Another flea question!!

Oddjob

On a trip to the vets a month ago, my dog was found to have fleas:eek:. (I'd not seen any).
The vet gave me Advocate and Indorex. They treated the dog while I was there but I didn't get the house sprayed for a few days later as I didn't like to do it when the dog was in, I waited until we were going away for a few days then did it as I left.
Last week, on another trip to the vet's, I asked them to see if he still had any,as I still hadn't seen any, they said again that he still had some and told me to do him again, I treated him on Sunday night, but again, have not had chance to do the house as I don't want him having to lie on carpets or his bed straight after they have been treated. We are going away for Bank Holiday so will do the house again then, that will be the third time I have done the house.
I've bought a dust comb and have just gone over him with it, horror of horrors, I've found some fleas still alive:eek:, albeit small ones and only moving slowly.
How long should Advocate take to kill them?

Fire_Fox

Advocate won't simply kill all the fleas on the dog, new ones will continue to jump on whilst your home is still infested. How thoroughly did you treat your property last time? Did you move all the furniture, do hard floors and carpeted areas, the sofa and mattress, your car?

Dunroamin

You have to do flea treatment every month and my vet recommends fortnightly treatment when it's hot.

Fire_Fox

Dunroamin wrote: »

You have to do flea treatment every month and my vet recommends fortnightly treatment when it's hot.

You mean any topical treatment or any household treatment? Regardless of which product is being used?

bazster

Fleas only lay their eggs on the host animal, but the eggs are designed to then get spread around into the surroundings (the animal's bedding etc.)

So, if there are still fleas living/hatching around the place when the animal's treatment has worn off, they'll just jump straight back onto him and start laying eggs again.

So, the animal's treatment has to be maintained until all the fleas are gone - and afterwards too if you don't want him collecting fresh passengers from the great outdoors.

Gonna cost you a fortune getting flea treatment from the vet though, get some Frontline or similar from an online retailer, or even eBay.

Oddjob

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Advocate won't simply kill all the fleas on the dog, new ones will continue to jump on whilst your home is still infested. How thoroughly did you treat your property last time? Did you move all the furniture, do hard floors and carpeted areas, the sofa and mattress, your car?

Unfortunately, I am disabed and unable to move all the furniture etc. I was only able to spray the areas I can see in the hope that any fleas hatching will have to cross areas that have been treated or jump on the dog to get killed by the Advocate or the Indorex.

Oddjob

bazster wrote: »

Fleas only lay their eggs on the host animal, but the eggs are designed to then get spread around into the surroundings (the animal's bedding etc.)

So, if there are still fleas living/hatching around the place when the animal's treatment has worn off, they'll just jump straight back onto him and start laying eggs again.

So, the animal's treatment has to be maintained until all the fleas are gone - and afterwards too if you don't want him collecting fresh passengers from the great outdoors.

Gonna cost you a fortune getting flea treatment from the vet though, get some Frontline or similar from an online retailer, or even eBay.

Its only about three weeks since the dog was treated, it was on the advice of the vet that he be done again, so the first treatment hadn't had time to wear off.
As I can only spray limited areas of the house, I understand that the fleas are probably hatching and re-infesting him. I was just hoping that by keeping spraying where I can and treating him, I'll get id of all of them eventually. I have never knowingly had a problem before.
In my post above, you will see that I am unable to spray the house as thoroughly as I would like to.

I am going to buy some more Indorex on line, but can't get Advocate without a prescription, althought I might get some Advantage for when I've used the last phial of Advocate.

bazster

Oddjob wrote: »

Unfortunately, I am disabed and unable to move all the furniture etc. I was only able to spray the areas I can see in the hope that any fleas hatching will have to cross areas that have been treated or jump on the dog to get killed by the Advocate or the Indorex.

If you keep treating the pooch the fleas will eventually disappear because they'll have nowhere to lay their eggs, but it might take a while until the eggs around the house have all hatched and the fleas all died of natural causes. In the meantime they will be needing fresh blood to feed on, and being unable to use the pooch you will be next in the munching line.

Oddjob

bazster wrote: »

If you keep treating the pooch the fleas will eventually disappear because they'll have nowhere to lay their eggs, but it might take a while until the eggs around the house have all hatched and the fleas all died of natural causes. In the meantime they will be needing fresh blood to feed on, and being unable to use the pooch you will be next in the munching line.

Perhaps I'll need to get some of the repellant that you get for holidays etc. I have already been bitten.

Oddjob

I am also going to now dust/flea comb him everyday, so that I can perhaps get rid of them this way too before they have time to lay too many eggs. The ones I found on him today, all looked small ones and were quite lazy, not trying to jump around too much. I wiped the comb on a pice of kitchen roll after each sweep and put the paper in a a bucket of water, hoping that would kill them - hope they can't swim!!, perhaps I should have put some Jeyes in the bucket?

bazster

I've never heard of a lazy flea, most likely they were dying because of the treatment.

Maybe best to brush/comb him outside so you are not risking spreading more fleas/eggs around your home, and you don't need to bother about killing them if you are merely sending them off into the great outdoors.