# Fleas! Gah !



## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

Ok...so my house dogs have fleas. I used the flea med from Costco ... It did nothing! I ordered Advantage on Amazon, but in the meantime I covered the dogs in DE last night. Tonight I looked at them and the fleas were as numerous as yesterday! I really thought that it would make a difference!?!?! Doesn't DE work on fleas?


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Nope but, the blue Dawn dish soap does...Kills them dead.


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## milk and honey (Oct 31, 2010)

Ok! Dawn it is! I'll go to the kitchen and get it!! Thanks!


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## Jessica84 (Oct 27, 2011)

Wow!! Good to know. I was going to the feed store tomorrow to get front line for a kitten but dawn is way cheaper 


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## goathiker (Apr 14, 2011)

Front Line never works for me and Advantage washes off if the dog gets wet. I think Revolution is the only one that even comes close to working really well.


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## Ziegen (Sep 22, 2014)

If you want, you can buy a capstar which is a one-treatment pill that kills them very quickly. 
All my dogs get sentinel which is a heart worm - flea all in one monthly pill. i've never been a fan of the topicals because they can wash off


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

You will have to get rid of them from inside your home. Getting a debugger fumigator or a spray ect will help.

Wash their bedding often, for a while.

The fleas are also out side, any places the dogs hang out or lay is a good place to spray. 

Remember you may treat the dogs but, if the indoors and outdoors are not rid of fleas, the dogs will repeat getting them.

Try to keep up with hatching eggs. Then you will be on top of it.


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## KW Farms (Jun 21, 2008)

Yep, dawn dish soap will take care of them immediately. My inside cat and dog got them once and I ended up getting a flea shampoo (which also repels) and would bathe them regularly. I also vacuumed as much as possible...like every day/every other day. All bedding needs to be cleaned or thrown away. They also make spray you can use in your house. There is a powder too I think that you can use on the carpet. I was able get rid of them completely. Haven't had a problem since.


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## DanielsDairyGoats (Jul 21, 2013)

Yes DE will kill fleas, but not instantly. You can wash the dogs in any dog safe soap you have. Lather them up well and let them sit. It's not that the soap really kills them, but when the get covered in soap they drowned. It doesn't always kill them all, but it will help. You can put dishes of warm soapy water under nightlights, fleas will be drawn to them overnight and drowned. 

I hear the pills that kill fleas work the best.

The best way to use DE is first vacuum. Then spread DE all over your floors. We move our furniture and put some under it too. You'll want to shut all your fans off, cuz things will get dusty. Then vacuum it all up the next day. They say to do that once or twice a week until they are gone. But...
We had them really bad in our carpet, and after we vacuumed we would put more DE down every time. It didn't take very long to kill them off once we figured out how aggressive we needed to be about it. We tried to bomb the house a few times but it hardly worked.
DE will kill other bugs too. I like to sprinkle some around the doors, and along the walls from time to time. They say you can spread it out side your house too.


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## nannysrus (Jun 21, 2014)

I have only had fleas one time 4 years ago. I went to a vet got the comfortis pill and that was it. Within a couple days all the fleas from house and dogs was gone. Never had them sense. 


Samantha

"5 minutes of fresh air is equivalent to 5 mg Valium"


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## Naunnie (Jul 4, 2014)

Flea infestation is a pain but can be fixed. Changing the bedding and constant vacuuming will make a huge difference. Ya might get some adult fleas, but mostly will get eggs and larvae. DE does help but it loses effectiveness with any moisture. This can be as simple as high humidity. Use the DE, just at the baseboards, under cushions, and any cracks or crevices. I hope you are only using the "food grade" DE and wearing a mask. It's important no critter is around when you are spreading/dusting with it too. Let the dust settle before anyone comes back in. Protect them lungs!

I do not use sprays, bombs or spot ons. They are highly toxic and ineffective! Sprays and foggers can do a real number on the lungs too! The residue left on surfaces is more toxic than effective IMO. Yard treatments are a waste of money IMO. The risks are just to great for me, so I do not use any pesticides/insecticides here.

I do use Dawn on new rescues to rid a Pup of the adult fleas on it. Best to let the lather sit for about 10 minutes before rinsing. Rinse really well, because it can dry the skin out. If you have an infestation, the Pup will have live fleas within hours.

There is no product on the market that will get the pupa. Yes...sprays will kill adults. Yes...there is IGR's (Insect Growth Regulators), but nothing gets the pupa. They will sit and wait until conditions are just right. Then you have another breakout and wonder why your pesticides didn't work.

Well, this link may explain it better than me.  http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/parasites/f/FAQ_fleacontrol.htm

For now... Comfortis is working very well for us. It kills the fleas before they can lay eggs. It does not get ticks or intestinal parasites though. Marketing has changed somewhat.....gotta get it from the Vet now. Our Vet will allow us to drop in and purchase a box with out seeing each and every critter because they have us already on "file". I would just ask your Vet.......The recommendation is to give monthly, but because we do not have an infestation, every other month works for us. We can go 3 months before dosing in the winter. To save on cost, I purchase the box of 6 tablets for the largest dog. (60-120lb) Sometimes, you can get 1 tablet free for purchasing the whole box. Anyway, we weigh and cut tablets so every critter gets what they need. This also includes the Cats. ( Same drug, same milligrams, just different packaging)

Good luck! Be diligent! You can win this war! :dance:


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

we have stick tight fleas here...PAIN PAIN PAIN..fighting them for several years...we finally got the comfort pill and within 30 minutes our dogs were flea free!!! a beautiful thing to see...WHAT WE LEARNED..

we only gave one pill...so giving monthly is not needed...its been several months and we are just now seeing a small one here and there so time to retreat...ALSO we spent the same on each pill...regardless of size!! so next time we will buy a big pill to split between our small dogs AND we will treat the cats as well

funny thing is...once the dogs were treated...even the chickens wernt fighting them and the cats hardly has any as well.....Its an investment! pricy little pills but they work! and they work a long time!!


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## HerdQueen (Oct 15, 2012)

Comfortis works so well! 

As far treating house well I have found the only thing that works is CV80D the barn spray.


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

I may want to try that for my dogs.


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## happybleats (Sep 12, 2010)

Yes...we are so glad we did!!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Sounds awesome.


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## Naunnie (Jul 4, 2014)

Just wanted to add, it says on the box to give Comfortis on a full stomach. My Mom missed this the first time she dosed her Dogs. She had a couple get kinda green at the gills. No more problems if she feeds them first. 

My Dogs will eat it readily but not the Cats. It does have a funky smell. I crush it for the cats and hide in a small bite of canned.


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## Goats Rock (Jun 20, 2011)

Garlic seems to help with fleas, too. We give the dogs garlic pills.


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## FreedomStarr (Oct 21, 2014)

Weird, the spot-on treatments have always worked great for me. I even use frontline to keep the mites off my hens.


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