Dawn Dish Soap for fleas?

Question

We have "inherited" a dog from our fly by night neighbors who skipped town to avoid being evicted and "forgot" their pet behind. He has fleas pretty bad and is the same weight as my dog, so I thought I'd give him a dose of my dog's frontline, but first I wanted to bathe him and get rid of as many fleas as I could. Someone said Dawn Dish Soap kills fleas- does anyone know if this is true?

Answer 1

I have never tried it. Have you considered Capstar from your vet? It isn't expensive and will kill all the living fleas on the dog within a couple of hours. Then you can apply Frontline to keep them at bay.

You will also need a dose of praziquantal and/or fenbendazole to kill worms. You don't want this dog to give them to your healthy dog.

Answer 2

It doesn't kill them so much as cover them in goop so they can be drowned and washed away. It's pretty much a pointless exercise, because the dog will become reinfested fairly quickly once dry - also, after you bath a dog you cannot apply the Frontline for at least another 24 hours because you will have washed off all the natural oils of the skin that Frontline requires to work.

You have the Frontline, use it. Get it on the dog's skin, and all fleas will be dead within 24 hours. If you wash the dog first, you will have to wait 24 hours so don't bother.

Chalice

Answer 3

You can use the Dawn dish detergent and it will drastically decrease the number of fleas (suds thoroughly and leave on for 10 minutes). Make sure to put a ring of the soap around the top of the neck/base of the skull to keep the fleas from running and hiding in the face fur.

However, you cannot immediately use the Frontline after using any shampoo and ESPECIALLY Dawn as Frontline works by spreading with the oils in the dog's coat... newly washed = no oils. So you have to wait 3 days after washing before application.

Edit: Apply a 3 to 1 mixture of water to Dawn to the DRY dog because if you wet the dog first the fleas will wrap themselves in a bubble of air. The Dawn works by dissolving the waxy coating surrounding their exoskeleton, thus making it impossible for them to breathe.

Answer 4

I agree. Both Frontline and Advantage work a LOT better if you either apply, then bathe after 24 hours, or wait and apply three days after the bath. With either one, fleas on the dog should be dead within 12-24 hours.....so bathing is not necessary. I would apply FIRST and then wait 24 hours and bathe to get all the flea dirt off.

Answer 5

It will kill the fleas, but it will strip the oils in the dog's skin. The oils are essential for creating good bacteria that help the dog's immune system. I wouldn't recommend using it. Something you could try instead is all natural diatomaceous earth powder. You can find it at Lowes or Home Depot in the Garden Center. It is not harmful in any way. Check out my page on natural flea control at:
http://www.peaceful-organic-planet.com/natural-flea-control.html

Answer 6

Dawn does kill fleas. Whenever one of my dogs gets fleas (in SC in the summer, it's going to happen!), I wash them with Dawn. I start with a soaping up around the neck because the fleas will try to hide in their ears and mouth. This prevents most of them from making it there!

Good luck with your new dog.

Answer 7

dawn does kill fleas but it also strips the oils from the dogs skin so its a good idea to follow with some type of remoisturizing conditioner

Answer 8

fleas breathe through holes in their thorax, so any fluid that blocks the holes and prevents breathing will work. dawn works really well due to the ingredient that lets it break up grease and disolve it