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Hoping to find some help for my dog and I'm a big flustered. We just moved to the coast and our dog has been scratching himself non-stop. At our old place we were using PetArmor (Fipronil) and it controlled his fleas just fine. After moving we noticed the scratching and realized he hadn't had his flea meds in almost 2 months. I also noticed one of our neighbors has some pretty questionable looking outside cats so my fiance immediately applied the flea treatment. A couple days went by and she mentioned the dog was still having issues and thought he should have a bath. I, completely forgetting about the flea meds, gave him said bath. It was at max 3 days after his treatment so I'd imagine a fair amount got washed off and it's not working as it should. We've discussed other options such as the stress of moving causing him issues, some potential new allergy, etc but I keep coming back to thinking that maybe we just didn't phase the fleas. I haven't really noticed any bites on me (he's an inside dog) and we haven't found evidence of fleas on him (yet). Any suggestions? I was thinking on trying to find another type of flea medicine that can play nicely with the Fipronil and not hurt my dog. I'd like to rule this out before we take a trip to the vet. 
Itchy Itchiford fucked around with this message at 16:27 on Aug 10, 2016 |
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Aug 10, 2016 16:23
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 00:17 |
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There are a LOT of different flea treatments for dogs, and sometimes one will work better with one dog vs another. However, Fipronil is a generic of Frontline. In many areas, it's stopped working as efficiently, as fleas and ticks have grown resistant to it. This seems to be especially true of New England, from what I've heard. Some of my favorite alternatives are: Seresto Collars: Unlike the old types of flea collars, these ones don't have any weird powders or smells-it's very low odor, and the odor isn't offensive to most. It lasts 8 months, which is practically unbeatable. Also, if your dog has a bad reaction to it (highly unlikely but possible) it's easy enough to just take it off, and it's supposed to leave the bloodstream fairly quickly. I've heard nothing but good things about them from the customers at my store. One downside is that it can take a week or two to work at full strength, as it enters the bloodstream a little slower than the liquid topicals. https://www.amazon.com/Bayer-Serest...sto+flea+collar Advantix: A topical like Frontline, however the active ingredient is Permethrin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permethrin Upside is it seems to work a lot better than Fipronil, downside is you cannot have it around cats-Permethrin is toxic to them. It is, however, quite safe for humans. If you have cats, try Advantage instead-same company. https://www.amazon.com/Advantix-Med...ywords=advantix aTobiko Topical Flea and Tick: If you're all nutty about organic/non-gmo/etc, you could try this https://atobiko.com/organic-dog-care/skin-topical-flea-tick/ I really can't vouch for its efficacy, though. Smells better I suppose. You could probably use this, or other similar organic oil topicals, in addition to a human-designed chemical treatment, but I am NOT a vet so I cannot promise anything. I work at a specialty pet store and my recommendations are based on the feedback I get from my customers, as well as what is available for us to sell without a prescription-you may be interested in an edible pill as well, but you'd have to ask your vet. Absolutely DO NOT add another topical to your dog without some serious research. Most of these treatments work through the bloodstream, and you may kill your dog trying to "double down" on flea meds. I don't mean to infer you are dumb; but I like to cover my rear end all the same. In the meantime, I advise you to vacuum the everloving poo poo out of your house, wash all your fabrics on the same day if possible (and don't bring the clean stuff out until EVERYTHING is washed-put it in a trash bag or something), and consider a household flea killer. I like diatomaceous earth (all natural, food safe-you can literally eat it, and it's a natural de-wormer) but some have pointed out that it is, in fact, a powder. So if it gets wet you will have mud. I don't recommend dumping it in big piles all over your carpet, but I've had someone get salty about it to me before. Flea bombs can work if you calculate your space correctly, but you need to be 100% about following the directions or you will literally poison yourself. There are sprays, too, but they are super toxic to pretty much everything, so although they can work well they smell awful and leave a light shine of poison over your house for a while. Soooo I know that's a very long answer to a simple question, but after you get fleas knocked off the list (it can be VERY difficult to get rid of fleas unless you are militant about it) you could move on to allergies, stress, etc. For stress, Rescue Remedy is a godsend https://www.amazon.com/Bach-Rescue-Remedy-Pet-20/dp/B00JU3CZRY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1471820017&sr=8-2&keywords=rescue+remedy+for+dogs. For allergies, it's MUCH trickier. He could be reacting to an environmental allergen, or has developed an allergy to his food. If he is not just scratching himself, but licking his paws, shaking his head, or having what I call "sad poops" it may very well be an allergy to food. In this case, your most affordable choice would probably be to try cutting everything out of his diet but his food and 1-2 kinds of treat. If there is no change, consider a limited ingredient diet to try and pinpoint the problem ingredient. Grains, chicken, and beef seem to be the most popular food allergies for dogs. It is quite expensive to get an allergy panel done for your dog, so if you do the legwork now you could save yourself some future cash. For limited ingredient diets, Natural Balance, Canidae Pure, Wellness Core, and Zignature are some popular brands. I prefer the latter, myself. Good luck with your pup! He is one handsome fella 
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Aug 22, 2016 00:08
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My dogs get Bravecto for fleas/ticks, it's a pill so it can't get washed off plus it lasts for 3 months. However it's by prescription only so it requires a vet trip, which is probably a good idea anyway so you can rule out non-flea causes for itchiness while you're there.
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Aug 22, 2016 03:12
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porkswordonboard posted:There are a LOT of different flea treatments for dogs, and sometimes one will work better with one dog vs another. However, Fipronil is a generic of Frontline. In many areas, it's stopped working as efficiently, as fleas and ticks have grown resistant to it. This seems to be especially true of New England, from what I've heard. To update on what we have tried: We changed foods. He is already on a no grain diet. We switched to a better quality brand. Rachel Ray Walmart Grain free --> Taste of the Wild's grain free. We used a carpet flea powder, following the directions to a T. (This included vacuuming like 4 times). We used a spray on all carpets, linens, and furniture that is a peppermint, clove, and rosemary oil base. (Many sources online showed these to be a repellant for fleas.) This spray was also safe to spray ON the dog. He smelled like baked goods. We have been treating his itchy spots with a bitter spray/hotspot/lidocaine. This keeps him from making it worse. He also now has a doughnut to inhibit chewing. He hates it. He is less itchy overall but still hyper focuses on spots he can reach. To do list: De-flea yard with diatomaceous earth. 
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Aug 22, 2016 22:54
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Wow! You've done a lot of legwork, and you're doing everything right. Some dogs are just more allergic to fleas than others-I know my cat got bit like, 3 times and clawed all the hair off his rear end. Keep rocking it and I'm sure he'll feel better soon! He looks goddamn adorable in his inflatable cone though
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Aug 24, 2016 00:31
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If your dog is still itchy after all the steps you've taken, there are two possibilities. One is that your dog is highly allergic to fleas. There is basically no way to prevent 100% of flea bites if you live in a climate that supports lots of fleas. Some dogs are so allergic that just a few bites sets them off and makes them miserable. The key with these dogs (in addition to everything you've already done for your house) is to get them on a flea prevention that kills the fleas really fast, thus minimizing the number of bites they get while it's working. Fipronil is not very good for this. The oral flea preventatives (Bravecto, NexGard, Simparica, Trifexis, and Comfortis) are the very best options for a highly flea-allergic dog because they kill the fleas so quickly. These are all prescription meds, so you'll have to see a vet first. Second possibility is that fleas aren't the problem. Environmental allergies (pollen, dust, etc.) are way more common in dogs than food allergies. He could also have a skin infection which isn't going to clear up no matter what you do at home - he just needs the proper medication. You should really get him checked out by a vet to get to the bottom of this. You've already spent quite a bit of money waging a war on fleas that may or may not be the problem, and now your dog is miserable wearing a donut. Just go to a vet already.
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Aug 24, 2016 14:25
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Crooked Booty posted:If your dog is still itchy after all the steps you've taken, there are two possibilities. Going to the vet is the final step for us. If all of our efforts do not fix it, we will be taking him. My fiance is a medical professional (for humans) so we are not completely in the dark here. We have been told by a vet before that he has a flea allergy. Thanks for your input.
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Aug 25, 2016 01:53
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Things started getting better, then the fleas reared their ugly heads again  The good news is a vet office very close to us has amazing reviews on google so we're hoping to get an appointment made tomorrow.
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Aug 26, 2016 06:29
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Itchy Itchiford posted:Things started getting better, then the fleas reared their ugly heads again Good job on the vet appointment. Definitely ask about the edible flea meds. Also, is there any possible way you could speak to the neighbors if you seriously think they're a big part of the problem? I completely understand if you don't want to go that route but if their flea-ridden cats are tromping all over your property you'll be fighting an uphill battle pretty much any time it's not winter, if it even gets cold enough where you are to kill outdoor fleas. Just a thought.
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Aug 26, 2016 18:58
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| # ? Apr 25, 2024 00:17 |
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When we called the vet and explained the situation then gave us some more pointers and another form of medication. They said they would still be willing to see the dog but acted like it wasn't necessary and said their over the counter topical (Vectra) should be enough. After reading a bunch of scholarly articles we found this http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3353155/ which essentially says that Seresto is essentially the best. It's also safe to double up with nitenpyram (Fastcaps/Capstar) so we can kill all live fleas that bite him in 24 hours and we'll have the protection of arguably the best on-animal flea control over the counter. Keep your fingers crossed!
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Aug 26, 2016 22:42
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