Found 2 fleas on Brick today. I'm freaked out!
I thought it was an ant. I got it out of his fur and onto the table and noticed that it was longer than it was wide. It was hopping, as well. I kinda smeared it with my thumb, grabbed it with some TP, and flushed it. I kept brushing and combing him and putting the fur into a plastic bag. I noticed a bug in the bag crawling around. I finished grooming him and put his Frontline on. I was so troubled by this, I called the ER vet and asked them what they think. Brick has never had a flea on him in his life. I had never even seen a flea in my life. I actually took the bag of fur and Brick to the ER vet. The vet tech looked at the bag of fur and said there's a live flea jumping around in there and a dead one. She said if I wanted to wait like an hour or two and spend $94, I could see the doctor so that I could get some of the oral anti-flea meds (Capstar?). I really didn't want to wait 2 hours to get a prescription. So what does this mean? What do I do next? I'm freaked out about having fleas. I'm not sure if he's had them for awhile or if he picked them up today at the dog park. I don't know what to do for him or what to do for the house. I haven't seen any in the house, but does that mean anything? I've already sprinkled some 20 Mule Team Borax on his bed and on the area rug in the LR. I'm gating him in the kitchen & DR, where it's tile floor. Help me out guys, give me a plan. I want to be proactive. Not reactive. |
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| TWO fleas!!! OMG!!!! Seriously, Mark. Sit back, take a deep breath and repeat to yourself "Fleas Happen". Capstar isn't generally required unless there's a real infestation, such as a shelter dog or stray may have. Not just a few picked up in the tall grass in the field next door. Apply the Frontline and that should take care of it. If you're really freaked out, vaccuum and clean. Then come vacuum and clean my house.  Put a flea collar in the vacuum bag or canister if it makes you feel better. Fleas are nasty critters but regular line grooming your dogs will let you know if the problem is more serious than just a couple of freeloaders. One dose of Frontline has always done the trick for us. Now BREATHE!!!! |
| Thank you Nita, that's what I wrote, but checked to see if someone said it better. Fleas happen. You jump (no pun) on them immediately, vacuum daily (as described by Nita) and don't forget your car! Next time he goes to the dog park, dust him afterwards. If Frontline misses something, your frequent combing of him should do the trick. |
| Our previous sheepdog Mopsy had fleas when we brought her home. Topical treatment (shampoo) was our only option since she was such a young puppy. Treatment of our house was not necessary. People can get flea bites but we did not have any so I would assume that what we did was solving the problem. I would not panic. Especially since you only noticed the problem when grooming Brick and not because he was scratching or biting, etc. It sounds like what you have done so far should take care of it. |
| Frontline stopped working on Tonks- and she was allergic to the flea bites. WE do an oral flea preventative, and its recently been combined with her heartworm meds to be one oral pill. It works great. Its called Trifexis- why not ask your vet about it at your next regularly scheduled appointment? |
| Thanks guys. I've never dealt with this before. He was at the groomers last week for a bath and they didn't say anything about fleas. As a matter of fact, they make you initial on the form when you drop him off that if they find fleas or ticks, you OK them to treat the dog for fleas and ticks. I didn't take him anywhere in between the time he was at the groomers and when I brought him to the park. |
| So what's the best way to treat his bedding, my bedding (including matresses & pillows), and the other soft furniture in the house? What about hard surfaces like tile floors & hardwood floors? Do those need to be washed? And how about the walls? What about under furniture that isn't easily moved? How about drapes? How clean is clean? To clean this house properly, it would probably take 2 people about 1 week to do it properly. It's not that it's dirty. It's just a bit cluttered and moving stuff around would be a high priority in doing it right. I've already sprinkled Borax on the carpets and his beds. Just need to vacuum it up. I've washed all my sheets including the matress cover & comforter at the laudromat in hot water and baked them in their dryers. I've vacuumed my truck at the car wash. What's next? Thanks for the tips. Sorry to be such a pain. |
| I wouldn't worry as much about furniture and bedding. What will happen is that when you treat Brick for fleas again, as the fleas jump on him to bite, they'll die. So you may find a few dead ones on him, so don't panic. But they will die, and then you will be flea free. If your home isn't infested, if you've just seen a couple on your dog, you shouldn't have to worry about having the house bombed. We had a rental that we were living in that was infested from the prior tenant. We had to the have the house bombed twice, and Adam treated the lawn once a month from then on. We were living next door to a family that fed easily 2 dozen feral cats, and we recognized that keeping fleas at bay was going to be an ongoing chore. I thing treating the lawn really helped- that way we and the dogs weren't walking them into the house when we came in! |
| i had a persian cat in my teens (it was the devil) the breeder insisted on taking her for her last set of jabs, when i got her back she was crawling with fleas, i used frontline on the cat and a flea spray, i believe it was call RIP on carpets, bedding, sofas, curtains even hard surfaces. your vet should be able to give you a spray thats safe to use on pet and human bedding, i have crazy sensitive skin and i had no problems. you're probably ok soft furnishing wise to be honest as you only found two fleas you've obviously caught it early on, but i think the spray will make you feel better and it is relatively inexpensive so best to be safe than sorry. |
| Im with the others... dont freak out. In Texas fleas are a common thing. My parents neighbors dont treat their yards or even bathe their dogs so when we visit my dogs bring them home. I put them on K-9 Advantix and I could see the fleas falling off. My friend who is a vet tech said as long as you treat the dogs your house and yard will also be flea free. If you have already put the frontline on him do not give him a bath or any other treatments for awhile, it could cause an "overdose" and Brick could get sick. Give the frontline a full 24 hours to work. |
| I went out today and bought a flea comb. I didn't think I'd be able to get it thru his fur (coarse, dense, & wiry) but I got it thru. I was almost done without finding a single flea......and then I found one on his right rear leg.  But that was the only one I found. I put the Frontline on him last night around 7 or 8 PM. I've been keeping him in the kitchen & DR (tile floor). I've put Borax on the basement carpet, LR couch, his basement bed, and my bed in addition to where I put it last night. I still have to do the basment couch & the stairs. I really don't want to vacuum it up until I'm sure Brick is clean. Does that sound like the right path? My week-end sure got ruined. And I got the creepy-crawlies now, too. |
| Don't keep him away from his regular haunts. The frontline works in his environment and will kill fleas wherever he lies down. |
| So I thought I was turning the corner with this ordeal as I found 2 or 3 on him on Saturday, and only 1 on him on Sunday. But alas, when I was flea combing him yesterday, I found 3 or 4 more (maybe even 5; hard to tell as they move around pretty good in the bag of fur). I've pretty much had enough of this. I'm going to ask my vet if they can shave him ( I hate to do this as his coat is looking real nice right now) & flea dip him. Not sure of the timing though as I just put the Frontline on him Saturday evening. The vet tech said 24-48 hours for the Frontline to take full effect but he had the most on him that I could see AFTER the 48 hour mark. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have my lawn sprayed as well. The only places he's been since finding these things are in the tiled kitchen & DR, and my backyard. I would think the numbers found should be going down. Just in case they're in my backyard, I've been taking him to the front yard for potty breaks. I'm almost done vacuuming. Just have the stairwell to do, the room he's been in, and my bed. Everything soft has been Borax-ed for at least 12 hours before vacuuming. My gut is just in knots right now. I want this to be over. Guys, I need words of encouragement and hope. |
| If you are calling your vet, ask about Comfortis or Trifexis while you're at it. They are both the oral flea meds we give Tonks and Luna (Trefexis is newer, and is heartworm too) and it stops the creepie crawls dead in 4 hours, MAX. |
| My vet has the Comfortis. Is that a pretty good med? I'll call them now. |
Another voice from Texas  The topicals (Frontline/Advantix)don't seem to work here anymore. I just started Comfortis three weeks ago and love it. I'll switch to Trifexis when my current heart worm pills run out. You don't need to shave your dog. I have three very hairy puppies (my sheepie, a shilo shepherd,and a toy poodle). They run for three miles each morning in the fields need my house. No fleas  I don't do anything else,but give them the Comfortis. The fleas are always bad here, but especially this year with the drought |
| I talked to my groomer and she said that shaving him won't really do anything. But I countered back saying that it will be a whole heck of a lot easier to get the flea comb thru a little bit of short hair rather than the thick, coarse, wiry, curly fur that's on him now. She said I had a point. I need all the time I can pick-up right now. Seems like everyone is telling me I have to vacuum every day for the next 2-3 months. The whole house. Each & every day. I don't even see how that's possible. I vacuumed the LR & my bedroom on Sunday. I did the family room & dining/kitchen combo in the basement yesterday. I'll do the stairwell, kitchen, & DR today. That still leaves 2 bedrooms (which he doesn't go in; not sure If I have to do much to those). Maybe the hallway? What about closets? And the bathrooms? And the laundry room in the basement? And the storage area in the basement? And the mudrooms? And what about the garage for that matter? It's under the house. You see what I'm getting at. How much do I have to vacuum? In terms of both square footage and time. I'm picking up Comfortis today and will start him on that at dinner tonight. My groomer, my vet, and the folks at Frontline said I could also spray him with a topical flea spray like Zodiac as well. I'll vacuum the stairwell, kitchen, & DR tonight. I have to flea comb him again. He's getting shaved tomorrow.  I'm going to spray my lawn. And vacuum as much as I can that time will allow. Maybe my mom & I can double team the house (we have 2 vacuums). One person upstairs and one down. I just hate to involve her as this is not her fault. I'm a guest in her place until I find my own house (or build) and I brought fleas into it. |
Mark,please take a deep breath and relax  Like I said, I live in a very flea infested area.... All I did three weeks ago is give my three the comfortis. I know they had the fleas for about a week before I realized the Frontline wasn't working anymore. I'll be the first to admit house keeping isn't my strong point  I did no extra cleaning other than my normal. My crew is flea free,even with their daily runs through the fields.I do keep everyones stomachs shaved, its cleaner and I can tell right away if there are any fleas (none at my house thanks to Comfortis) Please don't totally clip your puppy unless you were going to do it anyway. Put the flea comb away- as you have found out it doesn't work on thick coated dogs. |
| Unless Brick is having an allergic reaction, relax, Relax, RELAX! I wrote this article about how to get fleas off your dog. Use an effective topical adulticide and adding a pill containing lufernon will stop any fleas from making baby fleas. It will solve the problem without going to extremes. If the fleas are still jumping on from the environment outside, you'll find out. If need be you can treat the outside. Until then the lufernon WILL PREVENT your dog from infesting the house. The topical will kill any adults that have hopped on. |
| I started him on the Comfortis at meal time tonight. I bought the spray for the yard. Just don't know when I'll be able to do it. There is just so little time in the evening after work. I also bought a topical spray for him that both the folks at Frontline and my vet say is OK to use with the Frontline I put on him on Saturday. I'm freaking out because so many other sites say you need to vacuum your house from top to bottom; every nook & cranny; every seam, crack, & crevice. Turn the heat up if the ambient temp isn't high. Spray the entire house top to bottom with heavy duty flea spray. Vacuum once more. Leave it for a few days then vacuum again. The lady I spoke with at Frontline says I need to vacuum the entire house once a day for 2-3 weeks, then twice a week for a few weeks, then finally once a week. That whole timespan would be 2-3 months. I spoke with an exterminator. They said if I wanted their services, I'd have to mop every floor and vacuum every soft surface BEFORE they come. Then they come & do their thing, then I'd have to vacuum again afterwards. There's just not enough time in a day to do my job and all this cleaning. That's what I'm worried about. That if I don't do all this heavy duty cleaning/vacuuming & spraying, that I'll wind up with an infestation. |
| Better tonight. I only found one on him. It was on the back of his right rear paw just about where the paw meets the ground. It didn't seem to move around as fast as the others I saw in the previous days, so maybe that's a good sign that the meds are finally working. My mom was a tremendous help to me tonight with the vacuuming. She got the kit & DR where he's been living, and one of the bedrooms while I was grooming him. Tomorrow he gets shaved. I know you guys don't agree with me, but it will be SO much easier for me to inspect & flea comb him with short hair. While that's happening, I will spray my back yard & side yards with the bug killer. And we'll vacuum when we can. So keep your fingers crossed that I'm on the right track. |
| Don't vacuum, Don't get an exterminator, don't spray Brick. LET the fleas jump on Brick. Now that he has the Comfortis, they will die when they get on him. Eggs will cease to exist if fleas can't feed. The Comfortis is a GREAT flea solution. Some dogs have a sensitivity to it- Tonks and Luna don't always stomach it well. But we persevere because it works wonders. The Trifexis even works on Ticks, even though its not on the packaging. We've had a really bad tick season, and I keep finding them on Tonsk and Luna, almost daily. But the ones I find are not attached, and like the fleas you are describing, if they aren't dead they are so slow moving that they are close to it. I'm like you- I get completely freaked out by the creepie crawlies on my dogs. We've had ZERO flea problems since we started the Comfortis 2 years ago, and now the same results with the Trifexis. I say give it a week, and then re-evaluate. If you see fleas at that point, I'll eat my hat. |
| I brought Brick to the groomers tonight. They shaved him to 1/8 inch length. They DID pretty much leave his face. Just trimmed it up a bit and blended it back to the shorter length of his body. They did a nice job. He doesn't look too silly. They also gave him a flea & tick bath. When I got him home, I decided to do his flea comb because they don't do it at the groomer. Let me tell you, what a pleasure doing it when the fur is short. What was taking me 1.5 to 1.75 hours is now down to about 30 minutes. And the results...... . . . . . . . . . I didn't see any creepy crawlies tonight. So tomorrow I spray the lawn. Couldn't do it today because it rained around 4 PM. I did some more vacuuming today. The downstairs bathroom & laundry room and I re-did my bedroom including my matress, box spring, and frame. I also plan to put flea powder on the carpets and a spray on the upholstery and drapes. Hopefully by the weekend. Keep your fingers & paws crossed that I got this on the run. |
| With all this vacuuming....you are emptying the canister/changing the bag after each time, right? otherwise anything you suck up will escape.... just had to ask.... |
you're wearing me out with all this worrying and vacuuming.  Think I need to go rest now.  But really Im sure all will be fine. Give the treatments time to work. You dont want to overdose him... |
got sheep wrote: With all this vacuuming....you are emptying the canister/changing the bag after each time, right? otherwise anything you suck up will escape.... just had to ask.... Well, no. I DID put a cut up flea collar in the bag. I vacuumed on one bag on Sunday & Monday then changed it. I vacuumed on another bag on Tuesday & Wednesday. I will change it when I get home today. I've been storing the vacuum cleaner in the garage, though. The garage is under the house. |
| My mother found this thing on-line where it said to pour vinegar in a shallow bowl and set it out at night. The fleas are attracted to it, jump in & die. Never heard of it, it's cheap & easy, so we decided to try it. And not so much as a control measure but as a test to give us some kind of idea about the population in the house. So I put one bowl in the room Brick and I slept in and one in the LR last night. Checked them this morning. The one in my room had nothing in it. The one in the LR had something on the inside side of the bowl (but not in the liquid) and as soon as I touched it, it was gone. I'm thinking it was a flea. So starting today, I'm going to start spraying the house. I just can't believe that I will have to work like this for the next 2-3 months. I'm so tired. I've been going to bed at 11:30 PM and getting up before 5 AM for work. I work all day, then I have to come home and work in the house all evening. The only time I sit is when I eat. And then I'm not even sure I'm making a difference. I can't vacuum the whole house in an hour. Or even in one evening. :depressed emoticon: I have to resign to the fact that my summer is over. |
| If your dog is being treated with comfortis, they cannot breed unless you are being fed upon. Are you being fed upon? If your dog is being treated with comfortis, they supposedly cannot lay eggs. I would have gone with the lufernon, but let's assume the comfortis is working as advertised. If they cannot lay eggs from feeding on your dog, and they are not laying eggs from feeding on you, then the adults will disappear as they die off. The eggs are fairly impervious to chemical attack; I wouldn't try. You can keep vacuuming, but if you're going that slowly then you've likely already got the eggs that are gonna get sucked up. These chemicals are not without risk, and especially if you are going to start bombarding the house and the dog and the yard and the vacuum cleaner bags (that spew the chemicals back into the air) you risk making everyone sick. I would just be patient and allow the chemicals in and on your dog to do their job, and let the dog back into the environment so he can spread the topical pesticide around the house as intended. |
| Mark Have you heard the term OCD, I think you are over the edge on this flea thing. Listen to Ron all those chemicals are dangerous to everyone in the house. Comfortis works... using all those chemicals will cause more damage to all the living things in your house and yard (much more than the fleas would)  |
Guest wrote: Mark Have you heard the term OCD, I think you are over the edge on this flea thing. Listen to Ron all those chemicals are dangerous to everyone in the house. Comfortis works... using all those chemicals will cause more damage to all the living things in your house and yard (much more than the fleas would) Believe me I know I am acting crazy. And this is not like me. I'm the most easy going person you'll ever meet. Maybe too much. I really don't give a rat's *** about much. But for some reason, the thought of an infestation of fleas (or bedbugs or cockroaches) is very unsettling to me. It doesn't help when you read the stories of how to get rid of fleas in your house. It's all; vacuum,vacuum, vacuum, spray, spray, spray, bomb, bomb, bomb. And if you don't do all that, you will not be sucessful in ridding your home of the pests. Believe me, I don't want to use chemicals. I hate them. |
| Mark I'm like you. Even the thought of fleas give me the creepy-crawlies. Reading this thread makes me ITCH and I haven't seen a flea for years. I never see them around here and so my dogs aren't on anything. Don't need the extra chemicals. However, six years ago two of the three dogs I brought to a national back East came back with unwanted hitch hikers. I went nuts! Not chemically nuts, though I did frontline them. But as soon as I could do so without interfering with the frontline I started bathing them every other day. (Soap and water will kill fleas on the dog - you can see them floating dead down the drain - very satisfying ) I did the borax and vigorous vacuum cleaning and washing their bedding basically daily. It took about three weeks (and also a follow up frontline application) and by then I confess I wasn't mopping and vacuuming very religiously at all (it does get real old real fast), but they were gone and I haven't seen any since. Breathe, hon, breathe...The few fleas you've seen is far from an infestation. They can pick up the odd flea outside but in areas that aren't horribly afflicted with the evil buggers an excessively clean dog with a excellent immune system isn't a great attraction for them it seems. Don't put so many chemicals in and around him that you risk compromising his immune system even a little. He needs it  Kristine |
| Thanks Kristine. We decided that we will NOT spray in the house right now. I did spray the backyard, but I won't let him back there for a long while. I've actually been walking him twice a day now for his potties. He's loving that anyways. Plus he's getting more exercize and so am I. So that's an upshot of this. He's been clean for 2 days. I'm pretty sure we haven't been bitten. When I stand on a carpet or shufle on it, I don't see anything jumping on me. Haven't seen anything in the "vinegar traps" this morning or all of yesterDAY. We may try a different kind of homemade trap and see what that yields. But for now, just rigorous vacuuming. |
| As you all know, I've been flea combing Brick every evening since this nightmare happened. I haven't seen anything on him since last Tuesday. I assume that's good, right? I spent the day yesterday vacuuming the WHOLE house. So that means I've done the whole house twice since last Saturday. The first pass was piecemeal as I just didn't have enough time to do the whole thing. I shot the moon yesterday and did the whole house including moving furniture, moving the fridge, getting into the closets as much as possible, doing rooms he doesn't go into, the drapes, etc. I've done the room that I WAS sleeping in (and where he normally sleeps) THREE times. I've washed all of his bedding as well. So how am I doing guys? Can I let him back into more of the house? He's been gated in the kitchen & DR. What's next? |
| I let him into the living room today. Hope that was OK. |
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