# my dog has fleas



## coolstorybro (Nov 3, 2010)

i was petting him after i came out of my room, and found a wet spot on his back. i guess he was chewing on his skin because of the fleas. i searched for them, and yup, 1 just jumps out at me. i took him to the vet, and they applied frontline+. 

i can't bathe him for 2 days because of the frontline+. i searched for more fleas, and killed about 4 more. they are very hard to kill as they are so so small. 

im wondering if frontline+ will do the job? i really want to give him a bath, but the vet said to wait a couple days. 

also she said to use oatmeal shampoo and leave it on him for 5 minutes before rinsing. will that work or should i get flea shampoo? ty.

here are some pics. they chewed my boy up.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

We didn't have a problem with fleas this year, but we did with ticks at the first of the summer. I won't use any chemicals on my bunch, so I have started using garlic cloves. I peel them, cut them into little bitty pieces and put them in little ground meat balls. You can also use D Earth. (sorry, I can't spell the first word.) But there are several ways of using it from feeding, to sprinkling on the dog, carpet, furniture etc...


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## coolstorybro (Nov 3, 2010)

i just used a vacuum. i think i sucked most of it off him. what is garlic cloves?


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Peel a whole garlic, and each of the small pieces is clove. All of mine get two cloves each cupped into little pieces. It repels fleas, ticks and mosquitoes.


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## Brian 6 (Jul 22, 2012)

Garlic is maybe not such a good choice rather than a 'pesticide'. It is not as safe as you may think. Onions and garlic are toxic to dogs and cats. Garlic is more potent than onion; it takes about 5 g of garlic per kg of body weight to cause hemolysis in dogs. Cats are much more sensitive as they have more fragile RBCs.

Fresh garlic is not as dangerous as powdered garlic as you need more fresh garlic to SEE the damage. However, onions and garlic are metabolized in the GI tract to highly reactive oxidative metabolites. *ALL* ingested garlic/onion will case some degree of *hemolysis* in dogs and cats--it's only when sufficient RBCs have been damaged to alter the overall oxygen carrying capacity of the blood and/or to cause hemoglobinuria that the toxicosis becomes clinically evident. 

Personally I don't like the idea of causing any hemolysis in my dogs or cats.

Frontline should kill the fleas ON your dog in about 24 hours BUT you have to remember that the fleas that you see are the only tip of the iceberg. These fleas will have been busy producing literally thousands of eggs that drop off in your house. They will be busy hatching for roughly the next 5 weeks and the first think the newly formed adult flea will do is search out your dog. Fortunately Frontline will be waiting for him. If your dog is not getting any new fleas from outside, for example as in Canada in the winter, two applications of Frontline a month apart will rid you of the infestation. If it is warm outside you need to treat every month.

All garlic does at best (besides bursting your dog's red blood cells) is repel fleas. Since the fleas hatching in your house will be less inclined to bit your dog, you might also want to start taking garlic. At least it won't hurt you. (other than perhaps your social life  )


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## Sheltielover25 (Jan 18, 2011)

Brian 6 said:


> Garlic is maybe not such a good choice rather than a 'pesticide'. It is not as safe as you may think. Onions and garlic are toxic to dogs and cats. Garlic is more potent than onion; it takes about 5 g of garlic per kg of body weight to cause hemolysis in dogs. Cats are much more sensitive as they have more fragile RBCs.
> 
> Fresh garlic is not as dangerous as powdered garlic as you need more fresh garlic to SEE the damage. However, onions and garlic are metabolized in the GI tract to highly reactive oxidative metabolites. *ALL* ingested garlic/onion will case some degree of *hemolysis* in dogs and cats--it's only when sufficient RBCs have been damaged to alter the overall oxygen carrying capacity of the blood and/or to cause hemoglobinuria that the toxicosis becomes clinically evident.
> 
> ...


Have you ever researched the affects something toxic like Frontline has on their systems? I'm willing to be the risks of a pesticide are a lot higher than the risks of garlic. Considering no studies have ever been done on the long-term effects, there's no way to prove what happens to the poor liver after monthly doses of flea medicine, heart worm, and chemicals in the food.

Use Diatamacious earth, make an essential oil spray with neem oil, eucalyptus, and tea tree oil -- add a little carrier oil to dissolve and spray onto dog. Drop the essential oils on the collar and let dry and put on the dog, or use a bandana or something similar. Apple Cider Vinegar seems to help. Basically, putting the body in the most natural state is the best way to combat fleas. My dogs eat raw meat only, no vaccines, or medicines like heartworm and such and fleas haven't bothered them in two years now. Fleas prefer dogs with weaker immune systems to the key is to keep them as healthy and natural as possible.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Garlic is bad if given in huge doses, like fifty or more cloves at a time. Small amounts are actually benificial. Liver is also toxic in large amounts as well. Vitamen A toxicity. I will give garlic in small doses before putting chemical topicals on my dogs.


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## wolfsnaps88 (Jan 2, 2012)

I have used Frontline and Advantix in the past. If its a pretty good infestation, I noticed that the stuff didn't always kill everything (and keep in mind the incubating eggs won't die and are probably on the floor). I have stopped using it myself and am looking into natural alternatives. I don't have fleas here but I have horrible tick outbreaks so I am planning on using geranium essential oil and other natural stuff. 

Spread some DE in your yard where your dog goes to help control the outside.

I think Dawn dish soap kills fleas...


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