Flea Bites & Itching

    • Puppy

    Flea Bites & Itching

    Hi All - Just last nite I gave my YorkiPoo the works after I found a flea on him.  He's been on Frontline Top Spot for several months, but that doesn't seem to be working at all.  I flea combed him, bathed him, flea combed again, flea sprayed and administered a dose of Frontline (I found several fleas in the process).  I also vacuumed and changed all the sheets.  Hopefully the fleas don't return.  He seems to have a lot of flea bites on him, because he is constantly scratching himself.  I was wondering if any of you know how I should treat his bites to help soothe his skin and stop all the scratching.  Oh, and I plan on switching to flea treatments once the Frontline is gone, Advantage or Advantix - any recommendations?  Thanks!
    • Gold Top Dog
    This sounds so familiar.  We put Frontline Plus on Bogey EVERY month like clockwork.  The beginning of Sept. we found a couple fleas on her and realized that shew was bringing them in from outside as we had a raccoon burrow under our deck. We've got her gone, but the fleas lived on. I was vaccuuming every night. Try DeFlea Pet and Dog Shampoo.  It kills fleas on contact and any eggs and/or larvae on the dog. It's really mild and soothing and I was using it every 5-6 days until recently. It's taken about a month, but I think we're at the end of the fleas.  It's such a pain and I felt terrible for Bogey as she was itching and scratching constantly.  When it was at it's worse, she was waking up throughout the night to itch (she sleeps on the bed with us).  Good luck to you and be PATIENT ! ! We even spraying the yard since she was bringing them in from outside. Adams' Yard Spray.  Good luck! We're going to try the Frontline Plus again TOMORROW and if we see fleas again, we're switching. 
    • Gold Top Dog
    I was using Frontline and a couple of trips to the vet a month apart, and the vet spoted a few fleas.  I have now switched to Advantix and so far, no fleas....
    • Gold Top Dog
    I've had my dogs on Frontline Plus for about 6 weeks.  We saw fleas after the first application after about 3 weeks and I called the vet's office and they told me to go ahead and re-apply early because the original flea eggs were hatching and they told me to vacuum two times a week.  This helped for only two weeks so I called the Frontline company and talked to a rep and what she said made sense.  She told me that since Frontline is not a repelant it is normal to see new fleas on them until they are all killed off.  She said it usually takes at least three months before the fleas are gone.  She said it does kill the fleas that bite them and it makes them not reproduce, so in time it kills the cycle.  She told me to keep up the vacuuming and wait the entire 4 weeks before I re-apply.  I am seeing less and less fleas on Charlie & Duke.  I'm also using Fleabusters for my carpets, but it's a lot of work so I am slowly doing one room at a time.  I also put a piece of flea collar in my vacuum chamber to make sure any fleas that are vacuumed up are killed.  I think I'm making progress, the dogs seem to be scratching and biting themselves less and less.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Exactly same thing for us. I called the Frontline people who were VERY nice. She said that same thing to me that you just explained. It's been 1 month now and I hadn't seen ANY fleas for 2 days and today saw 1. It seems like after week 3 we really noticed that she's itching and scratching quite a bit less.  It's frustrating but it's so important to vaccuum and wash bedding as often as you can.