We'll remember when Penny got speyed nearly five weeks ago now and they told me that they found a couple of fleas on her, despite having been recently frontlined? I bought some advocate and treated her as soon as she got home. She also had a second advocate last week which was four weeks on. The carpets have also been sprayed and hoovered twice, and the cat has been treated too. This morning I noticed two or three apparent flea bites on her belly and she still seems really itchy. Is there anything more that I can do? I haven't seen any fleas on her, and I haven't been bitten either (which does happen occasionally if I've been lax in keeping up to date with their treatment). I'm going to spray the carpets again sometime during the week but I can't give her another advocate for another three weeks. Surely they should have been wiped out by now?
Re: Grrrr fleas I would think so. Are you sure they are flea bites? Charlie has never had fleas (close inspection by lots of vets due to ear troubles) but still gets little bits from time to time on hairless bits. Mozzies, I reckon...
Re: Grrrr fleas You could try the Bravecto tablets... Not sure if you can use them so soon after the advocate... It sounds to me like the normal flea cycle. You kill them all off, then several weeks later the eggs that had been laid hatch and another smaller batch emerge... You just have to keep on with what you are doing. Good luck, you'll get on top of it. Horrid I know, but there are worse things in life.
Re: Grrrr fleas Yep, normal flea life cycle. The fleas in the pupal stage in your carpets (sorry) are not killed by carpet sprays, they are incredibly resistant little devils. They will continue to hatch for quite a while, and in the worst cases up to 2 years later, but normally up to six months or so. They may well be in your car upholstery too, so worth treating the car as well as it is a common site for re-infestation of dogs. Hoovering is good if done before the spraying as it encourages the pupae to emerge into pre-adults at which point the spray zaps 'em. It's worth sticking a cheap pet shop cat flea collar in your hoover bag to zap any that emerge in there too (flea collars are useless on the cat but really quite good in the hoover bag....). Advocate kills biting adults pretty quickly, usually before they have time to breed, so pretty good for long term control but the fleas will still likely bite before they get killed hence you are likely to see a few bites here and there until the environmental contamination reduces. Good luck with this and hope it settles soon.
Re: Grrrr fleas Can't offer advice but sending my sympathy. Such a pain to deal with, I am sure. Hopefully the nasty biters will be gone sooner rather than later.
Re: Grrrr fleas Symathy from me too. Never really had flea issue with meg. She got bitten by loads of red ants once, (putting her head where she shouldn't) and her eyes closed and ears swelled up. Vet sorted it. But apart from that we've been lucky. So I can't offer any advice but it makes sense about normal flea cycle. Good luck.
Re: Grrrr fleas Lochan has said it all. Years ago there used to be a product called Programme, which stopped the fleas being about to hatch, but haven't heard about it lately so perhaps discontinued. The flea larvae can stay inactive for ages as Lochan said and they tend to be along the edges of the carpet and furniture, so a good vacuum of the edges with special edging tool and down the crevices of the furniture will be a help.
Re: Grrrr fleas Stacia - Program is still available, 6 month duration injectable for cats, tablets for dogs. It breaks the flea life cycle by inhibiting chitin formation, so the flea larvae cannot develop from eggs. However, when used in the face of infestation it doesn't deal with the existing carpet problem as adult fleas have to bite the dog/cat to get the effect, so whilst any new eggs will be rendered sterile the existing ones will still hatch away. So it is probably redundant in this case as the Advocate will almost certainly be killing off any biting adults before they have a chance to produce eggs. I use it in my cats though, as I find it much easier to inject them twice a year and prevent a carpet problem ever happening than to have to get rid of one once it occurs.
Re: Grrrr fleas i used my steam cleaner for the house very good for skirtings etc and hopefully kills anything
Re: Grrrr fleas Just to make you all feel better - I've never had to deal with fleas in the house, but I HAVE had a bedbug infestation... Now that was really disgusting, and very difficult and expensive to get under control!!
Re: Grrrr fleas Thanks for the advice everyone, especially to Lochan who, as always, gives great advice. I love the tip about putting a flea collar in the vacuum bag (or cylinder as we have a Dyson!). The spray I have I bought from the vet, it's called Acclaim and is supposed to stop the lifecycle of fleas and prevent pupae etc hatching and developing. It's also supposed to last for 12 months and will kill adult fleas that emerge weeks later.... I'm not so sure it's doing all it's supposed to... Oh well. I will spray the house again and thoroughly Hoover agin and see how we get on.
Re: Grrrr fleas To test for fleas, take a damp piece of white kitchen roll and a gents comb. Comb dog, around collar and base of tail. Wipe comb on damp kitchen roll/hankie. If fleas present, the damp hankie should have brownish spots on it . (Flea dirt) I know that with all the dogs I have had, I've only ever had fleas once, and I'm afraid my paranoia takes over. I was the same when my children got head lice. I saw them everywhere.[b I wish you luck with this.
