Fleas

[Lougle]

I know I said never, but I'll make an exception.

We have a Westie. He is lovely. Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, he has not had walks in the past few months. (In a nutshell, I have 3 under 6, one disabled, and can't safely leave the house on foot with all 3 on my own).

We got some help in the Summer, and so were able to take DW (Dear Westie) out for walks every day.

He hadn't been flea treated for a long time, and didn't need it. Genuinely. But soon after starting to go for walks, he became flea ridden. Huge swathes of fleas all over his (white) coat. The same day we flea treated him with Frontline.

Our house is hard-floored throughout the ground floor, and sofas are leather, so no soft furnishings. Stairs and upper hall are carpeted, as are bedrooms.

He is still covered. I can literally see the fleas crawling all over him. I grab the ones I can see, but obviously, this isn't an efficient system.

SO, I know that Frontline (not combo one) works by killing the fleas once they bite. Does that mean that I just have to wait until they die? Or is there something else I could or should be doing? I wish now I had got a vet appointment and got the Combo, but I was told Frontline spot-on-dog was just as good.

Could it be our furnishings, despite only having a little carpetting?

[Lizcat]

Both types of Frontline kills fleas within 24 hours, so yes the fleas have to live on the dog for up to 24 hours to die, so yes you will probably still see live fleas. There is a new product called comfortis that your vet may have which is a tablet that kills 80% of the fleas in 2 hours and continues to work for 30 days this maybe a good option for you.
To be honest with you the Combo is better, because if has an insect growth regulator in it that prevents further fleas breeding in the house.

[Lougle]

Thanks for the advice Lizcat. I managed to get him into the Vet's this evening, last appointment of the day, so very lucky.

The Vet said that he is on the verge of an allergic crisis (he has a long history of allergic dermatitis, etc., was on desensitizing injections for quite a while, and steroids before that, etc.)

So, she examined him, and agreed that he is absolutely riddled

She has prescribed Advocate spot-on flea/parasite treatment. Also given us Malaseb shampoo to be used twice weekly.

Flea spray for carpeted areas.

Poor chap, we bathed him with Malaseb, which washed a great deal of the adult fleas away, but he is still driving himself crazy with scratching and biting at his back. He is like a contortionist

[Cinnamon06]

just jumping in as we got a similar issue but ....we got 2 cats and one dog,all have been given frontline spot on around one week/10 days ago but fleas are still there! Not many but I can spot and find some,mostly on the dog that is white...how comes? Today I have used another one on her hopefully works,cats had 2 each but damn fleas are still around...what can be? what can i do? thanks!

[Lizcat]

Cinnamon if you read my previous reply it explains why you are still seeing fleas. You probably need to treat your house as well with a combined spray.