Flea Advice?

shimaurashibalover92shimaurashibalover92
edited July 2009 in General
When Katsu got spayed today the vet said they found a few fleas on her. Nothing horrible but just a few. They cleaned them off, brushed her out, and gave her advantix. They recommended vacuuming. Is there anything else we can do to help get rid of any eggs?

Comments

  • CaliaCalia
    edited November -1
    Was KAtsu on flea meds before the spay?
  • shimaurashibalover92shimaurashibalover92
    edited November -1
    nope
  • KFontaine04KFontaine04
    edited November -1
    Keep Katsu on the flea meds or on brewers yeast and garlic. (or both!)

    Wash all your bedding in hot water and dry on high heat to clean that out.

    You live in an apartment building? The fleas probably came from a neighbor or another unit since Katsu didn't have many on her.
  • CaliaCalia
    edited November -1
    ok, I was afraid she was and that wouldn't have been good with a second dose. Fleas are a B to get rid of, and even when you think they are gone they actually aren't. Lots of vacuuming does help, and also make sure that you get in the cracks of the couch and behind the furniture.

    There are powders, that are supposed to help kill eggs and pupae, that you pour on the rug. But I'm not sure how well they work. Also, be consistent with changing the bed sheets (if she sleeps on them), and routinely clean anything that she sleeps on. Often times we throw any pillows (dog and human) into the dryer, it really helps and the animals love sleeping on warmed pillows.
  • CaliaCalia
    edited July 2009
    Fleas can also be picked up from going to the dog park or other areas that have a lot of mammals and birds.

    And from my experience, Advantix doesn't really work to well.
  • shimaurashibalover92shimaurashibalover92
    edited November -1
    I guess we'll find out. :(.

    Hopefully we can get it before it gets to bad, we're going to go to petco tonight to check out the powders and do some heavy duty vacuuming. We think it must be pretty recent because we noticed a day or two ago her scratching a little more than often, Dawn looked for fleas but couldn't find any of those little bastards. Looks like our dyson is going to get a work out.
  • CreamyShibaMomCreamyShibaMom
    edited November -1
    vacum vacum and more vacum. Our old dog had a INFESTATION, and we had to give her a flea bath, keep her in the bathroom, and my mom was vacuming in the bathroom as i bathed her, and vacumed everything and everywhere...funny enough, we always fed her table food and after that we would give garlic, and she never had one for the next 14 years!

    I"m not saying go give Katsu a garlic bulb, mind you...and you obviously would need to wait to give her a flea bath/dip...

    We use frontline plus, for Shao New.. seems to work...
  • KFontaine04KFontaine04
    edited November -1
    Garlic is amazing for fleas. My kids get a brewers yeast and garlic tab every day. They only get a 1/2 dose of advantix in the summer months and we have never had fleas!
  • shimaurashibalover92shimaurashibalover92
    edited November -1
    How much garlic do you give? How often? Fresh or like a pill or something?
  • ShikokuSpiritShikokuSpirit
    edited July 2009
    Oy, fleas! I had gotten rid of them! I went many, many, many years without them...and then I brought Miss Aislyn (my "new" kitten) home. All of a sudden...I noticed my other cats start to scratch gradually and then it became more frequent. The dogs, by far, are affected the most by the stupid fleas. They began scratching & biting...

    ...I put them on flea medication, while the cats seem to be doing better. The dogs are still having problems. Poor Miss Kotomi kept scratching her left ear so much, she started tearing away the hair...it became "raw" (it's healing now though, thank goodness!). Lynx had been chewing and biting so much, she has random scabs and bumps scattered about. Shoushuu seems to be "okay", he doesn't scratch or bite as much. Still...the fleas are a major annoyance!

    I put them on Frontline, but I don't think it is working too well with the dogs. So I changed to Comfortis (vet receptationist recommended it) - it's a pill btw. I'll see how it goes.

    Meanwhile, I got to "flea picking" every few days or so with all the animals. I use plastic tweezers to catch and kill those little buggers!


    I'll let you know how the Comfortis works out in a couple of months. Meanwhile, I hope you get great results with some of the tricks & trades of other member's successful flea killers/repellants. I might have to try some of these myself...eventually.

    --------------------------------------

    *** takes notes ***

    Hey, I'm actually thinking about getting a large bottle and putting live fleas in it. Perhaps I can try out these different methods on my flea population here? I'd definitely love to be more..."organic"...on parasite control. Since the animals aren't suffering any ill effects...I'm pretty desparent for a "quick" fix on flea control (short term)...cause it's just ridiculous here right now -sighs-. In the long run though...it'd be nice to go out "all natural".

    *** continues to watch thread ***
  • sunyatasunyata
    edited November -1
    Can someone give the run down on the garlic/brewer's yeast dosage. I would love to get the girls on something less... chemical.
  • tsukitsunetsukitsune
    edited November -1
    Castor & Pollux make a decent, easy to give (smell like rotten bread but dogs suck them down) Brewer's Yeast and Garlic tablet.
    When I make Tsuki fresh chicken livers, I crush a quarter clove over them so she eats them.
    Tsuki has a sensitivity to brewer's yeast, so we can't use the tabs with her anymore.

    I've been looking into using Apple cider vinegar, I already have tons for myself why not use it on the dogs?
    http://www.earthclinic.com/Pets/acvfordogs.html

    Also, I had a friend who grew fleas for his insect population. He used brewer's yeast TO GROW fleas! Whats up with that??
  • CaliaCalia
    edited November -1


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