To be horrified that my dog is riddled with fleas

[BadTitan]

We're recently back from holidays, left our springer with my in-laws who have three dogs. Yesterday I took her to the groomer who phoned me shortly afterwards to tell me that she was absolutely covered in fleas.
She got as many off as she could but there were still a few left. I came home, vacuumed and sprayed all the carpets, threw out the dog's bedding, gave her a flea tablet and scrubbed her with anti-flea shampoo. And warned the in-laws, but they say they checked theirs earlier in the week and they don't have fleas.
I've been going to this groomer for a long time and she says she's never seen fleas on my dogs before. But that they can pick them up from grass and the hot weather is very conducive to fleas.
I've never encountered fleas before -is this enough to get rid of them? any advice on what works is gratefully received!
Right now, I'm googling what diseases can be carried by fleas... Apart from the plague!

I've had a few flea invasions due to multiple animals. See how it goes but the only thing which ever worked for mine was Bravecto which is prescribed. It normally takes a multi-pronged approach of treatment, spray, combing them and drowing the fleas. There is this stuff called diatomaceous earth which is a natural white powder you put around the edges of the room, kills them as they hatch. You shouldn't breath it in when you are pouring it out and also watch your hoover when you clean it back up. Otherwise it works well

This happened to me, it was horrifying!

We use Bravecto but she must not have digested the tablet and she was absolutely riddled. I treated her with a spot on (did not want to repeat Bravecto immediately for her health) but that makes the fleas go nuts while they are dying, which made it seem even worse for a few days. I then gave her a bath with flea shampoo to get rid of the flea dirt and remaining fleas and she seemed fine after that. I then repeated Bravecto 2 weeks later. She normally swims in the river in an area with frogs, crabs etc so to avoid harming wildlife I kept her out of the river etc for a month after the spot-on.

To deal with the house I washed her bedding on 60 regularly, vacuumed daily, and put some baking soda on the rugs. She is not allowed on furniture and we have wood floors. Apparently any fleas that hatch will jump onto the dog and then get killed by the Bravecto so there's a period where you will still find the occasional flea, but 2 months on I have not seen a flea on her for weeks.

It will all be ok! Just know that the first few days of treatment are going to be extra itchy for the dog while the fleas die off and then it's just a bit of extra maintenance cleaning for a while.

We had an infestation of fleas and it was awful! This was after years of using the spot on regularly. Our vets now don’t prescribe spot on but tablets instead. You only have to give them every 3 months so they are effective. We were combing, washing, treating the house etc but the only thing that really did the job was a tablet from the vet. It was safe to give even though they had already had the spot on that month and within 24 hours they all died. (The fleas that is)

The only good a flea collar is good for is cut up and put in a Hoover bag. Wish they would ban the things.

You'll have to keep on top of the monthly treatments OP. They're a bugger once they take hold. Indorex can be decent but the quality has gone down in the past couple of years I think.

Don't bother with Bob Martin products. Drontil and Frontline work very well, 2 vets I seen laughed at me when I said I had used Baob Martin, and they were right, it didn't do anything.

Amazon as already said, and ebay both sell fake products.

I have always found Bob Martin to be a waste of time.

yes remember to empty your hoover ! and to put the contents of it straight outside in the bin.

My dog caught them earlier in the year even though I was using flea treatment from pets at home. Lesson learned and I have now signed up to monthly program with the vets that includes worming / flea treatment plus injections.

The vets told me to use indorex for the whole house and car. I must have gone through about 8 cans so buy plenty.

You need to use prescription flea treatment and indorex spray for the house , non prescription stuff is often not effective and some like Bob Martins can be dangerous to some dogs .

Do you not do monthly flea protection, behind the ear drops?

Fleas multiply more in this weather. Don't worry about it, it happens but you can make sure it doesn't happen again.

I got behind with my dog’s flea treatment and she got fleas. Spoke to the vet who said once the dog has the flea treatment, that will also kill any fleas they come into contact with. She had one treatment and I used one can of indorex (dog stays downstairs) and she didn’t get any more.
I have my dog on a monthly care plan - covers annual checks, claw trimming and flea and worming treatment, which they post out every 3 months included within the plan. Saves me remembering to call them (also ADHD!).

I set a reminder on my phone so I don't forget to do my cat (he's on a special one we get from the vet thats only 4 times a year now, to reduce the impact on the insect population and pollution in rivers)
Best to keep your dog out of rivers/lakes/ponds for 24 hours after flea treatment.

Can I also recommend flea lamps? They attract and trap any fleas in your house so it'll be easy to get rid of any fleas but also track if there is an infestation and how bad it is.

bob martin is crap you need indorex! sign up for a pet plan at your vets as this will include worm, flea, yearly booster and normally a 6 month check up. as soon as you start treatment put in in a calendar for the whole year for your monthly flea treatment and 3 monthly worming.

Trust the professionals in this case, don't try to economise, pay the vet because all the money spent on over the counter products is a waste. My dog, despite the regular treatments, picked up a flea or two a couple of weeks ago. Hopped straight off him overnight and bit me everywhere. Bloody things, I hate them.

Your in-laws' dogs have fleas. Definitely. Their dogs need treating and their house deep-cleaning and treating with anti-flea spray. Do not use the crap sold in pet stores, it's useless and toxic. Go to your vet.

Me too.
Ours have Symparica tablets monthly which treats worms as well as ticks and fleas. The vet plan includes annual vaccinations, 6 monthly check ups, one free appointment and a discount on treatments.
Well worth every penny (under £20/month). I get text reminders too.

This is what I do.

Braveco is pretty potent but my dog had been treated with it, with no ill effects, before I got him so I continued with it. My dog has never had a problem with fleas, ticks or worms with the bravecto & milpro combo.

The most effective way to eliminate fleas including eggs etc is to treat dog with a prescription only product. Then Flea bomb every room in the house that the dogs had access to. Plus the car.
it’s virtually impossible to spray every part of every room. Fleas love dark crevices, hiding under skirting boards, sofas etc
the smoke from these bombs literally fogs the whole room and reaches everywhere.
when i worked in dog boarding facilities this is what was done. We popped the bomb on a saucer usually on the light fitting or on the top of an open door so the smoke cascaded down throughout the whole room.
Ensure you buy Bombs that kill fleas and eggs otherwise when they hatch the problem starts all over again and again despite the dog being treated with a great prescription product the fleas will just feed off you instead.
with the sprays if you miss under a skirting board or any part where they’re hiding you’ve completely wasted all that money
Because they will just continue breading and hatching.
amazon sell packs of these flea bombs. its the most effective and cost efficient solution
hope this helped

Thank you. What's the brand name?

Either criterkill, Johnsons or rentokil are my favourites. The product will kill fleas bugs the lot. Amazon or ebay always have them. Amazon is quicker normally.

Steam the carpets, steam will kill the little fuckers. Give the dog a teaspoon of coconut oil in her food every day, too. Its like garlic, you exude it through your pores. Like how people who eat a lot of curry and spices tend to have a spicy smell to them. Coconut does the same. Fleas hate it, it deters them.

OP, RTFT

lots of good advice here, amazing you’ve not been over run with fleas before considering your lacksidasical attitude.

take your dog to the vet to get decent stuff not crap from Amazon.

treat your house meticulously. Mate you are going to be hoovering daily for weeks - don’t you get that?

Indorex for the house. Give your dogs preventative flea treatments routinely. These things happen!

Thanks everyone

My dog had a horrible seizure following a bravecto tablet. Spot on treatments are absolutely disastrous for the environment, especially the aquatic environment. If you use flea treatments make sure you bag and bin any dog hair as it's toxic to birds that use it to nest. I think we need to relook at how we treat and prevent fleas. I would only treat my dog if she had fleas ( check all the time with a comb) rather than using such toxic products as standard.

We got a flea collar which worked really well. You have to kind if tug and stretch it so the powde comes out.