Oh my god, the dog has fleas!

[Shadowboy]

In the 15 years we’ve had dogs this has never happened. We used a new dog walker about 11 days ago and we think this might be where they have come from.

So I’ve now washed the dog. Thrown her betting away. Put spot on onto her as per instructions and sprayed the downstairs with a spray from the vet. Is that enough? Or should I be doing something else.
I’m so itchy just thinking about it!!

Fleas come from everywhere/anywhere.

They lay eggs on the dog that drop into the carpet and soft furnishings. They develop into little fleas down there then jump onto the dogs when they are old enough to reproduce and start the cycle again.

That means that most of the fleas are in your carpet, not on the dog.

The spot on treatment (make sure it's one from the vet - the over the counter shit is useless and sometimes dangerous) turns the dog into a flea-killer so as the adults jump onto the dog to get ready to lay eggs, they are killed. That can take several weeks because you have to wait for all the eggs in the carpet to hatch, grow up then jump on the dog to the be killed.

Speed the process up by washing anything you can at 60c or higher and spraying the carpet. That kills all the eggs and juvenile fleas without having to wait for them to grow up. Indorex is bloody brilliant and stays on the carpet for about six months so will give you summer protection.

Thank you. Yes it’s all stuff off the vet. I don’t think it’s carpets as I literally only have carpets upstairs/ the stairs and the dog never ever comes up.

New dog walker put her in their car with some other dogs for a group walk and looking at the life cycle it all seems to match up.

I’m hoping now we have new dog bedding it will help!

Thanks for the pointers!