As you know, I have 6 dogs. Not including the 7 new puppies which will go up for adoption in about 5 more weeks. If you have dogs, you probably battle fleas. We can usually get it taken care of pretty fast as soon as they start in the spring, but this year they’ve been much worse. We’ve dipped our dogs every few days all summer, plus spraying the yard and house, and throwing out granules too. We’ve hardly made a dent in them, it seems.
With fleas, sometimes come allergies. Yep, your dog can be allergic to flea bites. I have one dog who gets an allergy shot every month to stop her from continually chewing at her feet and back, which is where flea allergies usually affect them the most. So when another dog started chewing at her feet and losing her hair just this summer, I knew that’s what it was. I finally got around to taking her to the vet today.
He gave her an allergy shot and asked me what I’m doing about fleas. I told him about the battle. He told me that he wouldn’t charge me an office visit today if I would buy something for fleas for all my dogs. I told him it was a deal. I got the Frontline Plus for all six of my dogs, and all 7 puppies (two drops per puppy). I also got the flea pills, which are only 2.50 each. You give one to each dog and it kills all the fleas on them within two hours. It only lasts 72 hours though, so those are really more for just immediate relief until the other stuff kicks in.
The doc told me how to get rid of them in my yard and I wanted to pass it along. Find out where they’re breeding in the yard, and this will be the spot that the dogs lay in the most, and wherever you find holes have been dug. Dig about six inches down, removing the dirt to a wheelbarrow. Dig another 6 inches down and remove that dirt to another spot away from the first dirt. Put the first dirt back in the hole, cover with seven dust, then put the second dirt on top, and cover with more seven dust. So basically, bury the fleas. Then cover the entire yard with seven dust, enough to make it look like snow. Apply more the seven dust weekly. Do all this while treating them monthly with Frontline, and soon your flea problems will be gone.
MAN i hope this works. The vet estimated, and stressed that he was not exaggerating, that I probably have a million fleas at my home. He said, just because you only see 15 to 30 fleas on your dogs at a time, do not let that fool you.
So, how much did I spend today?
1 allergy shot - 23 dollars
1 treatment of Frontline for 6 dogs - 63 dollars
6 flea pills - 15 dollars
1 large bag of Seven Dust - 8 dollars
Seeing my dogs laying around peacefully not scratching for the first time this summer - PRICELESS.
Woot! That’s too cool. “Priceless” Kali doesn’t lay anywhere outside except on the corner of the deck by the hot tub, she never lays in the yard unless she’s out front with me when I decide to work on the god damn project I started.
She did do what you’re talking about though, about biting her feet, and I was looking at stuff in the pet section at the store, and I saw a can of flea powder, something I haven’t seen in a long time. I started reading the text on it and it said:
To control Sarcoptic Mange- and I said WTF! Mange? Because what you describe is exactly what Kali was doing and this says it’s caused by mites.
Well she was trying to bite a hole in one of her back paws AND one of her front paws, so I thought what the hell, I’ll try this stuff. That was a week ago, and the hair has already grown back over.
WOW really! Well maybe she had mange and not allergies….. or maybe that stuff works for everything, lol.. Whats it called?
You know, Heptachlor will kill fleas and ticks for years. Oh, right, but there’s that whole carcinogen thing which was why it was banned. But back in the day when it was on the market still, my dad spread it all over our yard and we never had fleas or ticks, and we always had a damn lot of cats. OF course my dad would dust them down with Seven Dust a couple of times each summer.
We haven’t had a problem with fleas here in NC, but Notch was covered up with ticks last week when James washed the dogs. Darci didn’t have a one on her, and that was before she rolled in dead stink. LOL
For the firs time in years I’m not picking ticks or fleas off of dogs. Ahhhh THAT’S priceless
But, I DO miss dogs
But I can’t have them here in this rented property. Sadly. Glad you got yours sorted out though!
Oh yes! I forgot how many dogs you were taking care of here in the US.
Heptachlor? Can that still be bought? I need something crazy strong for my yard. Carcinogen? How dangerous is that? LOL
LMAO! No, it’s been off the market since the 70’s. I was pretty small when my dad bought it from the co-op. I can remember running my first bike into the hedge and coming out covered with seed ticks up to my knees. My mom came running out of the house and started trying to slap off and many as she could until my dad could get the Off and spray my legs down. Stupid bike had no brakes.
Ticks tear me up too. If I get bit by one, I will have a sore the size of the tick within 48 hours. And the hubby wonders why I won’t go out in the woods in summertime…
Hartz 2 in 1 Flea & Tick Powder Unaffected by water no less.
Thanks, Diane.
So, DL, you ran your bike into a hedge… head first, maybe? So that’s what happened to you.
I dunked bot my cats in a bathtub full of flea shampoo once. Then that was the last of any fleas. They never go outside so I’m/their lucky.
LMAO, no that bike “accident” was feet first. On the other hand, after I upgraded off training wheels, I slid down the road at the bottom of the hill by our house once, nearly on my face. Um, I slid down a paved road at a very high rate of speed once and left quite a bit of both my knees behind. Oh, and I flipped over the handlebars on another bike because we were riding in the dark and I turned about 16 inches too soon and hit the ditch instead of the street. Flipped over the handlebars of my friend’s moped after hitting the ditch rather than the approaching car. Hmm, no neither head injury involved a bike. LMAO!
What “happened” to me is I grew up in Arkansas.
Oh, heck I forgot my Notch story. He only sheds like once a year, and he is shedding BAD now. Big clumps, and almost looks like Ouiser’s dog from Steel Magnolia’s, only a much smaller breed. Anyway, James is working on brushing it all out now that the dog’s can come in and out of the house. Well, today, I got home, and James said “I had to trim his tail.” Holy shit, he cut almost all the hair off of it. It was really long, and matted up because he & Darci have been totally outside dogs since January. It’s like a half inch long now, and without the hair, his tail looks about half the length it should be. God, I will have to get a pic of it and post. He looks so funny!
About growing up in arkansas, touche, lol.
About the tails, yeah they can really get matted, sometimes cutting it all off is all you can do.
When I had a dog, all I had to do was put a couple drops of that frontline in between her shoulder blades, and that took care of all the fleas in my condo too. The vet thought that was because when she would rollover or rub against the furniture, it would spread the frontline around the place. I never had to even put any on my cat who would go for walks with us. The stuff on the dog was enough. Of course, I didn’t have as many dogs as you…lol.
lol mel, thought you’d appreciate the arkansas comment.
Was it a small dog skye? And you probably didn’t have a million fleas either, lol.
DL
Oh yeah mac, meant to say, I bet your cats really appreaciated that dunk. Did they scratch the hell ouf of ya?
Mel, they were Kittens. They were more interested in treading water than scratching me. I tried once to give Buddy a bath because he had a bad odor, now that wasn’t easy. He was bouncing like Tigger from Poo.
It as kinda funny actually. Wet rats!
Actually, she was a 50 pound sheppard mix, and at one point I did have major problems with fleas, but the last couple years of her life, hardly saw a one. It probably helped that I didn’t just leave her outside. I had to walk her, because I lived in a condo, and there wasn’t a fenced yard.
Still waiting for the pics of the new pups before they’re a year old
I’m still waiting on a new camera. Mine doesn’t work anymore!
Flea products are formulated to kill. The difference in what it takes to kill fleas and what it takes to kill your pet is simply the size of the dose. Anthing that is rubbed on, dropped on, sprayed on, or dusted onto your pet becomes part of your pet’s diet because all pets lick themselves. Even natural products may cause gastric distress which you may not be able to detect. Anything used in the environment or your home are picked up on your pet’s paws and in your pet’s fur.
Print out a FREE copy of TIPS FOR A FLEA-FREE HOME from this site: www.KeepFleasOff.com
Just click VIEW Tips near the end of the page.
Just so you know, I have been keeping two cats flea-free in Florida without flea products, and I spend about $10 a year to do so.