Right- urgent flea advice, please!

[Hakluyt]

We have just aquired a dog in complicated circumstances. She has fleas. I took her to our vet this morning but they absolutely refused to give me anything without her records from her previous vet, and even if we can get them (it's complicated) they can't see her til after Easter. By which time we will be Flea Central. And she will have had another miserable itchy week. And she badly needs grooming- she's in a bit of a state. But presumably the groomer won't do her if she has fleas? Is there anything over the counter thwt works? Or does anyone have any clever ideas?

how odd, i don't understand why they couldn't give her stuff this morning.
we took our cat to a new vet and got advocate the same day, no records needed.

well. in the meantime get some indorex, that will start killing off fleas that jump from the dog onto the floor/sofa.
there might be a flea shampoo you could use and frontline might work just fine if the dog isn't regularly done.

Maybe I'll try another vet? I suppose I could lie and say that I absolutely can't get her records- but that would mean waiting for an appointment. And I do want to get her groomed quickly- she's all matted and it must feel horrible.

I'd just go and register her with a totally new vet - frankly if that was the response from my normal vet he wouldn't be my normal vet for much longer !

Yeah- I feel a bit like that- but it's the only local large animal practice.
I might go and register her somewhere else just to get the Advocate.

Advantage has always worked on my 2 when they got fleas, we flead them then flead bombed the house.

Large practices are mostly about protocol. A smaller practice is more likely be flexible and accommodating.

phone up a regular pet vet and ask to register and have a free flea check appointment at the same time. they will look at the dog and prescribe the advocate there and then.

that's how it works round here, anyway.

poor dog, hope you get her sorted soon

Pretty bizarre protocol there - yeah, they need to examine the dog before they can prescribe flea treatment but insisting on history first and having to wait a week for a routine appointment would have me looking elsewhere.

Over the counter (blue) Frontline will be effective if used in conjunction with a household spray like Indorex, RIP Flea etc.

I flung myself on the mercy of another vet and they sold me Advocate after weighing her and confirming that she had fleas- not difficult! Thank you all. I can't move vets- they are the only ones who do horses!

hooray! but there's no reason you can't have the dog registered at one vet and the horses at another.

my cat is registered with two vets, just in case.