German shepherd flea problem

[Jadey staff]

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Hi all my daughter has a well cared and groomed beautifully clean 11 month old German shepherd and she is been driven mad with a flea problem. She constantly baths him(with regret) and uses (spot on) worked for a bit and had a tea tree and peppermint spray but still has the problem. We have never had a long haired dog in out family and she can't do much more than she already does amd its coming up winter and she is still looking for remedies. Can anyone relate and help with this please
Kind regards

 

[excuseme]

We have had a flea problem this summer, our usual treatments were not helping much. We had to use the vet who prescribed "Advocate", after the spot on drops, one month later all fleas have disappeared.
We treated the house with "Indorex Defence" in the car too, all bedding in HOT washes but NO powders. We will use a second month of treatment , just to be sure but not a regular every month. If there are no fleas to treat then why put chemicals on their skin
.

 

[JudyN]

Fleas have built immunity to some flea treatments. I would try a different treatment - maybe ask your vet for recommendations - and also treat your whole house thoroughly. For a heavy/persistent infestation, more natural remedies may be of little or no use - sometimes we need the heavy artillery.

 

[Jadey staff]

Yes certainly Judy x

 

[JoanneF]

I'd like to add to what @excuseme said.

you need to do several things all at once.

You need to treat your dog with a good flea remedy as already mentioned, please go to a vet to get this.

Also, it is very likely that the home may be infested. So you need to treat it too. Again, you need to get really effective stuff, some of the cheaper ones she a false economy because they aren't strong enough.

Then, cleaning. You need to wash everything that can be washed (curtains, pillow covers, dog toys, bedding etc at over 60⁰. If anything can't be washed, bag it and freeze it. And vacuum like crazy, a couple of times a day. Get the nozzle tool to get into corners, skirting boards and cracks in floorboards where they like to hide. And you can get a flea collar, cut it up and put a piece into your vacuum cylinder to help kill any that get sucked up.

It's important to understand the flea life cycle - there are four stages; egg, larva, pupa and adult. In the pupa stage, the flea is immune to elimination treatment so the vacuuming helps suck these up before they hatch and become adults and breed again. But you have to repeat the house treatment, possibly every month for three months, and continue the daily vacuuming and washing during this time.

 

[excuseme]

There are some animals that can survive being frozen for a winter season, maybe some even more.
Most insects and pupae take about 3.1/2 days to be killed, so don't remove frozen items from the freezer too soon.

 

[Flobo]

And you can get a flea collar, cut it up and put a piece into your vacuum cylinder to help kill any that get sucked up.

What a great idea, would never of thought of that!!

 

[Flobo]

Ahhh now I'm feeling all itchy again!!

 

[Hemlock]

My advice is "patience" - you don't get rid of fleas in less than a week after noticing them. Read the advice given above and apply it. And don't "punish" your dog for having fleas. He doesn't want them either. Also don't panic - fleas have been a part of life since forever. Soon you'll be rid of them but it doesn't happen overnight.

 

[JoanneF]

Borax and mint are not likely to be effective enough for your house. The pupae are immune to even the strongest of treatments, that's why you need to repeat the treatment so you catch the fleas both before and after the pupa stage, to break the breeding cycle.

 

[ParasiteVet14]

This is brilliant advice - especially the patience! It can take months because of the fleas life cycle so lots of persistence with treatment of your dogs (and cats) and your house as those have mentioned. My main experience in treating fleas has been with Advocate spot-on and Indorex Defence - which have been effective when used consistently - so definitely get in touch with your vet. Fingers crossed you are flea-free soon!