Dog flea treatment

Check in the fur and you will see signs of flea droppings if your dog has them. If this is the case it’s probably too late to just treat your dog, the eggs and larvae will be established in your house. From experience this will mean a thorough hoover then treatment with the spray only available from vets followed by shutting your house up and keeping out for as long as possible. I’m sorry but regular treatment of your animals is the only way I’ve found as a reliable way to keep them at bay.

Next time you bathe your dog, try adding 500g of cooking salt to the bath water.

Insects abhor salt. Unfortunately, your dog may lap up the bath water like it’s creme de menthe.

Similairly, tea tree shower gel will find no favours amongst insects. Perfectly safe on humans. On animals?
Even at such low concentrations?

I’ve heard that dog fleas are eager to jump from their host, onto the fluorescent tubes of UV fly-zappers.

Basically it's a vet job. Fleas laugh at Frontline now it's over the counter. Bravecto seems to be the one to use if you've got a decent infestation. It may well not be fleas though if you can't see them and there are some specific areas of irritation - they're not microscopic and generally you can see them crawling around in the fur. So vet may diagnose something else...

Front Line and the like seem ineffective now - we had better results with tablets and regular bathing in flea shampoo.

Wash all their bedding too.

It can take weeks though, there's no quick fix.

You can generally get treatments from on-line Vets, Zoo Plus etc. Personally, I'd get a flea comb first and see if you can find droppings or fleas - tommy area and back of neck common places for them. But could be skin irritation of some sort if you can't find any. Dirt is easy to find (with a comb), and just drop some on a wet tissue, and if it 'bleeds' into the tissue, it's flea dirt.

Indorex is very good for treating soft furnishings if you do have some of the buggers. £15 a big tin.

This?

https://amzn.eu/d/iYfKjXB

Only ever used basic flea combs - much like what you'd use for kids head lice. You'll very quickly find fleas or dirt.

We have Bravecto spot for the little fella. Vet supplies it at set intervals and he gets it on the back of his neck every four months or so. Entirely preventative but equally he’s never had a problem as a result.

Credelio works extremely well.

Don’t waste your time bathing your dog in salty water or tea tree oils.

As others have said Bravecto or Simparica. Both require a trip to the vet unfortunately. Over the counter is over the counter for a reason ime 😕

"Don’t waste your time bathing your dog in salty water or tea tree oils."

Useful to find out if the dog has fleas and it's not another problem causing the rash.

I'm averse to over-using nerve agents without there being a proper need, it helps retard immunity build-up in the insect population too and will reduce the need for ever stronger insecticides.

What insects really hate is cheap, sticky hair-gel.

If you shampoo your carpets, it may be worth giving it a try. Maybe add some tea-tree shower gel too. If it doesn’t completely ruin your carpets, it will give the fleas their marching orders.

Don't wash the dog? We have a 9 year old / nearly 10 Karelian Bear from Finland. You are not meant to wash them - he's been washed less than a hand full of times as it washes the oils out of his fur. His coats is amazing -very deep double coat. Never had fleas (never had flea treatment), never scratches himself, dirt and mud either don't stick or fall off when dry. Gets regular brushing with a few different types of brush.
Happy dog.

Thought this thread was going to be related to todays BBC article:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-68400630