Telltale signs if your Yorkie has fleas! Help!
 

Hi! I really don't know how these little creatures look like? I was able to see a small reddish to dark brown oval shaped parasite crawling on my bed when I press on the parasite there is blood. Since my Yorkie sleep with me can those be fleas??? I have no idea. Please enlighten me. And help needed asap.

There are SOO many bugs out in the world, that its really hard to tell if what you found was a flea, from your description.

But if your dog does have fleas, you will see them on their body. I usually see them when I quickly flip over the dog, they are small, black/brown, quick bugs that jump.

The flea will also leave debri that looks like dirt in the fur.

Also, if you give a flea bath (find a natural shampoo), you can see them in the water after they have died. You can go and buy a small flea comb (really cheap at my pet stores), and this will pick up anything if your dog does have fleas.

From my experience, frontline and advantage are the only way to go to get rid of these fleas, atleast on the dog. You will also need to treat your home just as you would with lice.

It is likely that you can find some in your bed if the dog sleeps there. They can live pretty much anywhere.... including outside and your carpet. I hope htis helps.

That sounds like a tick to me.

Fleas are usually black and they are pretty hard to kill/squish. You usually have to take your nail and cut them in half and u usually hear a bit of a pop.
If your pup has fleas you can usually find them on her buy looking in the hottest spots on her body such as her arm pits, neck, head area, and groin. Just spread her hair apart and take a look. They are pretty fast.
If fleas are in your bed you might find bites on youself (kinda like misquito bits).
Other than obvious flea shampoos and treatments, washing your baby in Dawn dish soap actually works really well and kills them instantly. Your going to have to go to a pet store to get a flea spray killer for your bed/house.

After I reread her post, I would also have to agree.

Most fleas arent bigger then the size of a half of a grain of rice. And very hard to catch since they jump.

Ticks can be around the size of a pencil eraser or smaller.

if its black its a flea..but,if its lighter and has alot of legs its a tick.i found 2 fleas once on misty and they told me to use dawn soap and the fleas were gone :D

why Dawn dish soap? weird! Im going to have to try this if I see any fleas! :)

It doesn't sound like you found a flea. I'm not sure what you found could be but fleas are half the size of a grain of rice, black, SUPER quick and very, very difficult to smash once caught.. I've only been able to smash them (when I actually get a hold of one) between two of my finger nails. If you're worried about your baby having fleas go along through his/her coat blowing the hair away and look for little bits of black dots. That's flea feces.. It just looks like dirt. Only 1% of a flea population in your home is in the adult stage (black,fast, half grain of rice sized) all the rest is in the growing stages. Therefore it is very difficult to rid your home of them. (BTW it's nearly impossible for anyone who has any type of pet that goes outdoors and indoors not to have fleas in their home.. no matter how clean or careful you may be) I would go ahead and treat your baby with flea preventative frontline, revolution.. but I personally like advantage. But it's your call.

If you go on google and click on the photo portion of the site and type in flea and/or tick TONS of pictures will pop up.. Maybe that will help you find out what you found on your bed was..

And if it was a tick' beware beware they can carry very very nasty disease's
lyme disease and Tick fever are just two.the last mentioned killed our first beloved yorkie Priscella...

I buy a spray called Precor 2000, it is hypoallergenic and has no chemical smell. It is much safer the Raid and the other commercial sprays on the market. I am VERY allergic to pest sprays, believe me when I say this stuff is wonderful! I spray the house before bedtime and I spray in the bedroom after we wake up in the morning. It always works! It also kills cockroaches, ants and spiders!
I do spray down Gracie's bedding with it but I wash the bedding before she uses it again.

Another way to check for fleas is to lay down a white sheet on the floor and play with your puppy on it for a while. Fleas are attracted to white, after a bit you will see little black spots jumping around on the sheet if she has fleas.
Good luck with your flea hunt!!!

You can lay your yorkie on his/her back - look for any little dirt-like dots (debris) or what's called FLEA DIRT....on the lower belly...

Also ....these nasty creatures can be seen right above the eyes....take your yorkie outside ..it helps to see easier...

if you have a flea problem ...look for tiny bugs or dirt.... IF you see ONE FLEA - there's more you can't see.

Good luck !

I think that if you live in an area that has fleas you should be treating your dog for fleas. It is very uncomfortable for them, they will be itching alot. The fleas can also give them tape worm. The tape worm larva can be eaten by the flea and live in it's digestive system. Then the dog will itch and end up eating the flea. The rest of the flea will be digested but the tape worm will hook onto the dog's stomach and live there.
Humans (the youngest from 5 weeks old) have also been known to get tape worm the same way. One way is if the dog has a half eaten flea in it's mouth and licks your mouth. Then you swallow the larva and it ends up in your system. Only medicine can rid you and the dog of the tape worms.
So if you don't want to deal with all of that, make sure your dog doesn't have fleas!

Been there.. done that.. It's awful! Harley had TERRIBLE tape worm infestation.. Poor little guy. Realizing that your dog has tapeworms is almost always the first way people find out they have fleas. I was in my vet office when a lady was prescribed a med. to give her dog to rid her of tapeworms. She asked how her dog got tapeworms and the vet told her from fleas. She got REALLY peeved off and yelled that her house could never have fleas.. It's not uncommon and it's not the end of the world.

I have a question. Is it the regular blue Dawn dish soap, or any dawn dish soap? Do you know if that helps with ticks? My babies are strictly indoors, but my husband had the bright idea of letting them play outside, so one of my babies came in with 2 ticks and my other 2 babies came in with fleas!!! It soo hard to get them out with so much hair!! I need to do something for them and for me! I also need to turn off the "bright idea light bulb" in my husbands head!!!!

A good way to tell if there are fleas on the dog is to give it a bath. If the rinse water turns a brownish color (from the digested blood), it means there are fleas.