[814]

Hi I have 2 dogs and I was just wondering How do you know you have a flea problem? How do you know if your dogs have fleas?

I had my poodle at the groomer yesterday and she said she found signs of flea dirt on him. And asked if we had been using any frontline.

We don't use flea/tick preventative on him or our other dog, but especially him because he has such bad reactions to the stuff. And I don't feel comfortable putting those chemicals on my dogs month after month. I have never used flea/tick preventative (other than on him) on any dog I've had in the past and I have never had a flea/tick problem.

Now she didn't find any fleas or anything like that. We have 2 dogs one that goes to a groomer ever 12 weeks or so and one that never goes to a groomer, she is more of a self maintaining dog (terrier mix). The dogs are bathed weekly.


But we do live in an apartment and there are other dogs in the general vicinity. Is it possible my dog had been somewhere in an area where there had been fleas but didn't catch fleas? (from what I understand Its too cold now for fleas here)
How would I know if my dog has fleas?

What are the sure signs you have a flea problem?

(You would think we would be getting bit up if we had a problem)

Thanks

Should I go ahead and bathe both my dogs in a flea shampoo just as a precaution and what is the best.

 

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Also if your dog has fleas does that mean you have fleas in your home? And how would you know? And how would you get rid of them?

 

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My dogs are itchy but they suffer from dry skin. Which is what happens when you bathe them as often as we do. Our poodle actually gets bathed sometimes almost daily due to pooping in his crate every time we leave the house and laying in it.

Yes our groomer is at the vet and they sell frontline and advantage.

My poodle is white and my Terrier is yellow she has a double coat. Now we don't brush them often. Maybe once every 2 weeks. But in the last month not nearly that much even, our terrier really doesn't need it and her fur broke our brush and we just haven't replaced. Money is extremely tight.

but with a baby coming we don't want to risk fleas in the house

I need to find a good brand of flea shampoo to use just incase, I want to get rid of any possible fleas.


My poodle sleeps with me and I don't have any bites or anything on me even. My terrier is always in my lap. Wouldn't we be itchy too if we had a flea problem. I have never seen anything crawling on them

 

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Isnt' true that flea dirt turns red when wet so wouldn't we have noticed it when bathing them? Could it have just been regular dirt


ADD: we can't flip our mattess, its a pillow top. But again if there were bugs in the house, wouldn't we be bit up too?

 

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Well our poodle sleeps with us and our terrier sleeps in the closet where all our clothes are. We vacuum twice a week and wash our bedding and theirs once a week. But she said she found flea dirt and I don't want to bring my baby into a house with fleas. But we really can't afford preventative at the moment and the apartment doesn't treat units for fleas usually. And doesn't want us doing it ourselves.

 

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My dog plays in my grandparents yard. The have a bichon. he was there the day before grooming just rolling around in the grass. He was a filthy little guy but I didn't bathe him because he was going to the groomer the next day. His groomer is at the vets office.

Our poodle has suffered with dry skin his whole life, and the fact he ends up being bathed so much is part of the problem with that. (But he poops in his crate and lays in it every couple of days when we live him, he is only alone maybe 2 hours a day tops) And I'm not going to have a dog covered in poop walking around

How much is a flea comb? And would a flea be obvious? (I've never seen one on a dog)

 

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As a precaution we are going to get some flea shampoo and bathe them in that just incase, my husband wants to know what kind to pick up

Any suggestions on a good brand. I know dawn soap has been suggested to me but I would rather get something made specifically to get rid of fleas on dogs.

Looking for something safe but affordable

 

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Uhh like $10 at petsmart. It would be a lil white or tan speck that moves around.. erm well.. If it moves it probably doesnt belong on your dog so you have a problem.

poops and lays in it.. maybe you should get a much bigger crate and get one of those potty mats to put in there..

We just moved him to my terriers crate, she isn't crated anymore. And he pooped in there and just played in it. and smeared it all over. The crate he was in was the proper size but we thought maybe we just move him up to the bigger crate. Problem is he is a very nervous dog and freaks out when we leave, and the vet says basically what happens is he just losing control there and expresses whats in there. There isn't really much that can be done about that. I know of 3 other poodles that are the same way. He doesn't do it on days we sedate him. (he is a very nervous dog with severe separation anxiety to the point that we have to use sedation at times)

 

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._. Don't they make meds for sedating dogs that crap them selves? Or maybe do some separation anxiety therapy like leave a room for a min and then come back in and show him that you always come back and keep increasing the time incrament alone?

yeah he is on meds. but we don't give them everyday because the poor guy sleeps constantly on them. The vet has him on them as needed. And trust me we have worked with trainers and behaviorists and everything. The dog has a lot of problems, health and otherwise

But if anyone could answer my actual question about Good Flea Shampoos that would be fantastic. This isn't about him pooping. This is about finding a good flea shampoo

 

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As a precaution we are going to get some flea shampoo and bathe them in that just incase, my husband wants to know what kind to pick up

Any suggestions on a good brand. I know dawn soap has been suggested to me but I would rather get something made specifically to get rid of fleas on dogs.

Looking for something safe but affordable

Just wanted to clarify this is what I am trying to find out

 

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Anybody know about any of these or used these or had good results:

Hartz Incontrol flea and tick oatmeal shampoo

http://www.petco.com/product/108752...for-Dogs.aspx?CoreCat=LN_Shopping_FleaandTick

Sentry flea and tick shampoo for dogs and puppies

http://www.petco.com/product/103966...-Puppies.aspx?CoreCat=LN_Shopping_FleaandTick

Petco flea and tick shampoo

http://www.petco.com/product/109455...-Shampoo.aspx?CoreCat=LN_Shopping_FleaandTick

Or The Adams brand or Zodiac brand

 

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Well I checked both of them real well, no fleas or any evidence really so we aren't going to get the stuff. Ofcourse we don't use flea/tick preventative because my poodle has bad skin reactions to it. He is the only dog we have ever used preventative on. None of my dogs in the past used it and we never had a flea or tick problem.

So I don't think we have a problem. As for the reason he is bathed so often its to get the poop off him from when he poops in his crate. (Which happens almost everytime he is in it, separation anxiety is bad, doesn't matter if we are gone 10 minutes or 2 hours)

As far as the shampoo we use we both shampoos came from petco. One is a special hypo allergenic shampoo for my Terrier and the other is a shampoo called perfect coat.

But we checked them both very throughly though and no sign at all of any kind of fleas or even dirt really and our Terrier has been bathed. (poodle bathed yesterday at groomer)

 

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YOu see we are such neat freaks always trying to keep the place clean that really I think we would notice any in the apartment too. And I haven't seen anything. And there was nothing on them. I'm wondering if she just mistaked the fact that he was dirty for flea dirt. (Again he was out rolling around in the dirt and playing all day the day before we went) and my grandparents treat their yard for fleas.

I just don't know how they could have gotten fleas. But we didn't find anything

 

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He doesn't have food allergies. He has already gone through allergy testing. He is however allergic to everything he brings in on his coat. Especially pollen. He is has a corn intolerance so we didn't put him on the diet for his gastro problems the last vet wanted us on (they kept pushing so we left) but he is thriving on his new diet. And the new vet approves of it. Only one that hasn't triggered his pancreatitis and that is California Naturals Herring and sweet potato. Trust me this dog has spent his life at the vets and been through more testing than most dogs do in their entire lifetime. We almost lost him twice.

His dry skin is simply from all the bathing we have to do on him, but I will not have him walking around covered in germs and spreading them from sitting in his own poop. Everytime we come home we have to clean his cage up. And most days him too. I'm on very restricted activity due to pregnancy (drs orders) so he hasn't been being bathed as much because I haven't been leaving nearly as much so he hasn't had to go in the crate every day. Now just every few days.

 

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Yes the separation anxiety has been a bit issue. My vet feels if we can get it under control his gastro problems will go away as well. He gets so uptight and upset. But I'll admit he came from such bad breeding and has had so many issues we are lucky to still have him and lucky that he is actually starting to really thrive at this point.

I think the worst part of it and the biggest obstacle for us is that fact we never got a chance to socialize him when he was younger so we are having to take baby steps now to get him where he needs to be on a social level.

His immune system was so compromised early on that his first vet wanted us to isolate him. Honestly we are glad we didnt' because that would have killed him. She wanted us to keep him indoors away from other dogs and other people. But he spent so much time at the animal hospital that he really didn't have a true puppy phase. So he is kind of going through some of that now at an older age.

I'll have to post his story one day but he is the prime example why one should only purchase a dog from a breeder that does all the genetic testing for health and temperment issues. Or adopt a homeless dog from the shelter. We learned the hard way that its not best to get a dog out of the paper. But we love him and we will see him through all this.