Best flea treatment for dogs

If you have a dog that seems to be suffering from flea infestation – be quick. The sooner you rid your dog of fleas, the better, both for you and for your pet. In this article you will find everything you need to know to combat these parasites. 

SYMPTOMS

If your dog scratches itself excessively, bites its rear, tail end or thighs, loses hair, has skin lesions and/or red bumps and, on top of that, you find flea excrement (tiny black fecal matter; if you add water to it and smear it using toilet paper it gets red in colour) – there’s a pretty good chance that your dog has been infested with fleas. Don’t hesitate to act; flea infestation may have a bad influence on the health of your pet. Apart from the obvious discomfort, many animals suffer from FAD, i. e., Flea Allergic Dermatitis, which can be tough on your dog.

TREATMENT

How do you get about treating your pet, then? Well, first and foremost, remember that chemicals are the last resort.

Whether you need to rid your pet of fleas or just use it as a precaution, flea shampoo for dogs is definitely a good idea. There are, however, several things you must keep in mind when buying one. 

As you will invariably notice, there’s a difference between what you can apply to an adult dog, and what product you should apply to a puppy. You will find both puppy shampoos and dog shampoos. Before picking one, you had better consult a vet and their opinion on your pet’s immune system. Some shampoos could be extremely dangerous (even lethal) for puppies. 

This website is devoted to the flea treatment for dogs. The article below deals with the problem of fleas on cats, which could be of interest to dog-and-cat owners. Similar though they sometimes may seem, CATS ARE NOT DOGS and therefore need a different kind of treatment. What’s more, it is often the case that applying dog treatment to cats may actually harm them (and vice versa).
There is a variety of reasons for this. Because of their metabolism, grooming habits and, very often, smaller size, cats need different types of flea treatment. What works well for dogs may have, and often indeed has, dire consequences for our feline pets; cats are in general more susceptible to any toxic products and react strongly against them.

Many wonder what the big problem about the flea removal is. After all, once you realise there are fleas in your house and on your dog, you just buy some nice flea bomb and use it, wash your dog in some anti-flea shampoo and the problem’s done with.

Well, don’t be so hasty. If you act this way, you are quite sure to have your house and pet re-infested with these pesky creatures. Why?

Firstly, you did not make sure you actually got rid of all the fleas, both the adult ones and the larvae. Fleas have different developmental stages and therefore different substances are needed to kill adult fleas and, say, eggs. Even if you wipe out all the adult fleas in your house, fleas will soon reappear.

First and foremost, make sure you get rid of all the flea eggs. This you will achieve by thoroughly washing carpets and bedding with a strong detergent and vacuuming the entire house. Also, try to dehumidify your house, eg. by turning on air conditioning. To kill larvae, you could wash carpets with an insecticide, or have them steam-washed.

Although is is generally argued that natural methods are better, they may sometimes fail. Then you must resort to what some call “toxic methods”. Don’t be too upset, however. Most non-natural products on the market are there for you to use – you just have to make 100% sure that you have read and understood the recommendations and, better still, consulted a reliable vet. The thing is, toxic products may have a detrimental impact not only on your flowerbed but also may pose a threat to your dog’s health and life, and even your family’s. Better safe than sorry, they say, and in this case this saying  hits the nail on the head.

Now that you have decided that there’s absolutely no other other way for you to approach the flea problem apart from applying some monstrous toxic methods of flea extermination, you can have a quick look at our list of – if used properly – safe products.

Frontline Plus for dogs is among the most popular preventatives. It kills all existing adult fleas on your pet within 12 hours and all ticks and chewing lice within 48 hours. One application ensures a full month protection.  Another advantage of Frontline is that it’s waterproof, which is great for water-loving dogs (you still need to keep your dog away from water for the application to become dry, which usually takes about 24 hours). You need to remember that it must not be applied to pets younger than 8 weeks!

Fleas are potential illness bringers. However, sickness doesn’t have to be connected with parasites, which may make it more difficult for you to notice that something’s up with your pet. To make things more tricky, it’s in animals’ nature to deny the fact that they’re under the weather (to mislead any predators). It’s up to the owners to be alert enough to notice any illness symptoms.

It is fairly simple to notice flea infestation on your dog. What is more, once you get about it and are conscientious, it is fairly easy to get rid of it, too. However, there are other different parasites your pet may be infested with, which can lead to severe health problems and which, alas, are not that easily noticeable.

One of such parasites is heartworm. It is transmitted by parasites and, once it has invaded a pet’s body, it may take it up to two years before any symptoms are visible. To make things worse, over the first six months no symptoms whatsoever are detectable, even in the vet’s lab. Most often, the larvae settles in the heart and only once it has matured will any signs be noticeable. If, although rarely, the larvae end up in unusual areas, such as the eye, brain, or an artery in the leg, different results may be spotted, eg. blindness, seizures or lameness.