is messy but its great, the flea eggs get dissolved in the powder in the carpet.

I used one dose of Revolution flea treatment prescribed from the vet and all the fleas went away and my puppy was itch-free :)

From then onwards, I always bathed him whenever he played with other dogs, which is not very often - maybe once ever two weeks he has play dates.

I had a very similar situation last Fall. I tried every "natural" solution out there with no luck. I finally had to cave and purchase a Seresto collar for Tink (my vet says it is a good option because it lasts 8 months, but it only releases the medication when needed). Helped very quickly and I saw no side effects and Tinky is very sensitive. The only thing I did not like was that it was a collar and Tinky was aggravated by it. Best of luck!

Speaking of natural solutions, I have read that spraying a Apple Cider Vinegar solution (1 part vinegar, 3 part water) on their skin / coat repels fleas. I tried it for a little bit...not really sure if it worked because I had used the flea medication at the same time. But it could be something to consider...

flea control
 

I have a 2 pound yorkie. The vet suggested revolution. Does anyone know anything about it?

Wow that's a tiny Yorkie!! I've seen many 3 lb but not 2lbs. How old is your Yorkie? I read Revolution and Front line is the best. But Revolution kills worms too, if any, which are associated with fleas. As well, it kills adult fleas, larvae, and eggs. One dosage lasts for one month and dosage amount is based on weight.

Bailey is 8 months. I really hope the revolution is good. I heard that it is not that good with heartworms.

how about a bath once a week with fle and tick shampoo would you think it could work looking for advice because Brady seems not his self if i use regular meds

Be sure you apply it correctly....that is, part the fur and put the med DIRECTLY onto the skin.

All the vets I have talked with that do NOT recommend Revolution, say they do NOT recommend it simply because people do NOT use it correctly....you MUST separate the pets hair so that you are dispensing the med DIRECTLY onto the skin and not on a layer of hair. I used to use Sentinel but it became too expensive for the number of dogs I had, so I alternate Revolution and Canimax. I used Revolution alone for many years and never had any problems and certainly never had any pup come down with heart worms. I then added Canimax into the rotation. Variety makes me think I am covering all my bases and there is absolutely NO chance of anyone getting heart worms!

We had visitor dogs that left a lot of fleas. We did this to get them under control:

Buy food grade Diatomaceous earth (non-chemical method of killing fleas), frontline plus as previously mentioned, and generic capstar (from ebay) for the larger dogs if they are inside as well. Do items 1-4 all in the same day if possible.

1. Vacuum very slowly and VERY thoroughly. Immediately remove the vac bag and dispose of it outside. I also allow the vacuum to run outside for a minute without a bag to clear it out. If you do not do this, the fleas just exit bag out of the vacuum cleaner.

2. Put Frontline plus on all the dogs faithfully every 30 days (yes it is a chemical poison, but fleas are hazardous to dogs and humans as well).

3. If the big dogs are inside dogs, you can give them the capstar up to every 5 days. This will kill any fleas (for about 4-6 hours) that get on them and bite them.

4. Sparsely, but evenly put down the Diatomaceous earth--I use a flour sifter to do this then I run a broom over the carpet slowly to help it get into the fibers. Then try to not vacuum for a least a week, two would be better.

5. Vacuum very slowly and very thoroughly again, disposing of the bag every immediately time you vacuum.

Repeat steps 1 and 4 as often as you need, but it may take a few months to completely get rid of them. They should be reduced drastically in about two weeks.

[quoteFor flea treatment:
THE BEST WAY TO DEAL WITH FLEAS ON DOGS THE LEAST EXPENSIVE WAY
“Advice from J R Enterprises”

The best product to use for flea control is Frontline Plus or the new generic version, PetArmor. Many people do not use Frontline Plus because of the high cost. If you have a 20 pound dog and buy a 3-pack of Frontline Plus from the average store you will pay about $45 which is $15 per month.
To lower this bill considerably, do the following: Google online for the cheapest places for PetArmor. Buy the 3 pack of PetArmor (same as Frontline Plus) for the largest dog. A 3 pack of PetArmor for 89 to 132 pound dogs is only about $13.
If you have a 20 pound dog you can split each tube into quarters and give one dog 1/4 of a tube. This will let you get 12 treatments out of this 3 pack and this averages out to a little over $1.00 per month.
It is easy to draw 1/4 out of a tube with a little 20 cent 1 cc syringe. Remember, for economical heartworm prevention, go to www.HeartwormPrevention.com

( The calculations/"majic Number" is .0305cc/lb for our small dogs):
Calculation...... .0305cc/lb x weight of dog = dose of topical application.
Example.... 6# dog = .18cc, 7# dog = .21cc, etc.
MUCH SAVINGS!!! [/quote]

Do you need to throw out the syringe after each use or can you wash it out and use it the following month?

I love the idea of splitting the medication

My 3lb yorkie is on her third month of Revolution for puppies and kittens, so far so good. The other flea meds made her hair fall out!

My Cali is now 7 years old, and weighs about 3 to 3.5 pounds. We have used Revolution (for puppies and dogs under 5 pounds) for 6 years. Works great and we go to many dog classes and agility trials so she is exposed a lot.