. . . which seem to be centering on her tail. Now, we've heard that if you cut the hair on a dog's tail, it doesn't grow back, or does so extraordinarily slowly. Can anyone advise us? Can we cut her tail hair a bit to deal with this?
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
What kind of dog is she? I will say that it took a year to grow back the hair on my dog's tail, but what breed yours is matters.
And I thougth this was about either banjo's or viola's.
Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
Mine's . . . well, everything. We're not sure. She looks kind of like a black lab, but stockier.
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
so short haired? Then I'm not totally sure (yes I know this sounds silly) I've never had a short haired dog, I know that cutting hair on a short haired cat has little affect, you put on a black t shirt and he sheds it all off. I'd say cutting some wouldn't hurt badly, but I'm not sure how useful it would be. My problem was we took our sheltie to a groomer just for a bath and she shaved his well private areas, and hind leg feathers (similar to his tail hair), 4 months before I was going to be showing him in 4-H.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
My little sister's lab got a yucky skin infection on her back and the area had to be shaved.
Looked kinda gross for a few weeks (the weeping pus didn't help) but after about 6 weeks you couldn't really tell it had been shorn.
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
But is your ukulele in tune?
Posted by breyerchic04 (Member # 6423) on :
I think that if you think it'll stop the fleas if there's no hair (which honestly, I don't think it would) you won't have any serious loss of hair. But I think that it's a bit superficial to worry about anyway (I'm sensative about this one, the dog who raised me had hypothyroid and a huge spot on his side with no hair).
Posted by Glenn Arnold (Member # 3192) on :
Seriously though, this worked for me:
Get some nightlights, and lasagna trays. Put them near the dog's bedding, and in infested areas (any place that's carpeted. If your dog has fleas, so does your house) Pour some water in the lasagna trays, add a drop of dish detergent and set them under the nightlights.
Fleas jump toward light. When they fall back down they land in the soapy water and can't get out. The first night I did this, I got literally hundreds of fleas. It gradually decreased over about a week. I kept it up until there were NO fleas in the tray in the morning.
Posted by Avadaru (Member # 3026) on :
Get some Adams flea spray. It's safe to use on your dog and the bedding. Adams also makes shampoos, foggers, yard sprays, and other pest control products. If the thought of putting chemicals on your dog squicks you out, try something by Naturual Chemistry called De Flea. It's organic and all-natural and it actually works, but it's pretty expensive.
Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
Wow . . . you people are so helpful . . . I love Jatraqueros . . .
(((Hatrack)))
Thanks all. I'm going to try Glenn's idea, pick up some flea spray tomorrow, and possibly shave her tail down a bit as a last option.
Posted by Avadaru (Member # 3026) on :
Also, do you have her on any sort of monthly flea treatment like Frontline or Advantage? If she picked up fleas from your yard or neighborhood, it's likely she'll get them again, and putting her on one of those products will keep them off.
Posted by BryanP (Member # 7772) on :
quote:Originally posted by Glenn Arnold: Seriously though, this worked for me:
Get some nightlights, and lasagna trays. Put them near the dog's bedding, and in infested areas (any place that's carpeted. If your dog has fleas, so does your house) Pour some water in the lasagna trays, add a drop of dish detergent and set them under the nightlights.
Fleas jump toward light. When they fall back down they land in the soapy water and can't get out. The first night I did this, I got literally hundreds of fleas. It gradually decreased over about a week. I kept it up until there were NO fleas in the tray in the morning.
This seems too easy... does it really work?
My dog seems to have fleas, which I don't really understand since we started putting Frontline on her in June of this year. I don't think I noticed any fleas on her until we moved in July, so I think it might be our apartment complex (not our apartment per se because the people who lived here before did not have pets). Anyways, I think it's become worse the last week or so. Our dog isn't covered with fleas, by any means, but when I look at her belly I catch a flea or two scampering around about 50% of the time, over the last few days.
I'm not exactly sure what to do. We're actually renting a condo and I do not know if the people who run it spray the exterior for bugs/fleas, and if our dog is just picking up a few in the grass every time she goes outside, or whether we have a small infestation in our apartment. I might try Glenn's method, but if it doesn't work should I consider using flea bombs? That seems like it might be an overreaction, and if the dog is picking up fleas outside I don't know if it would be better than a short term fix. Like I said, our dog has Frontline, but either I'm seeing the fleas before the Frontline kills them or it's not working properly.
Posted by scholarette (Member # 11540) on :
If you think it is a temporary problem, you can get the vet to give you a pill which will kill all the fleas currently on the dog. When we brought home our new puppy, we were horrified to discover fleas. We washed everything he had touched twice, vacuumed thoroughly, got that pill for our other dog (who does regular flea meds) and treated the puppy with cat flea meds (puppies are too young to take dog flea meds, but they can take cat meds). And then we continued vacuuming daily for a while and the fleas all disappeared.
ETA: My parents used to have this ugly dog which you could not keep clean. My husband and I shaved him bald and within a month, the dog had hair again (which was dirty and stinky and matted immediately).
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
quote:Originally posted by Glenn Arnold: But is your ukulele in tune?
Glenn, I thought the same thing.
You have to get rid of the fleas with stuff from the vet which you need to apply for a few months in order to get rid of the eggs as they hatch. Cutting the hair won't do it.
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
I've read that flea bombs are pretty ineffective. Vacuuming daily is supposed to be the best way to control fleas indoors, as long as you also treat the animals. Put a flea collar in each vacuum bag so that any fleas you pick up will be killed; otherwise they'll just hop back down the tube.
--Mel
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
quote:Also, do you have her on any sort of monthly flea treatment like Frontline or Advantage?
Back in upstate NY, my dog and cat both had horrible flea problems. I used these (Frontline on one, Advantage on the other) and fleas were never a problem again. Other treatments (like flea collars and shampoo) did nothing, but this was a 100% solution.
I'm a little surprised to see some pretty involved suggestions to this, since I was under the impression that modern science had solved the flea problem.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
We missed one dose of one of those, I can't remember what she used to take, on my dog one time and she became instantly infested. As soon as we got rid of them and got her back on it, she never had a problem again.
Posted by Raymond Arnold (Member # 11712) on :
I do not get the ukulele joke. At all.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Heh. YouTube! Posted by Tatiana (Member # 6776) on :
I use the once-a-month-on-the-back-of-the-neck treatment. If they get in my house I use diatomaceous earth (get food grade) because it will kill all the eggs and larvae in the carpet for over a year. It doesn't kill the adult fleas instantly. It takes a few weeks to work on them. But once you sprinkle it on the carpet and furniture and brush it in, waiting 24 hours before you vacuum, it will protect your house from flea infestations for years.
You can either buy it yourself from like a garden store, or get one of the services like Fleabusters to apply it for you professionally with a guarantee.
In the meantime treat the dog with the monthly stuff to kill adult fleas quickly. The soap and water idea, in my experience, will kill many fleas but not end an infestation on either the animal or in the house.
Good luck with whatever approach you take. Report back to us what works. Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:Originally posted by BryanP:
quote:Originally posted by Glenn Arnold: [qb] Seriously though, this worked for me:
Get some nightlights, and lasagna trays. Put them near the dog's bedding, and in infested areas (any place that's carpeted. If your dog has fleas, so does your house) Pour some water in the lasagna trays, add a drop of dish detergent and set them under the nightlights.
Fleas jump toward light. When they fall back down they land in the soapy water and can't get out. The first night I did this, I got literally hundreds of fleas. It gradually decreased over about a week. I kept it up until there were NO fleas in the tray in the morning.
This seems too easy... does it really work?
Well, it helps. I didn't have quite as much luck with this method as Glenn did, but it was certainly an effective method of thinning their numbers significantly. Between this, vacuuming frequently (and immediately disposing of the vacuum cleaner bags outdoors), and using flea powder* on our pets, we were able to get rid of the little pests.
*This was in the days before Frontline and the like.
Posted by dabbler (Member # 6443) on :
Sadly I don't have any advice on fleas, just for mites When my hedgehog starts to have frayed ears and scratches herself a lot, I worry about mites. During her rinse in the sink I add a little spoonful of olive oil onto her quills. Gets rid of the mites.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Just a shot from the hip but can you drown the fleas? As in fill up a bathtub full of water, have your dog sit in hit for several minutes?
This might be TMI for some but my parents came back from a scuba diving trip and they had some species of sand flea that nestles in your hair, yes the pubic areas as well. They did precisely what I am suggesting on advice from their physician. They stayed in the water for about 20 minutes and watched the little flea bodies float to the service.
Again, not an expert but unless fleas have some sort of way of gleaning oxygen from the blood stream (when it comes to nature you never know) I'm not sure why that wouldn't work on animals.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: [QB] Just a shot from the hip but can you drown the fleas? As in fill up a bathtub full of water, have your dog sit in hit for several minutes?
They can drown, but it'd be tough to do it in a bathtub. Generally they'll just migrate to a part of the host's body that's above the waterline. I've read that foxes will get rid of fleas by backing into a body of water, submerging themselves, and then swimming a little way away from the roiling mass of fleas on the water's surface, but I'm a little skeptical of the claim.
quote:They stayed in the water for about 20 minutes and watched the little flea bodies float to the service.
They held a funeral for 'em? That's so sweet!
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
Remember that killing the fleas does not necessarily mean you have killed the nits.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by kmbboots: Remember that killing the fleas does not necessarily mean you have killed the nits.
Kate that's just silly. Everyone knows nits make lice not fleas.
Noemon: Interesting, I'm going to look into the drowning option. Lets hope the little buggers don't learn about air compression, and metallurgy.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
Ah, Blackblade, I confused my immature vermin. Quite right. Flea eggs, then.
Posted by dabbler (Member # 6443) on :
Even sillier, her statement is fine if the poor dog is gifted with lice AND fleas.
Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
A somewhat disturbing note on how difficult is to drown fleas:
I accompanied two friends on a trek to check and harvest beavers from the beaver traps they had set (trapping is done in winter because you get a thicker pelt). These traps were set underwater, under ice, in swimways. We retrieved two or three beavers from beneath the surface of ice-covered water, where they had been for more than a day.
All of them still had numerous live fleas.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I wonder if they're the same species of flea that most of us are familiar with.
Blackblade, if they do we're all doomed! DOOMED!
Posted by BryanP (Member # 7772) on :
So this might be the problem: the vet told my ladyfriend that she could use half of a frontline dose on our dog since she is very small. I think that might have worked out for the first month, but then she stored the opened frontline in the fridge for a month, then applied that a couple weeks ago. I suspect that the half-application/storage has led to product to work in a sub-optimal manner, but I'm trying to dig up more info as to whether this is likely to be the case, cause now it's my decent-sounding but untested hypothesis.
Posted by dabbler (Member # 6443) on :
if you know the name of the drug we could probably look up the dosage by weight and how quickly it deteriorates.
edit: oh I see it's called Frontline. How weird. Googling.
Posted by BryanP (Member # 7772) on :
the active drug is actually fipronil, it's a commonly used pesticide
Posted by dabbler (Member # 6443) on :
quote:Luckily, Frontline is one of the only meds that you can actually break down yourself. Let me explain. To save money on it, I buy the largest application of Frontline, which is for dogs over 100 pounds. My dogs weigh about 5 pounds. On every box of Frontline it clearly states the correct dosage for that weight range. In my case, for my small dogs, the correct dosage is .63 ml. So, I buy the large dog size, put the Frontline in another container, and I draw up .63 ml in a syringe and apply only that much to my dogs. (I hope I am being clear.) So, in your case, you need to go to Frontline's website or drop by a Vet's office and get the correct amount for your 30 lb dog, and then you can apply the correct amount. You can save what is left over for later use; but be sure to use a dark, glass container, as Frontline is affected by direct light. (Small brown bottles work good, and most Vet's sell these for about $1.00.)
Some technical info if you're interested:
quote:Fipronil (Frontline) is effective against both fleas and ticks. It acts by binding to GABA receptors, resulting in excitation of the nervous system and death in insects.
Fipronil is available as a 10% spot-on formulation (Frontline Top Spot), or as a 0.25% alcohol-based spray (Frontline Spray). Both the spray and spot-on formulation show a greater than 95% efficacy after 36 days. Fipronil is not easily removed by shampoos or water. It accumulates in the sebaceous glands of the skin, and is slowly released via the hair shaft ducts. Fipronil is very safe, since the GABA receptors of mammals are different from those of insects. It is safe for very young puppies and kittens, and pregnant/lactating dogs and cats. Incidence of adverse reaction to the application of Frontline is less than 0.0005%.
It's possible that your fleas are becoming resistant to Fipronil/Frontline in the kind of ways bacteria become resistant to common antibiotics.
Posted by dabbler (Member # 6443) on :
Looks like it has a half-life of 3.6 hours when in water and attacked by light. I don't know what solution is used in the commercial form. So if it's getting hit by light when you open your fridge its degradation may be sped up from baseline.
Posted by BryanP (Member # 7772) on :
I'm less interested in anecdotal evidence than technical data, but obviously that first quote of yours indicates it should work after opening it up. We haven't really protected it from light, though the green package it comes in should shield it somewhat. I wonder if storing it at 35 degrees vs. room temp could be an issue.... Either way it clearly has a long half-life.
Thanks for your help so far, dabbler (and everyone else for their suggestions)!
Posted by BryanP (Member # 7772) on :
Apparently (S)-methoprene is another active drug in Frontline, I'll have to look at that too. Or maybe not, it's what disrupts insect development (i.e. larva to adult).
Posted by BryanP (Member # 7772) on :
The Australian frontline plus page specifically says not to store it in the fridge:
Though I suppose that could be because they don't want you to contaminate your food.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Apparently not all fleas drown, as some are more adept at fleeing to the part of an animal that is not submerged. Also eggs aren't affected by the water. I wonder though at what temperature the eggs/fleas would die. Could a very warm bath do the trick?
I'm having alittle trouble finding a threshold temperature for flea survival.
Posted by dabbler (Member # 6443) on :
likely fleas survive at temperatures a dog couldn't.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by dabbler: likely fleas survive at temperatures a dog couldn't.
I'm not so sure, the larger you are the faster you lose heat, conversely the smaller you are the more you conserve it. But fleas might have a higher tolerance it's true.
I remember once trying to kill a fruit fly with a microwave, it survived alittle over 10 minutes before succumbing.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
BB: you have that mixed up. The larger you are, the slower you lose heat, and the smaller you are, the quicker. This is because surface area (which heat loss is proportional to) grows more slowly than volume (which internal heat is proportional to). So something that is large will stay relatively warmer for longer than something that is small (though it will, of course, lose larger absolute amounts of heat).
Of course, smaller things will also heat internally much more quickly, for the same reason. I suspect the resilience of insects has little to do with size, and more to do with differences in internal structure -- some of which are enabled by size differences, of course.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
Not only internal structure, but relative percentages of body mass made up of water. And chitin is far more heat-resistant than mammalian skin or muscle tissues.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
fugu13: It was one of those things where it was one way or the other, I thought about it, and instead of googling it first so as to avoid looking foolish I took a stab at it and guessed wrong. Looks like I ought to keep my mouth shut for a sufficient time period so that doubt concerning my foolishness can amass. Today in hatrack I've been incorrect more often than is typical.
rivka: I was actually aware that chitin is quite a bit more heat resistant. But I still wonder, is there really no reasonable one shot kills everything method to flea eradication?
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
The prescription meds seem to work pretty well.
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
They aren't even really prescription. You can get Frontline and Advantage (and another brand that I forget) at Petsmart, no vet required.
Of course, a three month dose of Frontline will cost over $60.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
I didn't realize. Did they used to be vet-only? Or was that just an advertising thing?
Posted by fugu13 (Member # 2859) on :
I'm not sure how they work legally, especially historically. I know you've long been able to order them internationally without mentioning a vet.
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
Larger bodies radiate more heat, but they generate more heat, and their core temps are better insulated due to larger stores of fat/insulation.
Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
Fleas are extremely hard to kill. Their bodies are wafer-thin, and they jump incredibly high. I've tried drowning them in the toilet, but somehow they manage to get themselves to the sides and out. They won't drown very easily at all, and you'd have to boil your pet to make it too hot for them. There are a variety of ways to control fleas, and you'll have to see what works for you. I recommend using as many methods as you can in parallel. First of all, there is the chemical killer found in Advantage, Frontline, and Capstar. Some of these chemicals you apply to the animal's body, and Capstar is ingested. You can also get Program, which is basically flea birth control. The fleas will bite your pet, but they won't be able to reproduce. And persistent vacuuming is a good idea, too - although flea eggs and larvae are very tiny and tenacious. Good luck with the flea battles. I've again taken up the fight myself, as the cats come in from outdoors. My current weapons are Capstar and Program, and judicious vacuuming. Unfortunately, I think some of these fleas are living off human, not cat, and so the poisons aren't doing as much good as I'd hoped. We'll see. "I have not yet begun to fight."
Posted by Frisco (Member # 3765) on :
Just fill a bowl with blood and set it in the corner.
Posted by theCrowsWife (Member # 8302) on :
Hey, Jenny, I've been battling fleas on my cats as well, and I've found that fleas drown far more quickly in hot water than in cold. I was combing one of the cats and dropping the fleas into a jar of water. I started with cold, soapy water, and they would struggle for 30 seconds to a minute before dying. When I switched to hot tap water, it took less than five seconds. Most of them barely even twitched.
Oh, and are you making sure to kill the fleas in the vacuum bag? Either put a flea collar in there or vacuum up some flea powder after each use, otherwise you're providing an excellent nursery for them.
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