Fleas? Dry skin? Allergies?
The only physical thing I've noticed is he has given himself small red patches on his groin when he's really biting at it, but that's only happened a couple of times. The lady at PetsMart told me it's itchy season for dogs, so I shouldn't be concerned. But that was before I found out my parents' dog had fleas. Thoughts? |
|
|
| It is really hard to tell on a sheepie if they have fleas because of their coat. My vet has told me frontline isn't the greatest flea preventive. Fleas are becoming immune to it. Its possible that its not working on all the fleas or that he has allergies. Switch flea preventatives and see if that works. I use advantage II. |
| Buster scratches as he is sensitive to things, but then he really started scratching all the time. As he is a black newfy I could not find anything on him. On our first experience we let it go on too long thinking it was just Busters allergies. We ended up finding scabs on him and then he developed a hot spot. We didn't know he had a lice and flea problem until I found them grooming Monty. Hard to see as the lice look like tiny grass seeds that don't move and Fleas are not much bigger but ping out of the way so not sure if you imagined it. The second time Buster started scratching excessively we checked out Monty the OES and I found one flea on him so I treated them both. I have used Advantage and revolution, they both worked. It has happened twice this year. After treatment Buster stopped scratching in a day. We now know he reacts really bad to fleas and lice and will treat at first sign of excessive scratching. Monty is hardly bothered by them. The vet said if your dog comes in contact with a dog with fleas or lice you should treat as it is almost certain they will get it. My poor sister in laws dog did from ours, we felt bad but we didn't know our dogs had them at the time. |
| Okay, this is good to know. Thank you! We went to the vet today and the doctor checked him fairly thoroughly and said she couldn't find anything. She still wouldn't rule it out, though, which I can't help but feel frustrated with. Of course, this is all happening at the exact day he is due for his monthly flea treatment (further reinforcing my fears, since he is least protected in this stage of the cycle). He had a new brand of flea prevention re-applied today. I am definitely feeling frustrated because I feel so unsure. I did not find any "flea dirt" on him at all, but found white flecks of dandruff. This supports my theory that it's just dry skin, but maybe I'm trying to think optimistically so I don't have to flea bomb my apartment the week of midterms... Oh, finally, I was looking at him very closely at the vet, pulling his hair apart and looking at the skin. Could hardly find evidence of any sort of problem. Then, in one quick second, I think I saw one tiny flea hop up and back into the fur. But here's the issue: I have no idea if I made it up or not!! I really didn't see ANY bites or any flea droppings (and I've thoroughly brushed him several times this week). But now because of that one iffy moment, I just stare at him, trying to figure out if I psyched myself out. This is horrible. I don't even know if I should be sleeping in my bed tonight without changing the sheets, but I don't have the quarters to do laundry. Anyway, that was just a frustrated rant. Thank you for the input, guys. |
| After I treated them, I vacuumed and washed all clothing and bedding. I did not have to flee bomb the house, even after the first bad case. The second milder case was several months later and I think they got it outside the home again and not a reoccurrence of the first case. You should not have to flee bomb, but if you can it is best to vacumn well and wash the clothing and bedding. Also Buster has had itchy skin before and no fleas, so could be either. |
| Sounds like you are looking closely. Have you supplemented their diet with fish oil or some other oily stuff for their skin? We use salmon oil here. Remember when vacuuming daily, throw the bag away if you suspect fleas or empty the canister outside into the trash. Don't store possible flea infested vacuum bags or canisters. |
| The easiest way to find fleas/lice is to grab a flea comb and check. On dogs, I usually find them on the rump and on the stomach. For cats, they seem to hang out around the ears, neck, and chin. We used PetArmor on both the dogs and the cats, it worked perfectly on the dogs with no skin issues, and didn't work at all for the cats, but I attribute that to my cats being much larger than the average cat. I'm thinking I may need to use a tube and a half on each cat or something for it to work, they weigh like 15 pounds each! One of the companies has a large cat kind, but they want 54 dollars for it and I really can't afford that. |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|