MikeG Posted October 4, 2011 Report Share Posted October 4, 2011 hello all, well if you saw my other post in the photo section, you would know i recently acquired my little luigi. he is 11 weeks old now and doing well. except for a little flea issue. we noticed some flea dirt on the bed about a week ago, which was confusing at first because the dog does not sleep in bed with us. immediately we got him in the bath tub and washed him generously with dawn dish soap, and indeed he had a few bugs on him. just about every day now we have given him a bath, and have been keeping an eye on the fleas and he seems to be free of them at the moment...but still a little itchy from it all. after cleaning the sheets, we once again found dirt on the bed. which made no sense. with some investigation we realized that our two cats as well got fleas...which explains where the dirt originally came from. now, we had gotten both the cats flea collars, which did minimal work so we got rid of them. yesterday went to petsmart and purchased some advantage for cats, and treated them both. so hopefully that will solve their issues (crossing fingers). currently i am a little overwhelmed with it all. i feel so bad for all three of them, even though it is no ones fault except the fleas. emotions aside, our place has been getting a daily/every other day cleaning. it is hard to keep up on every square inch while we both work 40 hours a week (opposite so at least we can alternate cleaning duties). i just want to make sure i am doing this right. we have minimal carpeting, so the animals have been segregated from those areas. now i am just inspecting our throw rugs and furniture on a daily basis. any suggestions of things to try? i do not want to treat luigi with any type of topical solution at his age (even though the products say 7+ weeks). i am reading about diatomaceous earth for pets, which sounds to be very effective. our couch has many crevices and this might be the best bet to get in those areas. sorry for the lengthy post, -mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juliepoudrier Posted October 4, 2011 Report Share Posted October 4, 2011 You are right in thinking that you need to treat the premises and not just the pets. I would probably go ahead and put some Advantage or Frontline on Luigi as well. You need to break the flea cycle. Fleas live in pet bedding, in the crevices/cracks in the floor, etc. If you're vacuuming daily, make sure that you are also emptying the bag/canister into something that can be closed off (tied off) so that any fleas that are vacuumed up don't just hitch a ride back in the house on your pup. It can be helpful to take a flea collar and cut it in pieces and put a couple of pieces in the canister/bag so that teh fleas you suck up when you vacuum might actually succumb. I would not continue to wash the pup daily with Dawn. You are probably removing all the natural oils from his skin, so even if you get rid of the fleas (temporarily), you're sill going to have an itchy pup with overly dry skin. You can try diatomaceous earth. Get the food grade and where a dust mask when you apply it to your furniture, the pet bedding and at least the edges of the floor (where floor meets wall). If you choose to use a flea product that contains an insect growth regulator, you can prevent new fleas from hatching or reaching maturity, but consider that IGRs can be harmful to the environment. And unless you remove fleas from the immediate environment (the yard) Luigi may continue to bring them into the house. You can Google spraying Dawn in the yard as flea control. Again, it works against fleas, but it will kill beneficial insects as well. Just some thoughts.... J. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeG Posted October 5, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2011 thank you for the advice! currently i am using an IGR, but only in the rooms which the animals are not in at the moment just to get in the dark corners where wall meets carpet. i ordered some food grade diatomaceous earth earlier, so we will see how that goes. -mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted October 5, 2011 Report Share Posted October 5, 2011 We've used a combination of Advantage and sprinkling diatomecous earth through the house. When applying the DE, we sprinkle it everywhere, on any kind of soft surface. That includes carpet, rugs, upholstered furniture, etc. We make sure to get under sofas, beds, armchairs and the like. Use a mask and keep your pets in another area, as the DE can irritate the upper respiratory system. And it's drying to your skin, so wearing long sleeves and gloves can help. If you get your carpets/upholstery cleaned, you'll need to repeat. We leave it down for several days, then vacuum up. You do need to empty your vacuum frequently. We usually apply DE once at the beginning of flea season, and use Advantage when we see signs of fleas on the animals. It does cut down on having to reapply the of Advantage frequently. We usually only need to use Advantage every 6 weeks to 2 months, rather than every month. You can use it on your lawn, as well, but a) it will kill all bugs/worms, including the helpful ones, and you have to re-apply after rain or watering. Ruth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urge to herd Posted October 5, 2011 Report Share Posted October 5, 2011 Check out http://www.askthebugman.com/ for more info about pesticides in general and DE particularly. Ruth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waffles Posted October 5, 2011 Report Share Posted October 5, 2011 I wanted to ask the OP where he got little Luigi? (I forgot to ask in the original post in the photo section) I live in WNY as well and was just curious who was breeding border collies in the area? I am not in the market for purchasing a puppy; was simply curious is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tuxedodog Posted October 7, 2011 Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 We have an awful flea problem this year. In addition to Advantix on the dogs and Advantage or Revolution (for the extrasensitive ones) for the cats, I have been spraying the carpets and furniture with a product that is supposed to interrupt the life cycle, but be pet safe when it drys. The first product worked for a few days. I found a place that carries Zodiac spray that seems to work much better. The woman at the Tech school animal care program told me that Advantix will wash off but Frontline is waterproof. Our flea population comes up from Florida with my in-laws cat (they do treat her but they are extra tough) and they are Frontline resistant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeG Posted October 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2011 Yeah the entire situation is unpleasant. All three seem to be "OK" at the moment. Luigi is a little itchy, but has not been bathed in a few days. When I look over his coat, which is difficult sometimes because all he wants to do is play, I cannot find any sign of fleas. Crossing my fingers it is over for now. The cats were treated and no signs of anything on their end. Diatomaceous earth should be arriving tomorrow or Monday, and I got some frontline for Luigi that has not been applied yet. @waffels, it was a very long process to find a pup in the area. There is only one breeder that i know of in the southern tier. I found Luigi in the Buffalo News. An Amish man outside of Randolph, NY bred his BCs and Luigi is a result from their litter. Although not a reputable breeder, we couldn't be happier with him and look so forward to watching him grow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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