Flea issue - please help!

paddles

I am minding my friends dog for the weekend. House dog. Got her last eve. Keeping her strictly in kitchen (thank god now) but I've just found a flea on me!!!!

I was petting her and carrying her - WTF!!

What do I do?

I will have to wash all clothes, my bedclothes from last night. COuld They be all over the house now in the house now as I found one ON ME????!!!!

HOw fast do they spread??

I don't feel so well and now I've got this dog til tomo eve so I don't want to touch her again now. Am I over-reacting here??

The Sweeper

Yeah, you're over-reacting.

First, check the dog for fleas. Look in the fur behind her ears and around the ruff of her neck. Part the hair so you can see the skin. You're looking for flea-dirt - tiny black specks, which if you put them on a damp tissue and squash them, they'll make red smears - this is flea poo full of the blood they've been drinking. It's a good way to make sure it's the dog and she has fleas.

In terms of treating her fleas, if she's a short-haired dog you could wash her with a medicated flea shampoo. If she's a longer haired dog, you can pop to the vet and buy a capstar tablet - a pill that will kill every living flea on the dog within the hour. You should probably check with your friend before medicating her dog, however.

There's little point washing the dog's bedding if you're not treating the dog, but if you are going to flea treat her, use shampoo or capstar, wash her bed and give the place a bit of a vacuum. The chances of your house being infested with the dog spending 48 hours in the kitchen are really nil tbh.

Let your friend know her dog has fleas and tell her she needs to get treatment, and she also needs to worm her dog as fleas and tapeworm tend to go in tandem and the dog may have a worm load too (don't panic, it's all really quite routine pet owner stuff).

The spot-on treatments you put on the dog's neck are designed to kill the flea cycle - they render adult fleas infertile so they don't reproduce, but they won't get rid of the fleas physically on the dog - only a capstar tablet and a comb-out, or a wash in medicated shampoo, will do that.

paddles

Thank you. I did try to get some treatment yestreday but failed. The only chemist who had anything didn't have the type for her size. Her owner will take her back this eve and will tell her. I can't see anything but she has very long wolly-like hair. Needless to day, I still restricted her to the kitchen but it was impossible to avoid her as she is a very affectionate dog, so if I have them, i have them - couldn't ignore the dog! I had the misfortune of a pest control situation before and am prob over-sensitive and yes, over reacted! :rolleyes:

Andromeda_111

I feel for you I have my dog 9 years he never had fleas, until late last year that is. I found them on his rump one Saturday night when I was petting him and felt itchy for a week! I got a spray for the home and a flea shampoo in the pet shop on the Sunday then went down to the vet and got the spot on drops on the Monday. I boil washed his bedding then hoovered the whole area in the house and dumped the hoover bag.

I saw fleas on him for about 2 days after then nothing for about 2 weeks, then I saw a couple of tiny ones which were eggs hatching from somewhere but because of the spot on treatment they couldn't survive. That was the end of them thankfully. I did hoover and sterilise his sleeping area every day and even added cider vinegar to his water (which he loves) because fleas are supposed to hate the taste of it.

I wouldn't worry about your house. Dog fleas don't like humans and won't survive without an untreated dog to munch on so you'll be flea free very soon.

suziwalsh

When the dog is gone you should get a flea bomb they treat the entire home...furnishings etc and work super well and are inexpensive.

The only way to treat the dog effectively is with a spot on or frontline spray which you get from a vet/pharmacy. Where abouts are you living?

SineadMarie

Fleas dont live on humans they just bite, it makes you just itchy talking about them! You can buy sprays for your carpets soft furnishing they can live in the likes of them

planetX

but if you have no pets there's no problem, fleas can't breed on you:)