If your dog has epilepsy, what do you do about fleas ?

[SirVixofVixHall]

My dog is not epileptic, but may have a lowered seizure threshold. She was bitten by an adder and had fits for a few weeks afterwards. None since, that was several years ago now. The fits came on after she was given repeated GAs to change her dressings and attend to her wounds, so we don’t know if the bite itself caused them, or the GAs. I am worried I didn’t keep her quiet enough after the last anaesthetic, as that is when she started fitting.
Anyway our vet has said that all flea treatments are now contra-indicated. We managed this for years with regular combing and she hardly ever picked them up, but for the last year she keeps on picking up fleas and as soon as we get rid of them and have a few weeks flea free she picks them up again. I am hoovering and washing her in flea repellent shampoo, combing her several times a day. She isn’t covered in them, but we are regularly finding a few on her.
So is there anything I can use that is safe for her ? I have just bought a flea and tIck repellent spray, but I don’t hold out much hope.

I wonder what other dog owners use in this situation ?

Bumping in hope !

Really sorry but I don't have any idea but bumping thread for you.

I am no medic so please do check with a vet but I think Seresto collars are ok for some epileptic dogs.

You could ask @Lonecatwithkitten they know everything!

It may be worth asking on here facebook group for epileptic dogs

CSJ ‘billy no mates’
Brilliant stuff

She does have Billy No Mates, but still seems to pick them up. Having said that , possibly it did help slightly, I will start using it again.
Thanks for the suggestion of the facebook group.
Epilepsy seems fairly common in some breeds so I am hoping that there may be something out there that is safe.

I will ask my vet about the Seresto collar - is it safe for us to cuddle her with one of those on ? She is a cuddly dog . Pre the seizures I used the minimum of flea treatments anyway as I am wary of pesticides. So we would treat her in the Summer when she seemed most likely to pick up fleas or ticks, but not in the colder weather.

Billy no mates was useless on ours - we used it for a whole year and it did nothing so may depend on the dog. You also are meant to have time to build it up so it does not work for a few weeks - if it works.

We are the same and use minimum treatments unless required. We worm count and comb for fleas. Our issue are ticks. In our area they can pick up 10-15 a day unless wearing the collar. I am extremely vary of treatments as I do have a breed that is prone to fits so would not give oral treatments. We do cuddle ours and have had no ill effects from the seresto. It does have to be on quite tight to be effective but has worked and been side effect free for us. I do like that I can take if off if it does cause a problem and only use it when the ticks are biting so the dogs are treatment free for the rest of the year.

Our Staffy is on anti-epilepsy medication and quite a few of the standard treatments are contra-indicated for dogs with seizures, but she found a spot-on treatment that was based on a different active ingredient. Which reminds me, I need to apply it.

Do you know what it is called ?

Sorry meant to put Doginatent at the beginning of that and forgot !