Flea Allergies in Dog--At wits end!?

Question

Hello All,

I have a 4 year old pug that has just recently developed flea allergy dermatitis. I treat her monthly with frontline plus but the stuff seems to lose effectiveness by about 15 days. She then will get one or two fleas which manage to bite her. These bites then become huge spots allover her stomach and coat. This last time I counted 50 bite marks. She becomes miserable and itchy and I have to spend every second with her distracting her so that she does not scratch her skin open.

I've read a lot about the topic online and spoke to my new vet (we just moved). The vet has not been all that helpful. Online encourages you to treat you entire home, yard, etc. Unfortunately, we live in an apartment building (12 floor highrise). It is impossible to treat the yard--we are not allowed and impossible to treat our living area--there are so many cracks in the walls/foundation I doubt it would do much good. Even better, we live in Hawaii where housing is scarce and fleas live year round.

One option we are currently considering if shipping her back to live with my parents in the midwest. Obviously, I don't want to do this but this may end up being the only option. She never, ever had any flea problems until we moved here. She is miserable and we are miserable. We plan on being here only another year as my husband is finishing graduate school. I've tried a lot of the things people have recommended (switching products, garlic, brewers yeast, etc.). I appreciate everyone's comments though!

Answer 1

Flea dermatitis is certainly an aggravating problem for both owners and dogs. If you are not having any luck with Frontline, I recommend trying Advantage, and also Revolution, both of which normally have good results.

There are a number of human antihistamine products used for animals, including cyproheptadine (Periactin), but that needs to be monitored as it causes an increase in appetite. There is also chlortrimitron, which may work. Discuss these with your vet, and also a short course of prednisone for the itch when the dog has a bad outbreak.

Bath is a mild dog shampoo with baking soda in the water. The baking soda is not harsh like dishwashing detergents, and can help soothe the itch.

I would go ahead and treat your apartment anyway. It will help reduce the fleas if nothing else. Spray your carpets, the moldling around the floors and any areas where flea eggs can get in and lay.

Good luck!

Answer 2

The first thing I would suspect is an allergy to fleas. Be sure she is on a good flea control. One thing many vets do not think about is chlorine in water. If you use water from a community well, it will have chlorine in it. Some dogs are allergic to this. Two such dogs were dumped at our house in 1965. The vet did a scrape for mange etc and finally said to try keeping the dogs inside except to potty on leash. That and a bath with some concoction the vet made and gave us was working. Then we moved to our house we were purchasing with 7 acres and a well. The dogs hair all grew back like nothing was wrong before and they had no problems and could go out when ever they wanted.

Answer 3

Also you can try using advantage instead of frontline. Advantage takes a few months to build up in there system to its fullest strength but after that. It works great on the fleas. I breed dogs so fleas are a big concern here. Dawn dish (also makes puppy smell good) washing liquid will also kill the fleas, but it doesn't keep the dog from getting fleas. There is one other thing you might try that might also helps sooth the allergies. After you bath the puppy put baby powder on it.

Answer 4

No problem. Give him/her a bath with Dawn dishwashing soap. Maybe a couple of times a week at first to help stop the itching. It will kill the fleas on contact if you suds them up real good. Don't bathe them every day though. Tends to dry out the skin too much because of the degreaser in it. It will also kill out mange and other itchy skin problems. It's cheap and it worked for me. Hope it will do the same for you. Good Luck.

Answer 5

Sound like you have a real problem. Frontline is the best, but there is another pill for fleas called capstar. use both. frontlike kills the fleas after they bite your dog, your dog is allergic to the flea bit. Capstar kills every flea on your dog withing 30 minutes, but only last 12 hours,but you can give him or her a pill daily. It may get exspensive. the pills cost about 5 bucks each. good luck

Answer 6

Hi,
You have to switch flea and tic products back and forth. The fleas become immune. DO NOT ever use store bought generics,I have known several dogs who have died from them.Always buy the product from a vet or a groomer. Also a regular weekly bath in a oatmeal shampoo will help alot. They also have spays to help your pugs itching when it gets intense. Good luck and let me know how its going for you.

Answer 7

Frontline didn't work well for me. I use advantage and have great success with it. The first thing that comes to mind with your problem, maybe you could bathe your pet with a citrus based shampoo, when she starts itching. Then you must be careful not to dry her skin which can cause a whole 'nother set of problems. This is a tough one. I hope you find some workable solutions on here. Good luck.

Answer 8

I use this great nutritional product Dinovite that helps with skin allergies, shedding, red eyes, hot spots, digestive problems, and the list goes on an on. And it is guaranteed.
website is www.dinovite.com
It states you may not see an improvement for 30 days, but we saw an immediate improvement and we no longer have the shedding problem that pugs are notorious for!
It would be worth the try to be able to keep your pug. I can't imagine being pug-less!
Good luck

Answer 9

Fleas are a major pest. There are various species of fleas - cat fleas, dog fleas, rat fleas and rabbit fleas.
You can get rid of them by the safest and cheapest methods like boric acid.

Answer 10

Mixed crushed garlic with your dogs food. its good for them and its a natural flea repellent. I've begun to suppliment my dogs foods at home since a scary recall recently. I have Dobermans tho. wholedogfoodjournal.com has great info and you can join a pug group on yahoo groups and ask them ... Certain breeds have certain genetic dispostions to conditions and they will be able to help you find holistic things to help your little one. Another place ot get facts about feed more natural things to your pets is dogaware.com. This site tho is not scientific and is a womans opinion and is based on some facts. Good luck...