Help!! What works on flea invasion??

Question

Our dog recently had puppies, and soon fleas showed up on them. We live in Florida, so the dogs are outside, they have a very nice dog house. But those fleas are horrible, and I heard using toxics on the pups or the mother dog could be bad for their health.
It is that fleas are already invading our human areas, they jump up our ankles and bite us. I encountered several last night even inside our house already, without the dogs ever being in there. On our patio, I used regular bug spray, but it won't help......
What works well for the dogs AND for us??

Answer 1

Frontline Plus works well with adult dogs. I'm not sure about puppies though. I'd check with your vet.

Answer 2

I have found that it is safe to use Seven Dust on all ages of dogs/puppies. Just make sure that you don't get it in there eyes. You can also get the flea powder and use it in the carpet. Then for your yard I have always used Seven granules. You put it in a yard seed spreader on a day before it is going to rain and that way the rain gets it down in the yard. This also helps with alot of other insects. Put it heavy around the outside of your home and it will help keep spiders, fleas, ticks, ect. I have had great results from this. I have not had fleas for 6 years doing this. I treat my yard four times a year. Then if you see them on your pet take them outside and sprinkle the seven dust on them. Do not wash it off. Let it stay on the dog for atleast 24 hours. I have even put this on pups as young as 1 week old. if you live in the country you will more then likely have a problem with fleas all of the time due to deer carry them really bad. My friend has used this and she lives in the country and she has had great results from doing this also. Hope this helps. Dimples143

Answer 3

You can use the Frontline Plus on the mom. It starts working within 48 hours after application. The puppies should be at least 8 weeks of age before using Frontline on them. Do not use any kind of flea collars, sprays on them, or any flea shampoos. All of these can be dangerous to the pups. Personally, what I tell all of our clients to do - find a professional pest exterminator and get them to do it. It may be more expensive up front, but many have guarantees that if you find any in your home, they will give the service to you free or do it again at no charge. Have them exterminate your house and yard. Also clean out the dog house - wash any blankets or cloth materials, throw out any shavings or anything else that may be in there. After extermination, keep the Frontline on your pets - this will help to keep your yard and home clean of any fleas or ticks, and since you're in Florida, I would definately use it religiously every 30 days. We're having a major problem with them in NC.

This has helped many clients and myself. You can purchase home flea sprays in home improvement stores, but that can very easily get to be as expensive as hiring a professional. Just watch the fleas on the pups - they can become very anemic very quickly if they are young and/or the fleas have been on them for a while. You can bathe the pups, but I would not use anything other than a good aloe and oatmeal shampoo. Anything else is too harsh for them at a young age.

Answer 4

You cannot use flea sprays on puppies. It may kill them.
The best you can do is get some flea granuals from your local hardware store and spread them in your yard for now.
When the puppies are older or gone, you should use a good fogger on the yard, a few bug bombs in the house (Raid is the best) and get a good flea dip for your dog. And then use a monthly spot flea repellant on your dog.
When you fog inside your house, make sure all food is safely covered or stored, no fish or other little pets are inside, and follow the directions.
We used to live in Florida so I know what you are talking about.

Answer 5

You can get Frontine (best) for the adult dog(s). Not knowing how old the pups are, I would ask the vet. Fleas are nasty little buggers and can and will make the pups anemic,give them tape worms, among other things. Dawn dish liquid is a great home remedy and some vets will tell you to bath your dog in it. You can use Adams spray for your home and yard, but again you might want to check with the vet to make sure it is safe. If the pups are under 7 weeks(I believe) you can not put anything on them, but can bathe them in dawn dish soap to rid them of fleas. If the fleas are way out of hand,depending on your yard sizem you might need to have someone come and spray for them. I live in Florida too, and with all this sand/dirt it is almost impossible to get rid of the fleas with out having some one come to spray.If you choose to use dawn dish soap make sure it is the orginal,no bleach, added fragrance ect.

Good Luck!

Answer 6

Below is the answer I gave to "Greg S" about a month ago. I hope it will help you, too. Our neighbor had lived in Florida and told us about this being done where she lived. It might be best to ask your vet if it's ok for the puppies and the mother, just to be on the safe side.


Fleas got into our house from our dogs sitting and scratching outside our glass doors and due to allergies we couldn't use flea spray, etc. inside. Our neighbor advised us to sprinkle borax around lightly inside, and vacuum often even down in the chair and sofa cushions. We used a jar with a lid punched full of holes to sprinkle with. We did that for awhile and were free of fleas! We kept some borax on sidewalks and front porch as well as around the wall area in the family room and had no further problems.

Later that summer we took our dogs to the vet for shots and he said he didn't see any fleas on them and asked what we used on them. We said nothing ON our dogs, but borax sprinkled around, but NOT inside, their houses. He was impressed because he said most dogs that he'd been seeing were covered in fleas that summer even with sprays, etc.
I don't advise putting any borax on a pet. I don't know if it could harm them or not, but it worked just fine the way we did it.

Asker's Rating:
I have heard of this from some of my elders, I am going to try this and also washing things with the borax soap.

Answer 7

Well, if you think they're in the house, even if you get the fleas off your dogs, they will still spread throughout the house. I would probably call an exterminator, and you might have to leave your house and take your dogs for a few days for them to clean the house. This might give you the oppurtunity to clean the dogs.

After that, it might be best to keep them inside to keep them from getting fleas again.

Answer 8

Consult a Vet about something to put on the dogs themselves. But your biggest concern is the space they live in, you MUST kill all the fleas present, and about a week later you need to re-treat the area to kill the eggs that will hatch after the initial kill.

The doggies cannot be anywhere in that area for the duration, so plan on an alternate housing area for a bit.

Answer 9

you are going to have to spray your yard and being the pups inside. fleas cause a lot of problems esp for pups, tapeworms, sores, blood loss etc. plus outside pups get hookworms as well. read the label, you may be able to put frontline on mom even if she is nursing...take care of the dogs if you want them!

Answer 10

Use Advantage!! Just a few drops per dog kills them. Then be sure to vacuum at least every day preferably every day to suck up the eggs in the carpet! Dispose of vacuum contets in trash can outside.