Help please..I have a beagle-bull and she is very unhappy. It all started about 2 weeks ago.Well it actually started in April with my having to rehome her sister a husky she decided to go on a starvation diet. BUt a month ago I went to H3pet store in Stratford and I was overjoyed we found a dog food she liked a dehydrated food. After about 5 days on the food she started to get a rash and it got worst and worst. Came to the conclusion it had to be the food. THe nice thing about H3, is they take anything they sell if there is a problem. THey had me bring her in to check her skin for fleas,eggs or dust. I did not even know fleas had dust. I had been giving her baths everyother day with a medicated shampoo . To add to the deliema I leave her cage open ( she uses it like a den she sleeps with me) about 8 days ago in the middle of the night she started to bang really hard her butt and head that is when I thought can she have fleas. ) at 4am I gave her a bath no fleas fell off of my pumkin CHarlotte-Mae..so in daylight I checked her poop for worms no worms. I know you are going to say just take her to the vet. One I just relocated 6 weeks ago and need to find a new vet and I am on social security and I am waiting for a check when you least expect an emergency is when something happens. :(
BUt I took her on the steps out side and she was doing the same thing to me as she does in the cage. I was in the sunlight and I felt her tail and felt sores and on her lower butt the same thing. Long and behold if there were not scabs and then I saw little fleas. She did have fleas H3 just did not see them. SHe has really short hair. WIth the beagle and pit bull bread it is the hair really close to the skin.
I went and bought the Biospot for her weight today , it said 15mins it should work..and it did not work I took her in the sunlight 4 hours later and 2 fleas I saw jump of her..
I need to get these under control. And the cats have fleas now. I have to deflea the house. bomb?spray. in addition to the biospot? what do you suggest.
I see you posted this in your blog. You might get more responses if you posted in the Health/Grooming section.
I'd get some Adams Flea spray or the shampoo. It's pretty effective considering it's over the counter. I think they make a powder form too.
If she is allergic to flea bites just one bite can cause a reaction. I'd use something from the vet as soon as finances allow. You should also treat all her bedding and vacuum your house really well. Re-treat in 10-12 days to kill any fleas that hatched from eggs.
Flea dust, more commonly called flea dirt, is the feces of the fleas that have been feeding on the dog.
Everyting Jackie said!!!!
What you are describing with the scabbing on the low back -- **that** is known as flea allergy dermatitis (your vet will need to confirm that and likely will need to prescribe something like prednisone or maybe a shot of steroid). Flea allergy dermatitis starts with scabbing low on the back and it worsens. You can see a ton of hair loss and really nasty sore skin. Typically it requires something pretty heavy duty like prednisone to stop that attack -- just one flea bite can make them miserable for many, many months.
Flea allergy dermatitis can happen, as Jackie said, with just **one** flea bite. The dog is actually allergic to the flea's spit (sorry that's graphic but it's true).
But bottom line -- you need to use something other than a systemic flea preparation (Bio-spot, Revolution, Advantage-multi, Comfortis - ALL are systemic). "Systemic" means the stuff goes either thru the skin to the bloodstream or via mouth to the bloodstream. In other words, the flea has to **bite** the dog to die.
With a Flea allergic dog you need to use something like plain old Advantage that stays *on* the skin and kills on contact. Frontline also does this but there are huge areas of the country where it's not working any more.
You may have to bomb your house -- it is hard to get rid of them. Are your cats indoor only?? That all gets tricky -- because the flea only has a 7 day life cycle so you usually have to do anything twice ... and if they are outdoor cats you'll need to use something cat-friendly on them. But be really really **really** careful none of the animals groom each other licking any chemicals off -- it can make them really sick.
The other thing you can do that may be safer is diatamaceious earth ** food grade ** (not just what they sell at Home Depot -- that's toxic if they lick it off, but food grade can even be given internally). You can put it all over your hard, you can sprinkle it on your carpets or directly on their coat. It's not "convenient' -- but it's simply a dessicant that will dry the flea out and kill it that way rather than with toxic stuff.
As far as the dog *right now* -- your best defense is a bath in almost any shampoo (dandruff shampoo can work well, so can Dawn dish detergent even) -- but ALL bathing really does is stun them (so honestly you're better off with a spray on repellant rather than trying to kill them in a bath where you have to get your hands in it too??). BUT AFTER the bath you gotta sit down with a flea comb and literally comb the fleas out of the coat and drop them in a dish of alcohol or dish soap. Then if you use something like Adams flea spray as Jackie suggested you can far more easily control fleas not jumping on them and surviving.
A lot of work ... yes. Breaking the cycle of an infestation isn't fun. And if you own your own home -- whatever you spread outside -- ALSO do right up to the edge of the home (around the skirting if you live in a Southern-type home or around the concrete foundation if you live in a home with a cellar) -- fleas can actually come thru even the tiny holes in the foundation/concrete.
Outside you can spread DE with one of those little whirly spreader things (Jackie help -- you know outdoor stuff better than I do).
There are chemicals you can use -- but I typically use DE because the bugs don't get resistant to it (there's no killing chemical -- it just plain dries them out til they die). But you have to reapply after a heavy rain.
I'm sorry you're having to deal with this. My very first dog had flea allergy dermatitis. Man -- what a MESS any time she got bitten. And it wouldn't heal until the vet got enough anti-inflammatory in her to get the skin back to normal.
Be cautious -- we're both urging you to go to the vet here, understanding that money is tight. But you seriously can have quite a bad infection start in her skin ... and it honestly will take something form the vet to get the skin back to normal. Fleas are NO fun for the flea allergic dog.