Hi,
My little Westie has fleas, she has been flea free for ages, but all of a sudden she started scratching and has fleas. They are congregated around her rear, and I've just spent an hour pulling them out with tweezers and killing them.
I've tried everything, she has garlic in her food, I have used exelpet and advantage monthly flea repelents, she is well groomed, and brushed daily.
As she's a Westie and has sensitive skin, the vet tells me I can't use flea powders or washes? Any suggestions.
Answers:
I recently purchased (I consider it more of a rescue, but anyway) a 10 week old Westie pup from an Amish family.
He was in the worst condition I have ever seen for a puppy. Filthy, unsocialized, and covered in the largest fleas I have ever laid eyes on.
I threw the "Westies have sensitive skin" rule out the window and washed him twice with flea shampoo as soon as we walked in the door to our home. He got dry skin and it itched for a few days, but I tell you, the fleas were DEAD. (The stuff was so potent, it dried my hands out so much they cracked and bled. I could take the suffering if it helped the pup!)
That was in February, and I haven't seen a flea since.
As a preventative measure, I feed him Brewer's Yeast tablets every day. They are inexpensive and can find them online or in pet stores (even WalMart carries them). The tablets also contain garlic and omega 3 fatty acids. All of the components help keep fleas away, keep his skin healthy, and his coat shiny.
I would also take measures to flea-proof your house. Bomb it or call an exterminator or whatever, but if you don't get rid of the fleas and eggs on your furniture, carpet, etc, shampooing your dog is a moot point.
Good luck!
Your vets flea speech may have mentioned treating the house and yard also. if you just treat the dog the fleas will jump back on.fleas are mobile.
pulling the fleas off wont help - there will be eggs all over her.
some dogs dont respond to Advantage.
Try Frontline Plus - it works every single time if used PROPERLY and CONSISTENTLY. read the directions.
if your dog is on Frontline and still has fleas on her, then the problem isnt your dog, its the house.
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The best thing to do is take her to groomer and let her know ahead of time she has fleas and have her flea dipped and then I have had great luck with Frontline flea treatment.Use once a month. You will have to wash rugs and bedding and spray even under furniture as fleas jump and hide and can produce up to 1 year.
switch to frontline, and cut up a flea collar and put it in your vacuum cleaner bag. this will kill the flea eggs when you use the vacuum.
hopefully you don't have cats in the neighborhood.
Have you tried brewer's yeast. Not only does it make your animals blood toxic to fleas it is a good source of protein. You need to give two tablespoon a day for about 14 days to see results.
You can purchase it a most health food stores and it is a good source of B vitamins.
I own a westie, with very sensitive skin, and your vet isn't telling you the whole truth, true you cant use MOST flea powders and baths, but you CAN use them, they just have to be for very sensitive skin animals, we use them all the time on our dog and it works wonders, give her a bath with a flea fighting shampoo (make sure it's sensitive skin) use some baby powder after you dry her to keep her skin from drying, and then use a sensitive skin spray, it will work wonders.
I have never had a problem with Advantage spot on treatment or Frontline. They have been the best way to get rid of all fleas. Because if the fleas get on the dog they die. You don't even have to flea bomb the house. Be care about washing the dog too soon after putting the treatment on them, that could weaken it.
Our Westie does fine on Interceptor, applied to the back of her neck. If that causes problems, you may have to tweak her diet to reduce skin sensitivity. (Miss Mollie gets dry food with fish and sweet potato---no other protein or grains). Of course you will want to run all of these suggestions by your vet. Good luck!
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