Stupid Fleas!! AARRGGHH!

we went out to my parents house on Saturday night. we haven't been out there since there dog died. a couple months at least. we took Toby, our little Shid Tzu. we stayed for about four hours. Sunday, we noticed him scraching, alot. so we checked him out and sure enough, hes infested with fleas. we picked 10 fleas off of him in two days! all we have in those flea sprays. i dont know if they are working or not. we also put a fleas collar on the cat, cause we know he dosent have fleas. what is the best thing to get rid of the fleas, fast? would a bath with some flea shampoo do the trick? we really cant afford to get the really good flea drop stuff from the vet right now, but i think we have some flea shampoo. should we just keep doing the flea sprays? the one we have says your supposed to get him damp or whatever with the spray and leave it on him for 10 minutes. we did that and after he was still scratching. we even picked 3 more fleas off him.

I'd go ahead and use a flea shampoo. It's ok for killing adult fleas, but you may have to use it again fairly soon if eggs hatch. It's hard sometimes cause you want to be careful of his face, yet fleas will hide inside their ears..so you want to start from the head and work down. I don't like the flea spray...seems so strong, like it can't be good for their skin. I have dusted with a powder before...it's ok for a brief period, and it just seems less harsh to me between the two choices.

the spray is not irratant at all. i got it all over my hands trying to spray it on him. another question, what are all the little black things in him hair? they dont move. are they eggs? or flea droppings?(j/k) i need to get this taken care of before my cat gets fleas too.

Borax acid is great way to prevent them from hatching..just work it into the carpet and under where the dog sleeps..it won't hurt anything except the fleas and their larvae!

Take it from me, you're fighting a losing battle unless you get the dog, and ESPECIALLY the cat, on flea preventative (the liquid stuff you put on their neck and back where they can't reach). Flea collars are totally useless. And sprays, washes, etc. are SO toxic to them. My animals would get sick when I tried to treat them this way. Ever since I went the liquid way, I've been flea free for 10 years! Cats tend to be "carriers", too. Especially treat your cat. You probably got the fleas because your parents' house no longer had a "host" -- their dog. So, those fleas latched onto your dog! When my household got infested, and then I got them on the liquid, the fleas fled. Didn't have to bomb my house or anything. Once the "host" is gone, the fleas are gone. The liquid is a monthly treatment that they don't mind. Good luck!

I agree !! What you spend on shampoo, sprays etc.etc. almost equals what the once a month treatment costs. Yes, it does cost alot for yearly shots, heart worm prevention, flea prevention etc.....This all goes into the cost of owning a best friend. I would love to have 2 dogs, but on limited SS. I can't afford to take the chance on unexpected vet bills plus monthly neccessities. Take on only as many as you can afford.

ok, so short of going to the vet, what is the best flea drops you can buy at tlike the pet store or online somewhere?

we got some Sergents Pretec flea shampoo last night and it seemed to kill all the fleas that were on him, but he scratching like crazy now. my wife thinks she might not have gotten all the shampoo rinsed out cause we were runnin out of hot water. he didnt like getting rinsed with cold water. i dont understand, we used to have lots of hot water, now its like one shower one bath, no hot water. maybe i should turn the temp. up. the water heater is only 3 yrs. old. i had to shut the water off last weekend to fix a leaky toilet. at first the only shut-off valve i could see was the one above the water heater, so i shut it off. well of course water was still in the lines, found that out the hard way. D'Oh! ever since that, it seems we run out of hot water more often. oh, well, guess i got a little side tracked.

I don't think you need to take them to the vet. I just call my vet to order them and go in and pick them up. If your pets are up to date on their shots, they'll have their weights, etc., to know what strength to give you. I wouldn't bother with the supermarket kind -- I heard they don't work very well. But someone else may give you a different opinion, as I've never tried them...
p.s. the itching and scratching is a byproduct of the abrasiveness of the flea shampoo to the skin...

Yeah I agree with Elinhunter.

You will want to use a good flea drop like Advantage or Frontline. I've heard Advantage is better, but have not tried it yet. Right now we use Frontline. Good luck, we are still fighting the fleas. I put flea powder on the carpet which seemed to help and gave the boys flea baths. Now I'm applying Frontline. It's been 3 months and they still have the occasional flea....It stinks!

You can also buy Frontline or Advantage online at something like PetMeds.com

You sure you turned the valve completely open at the hot water tank after you were finished? I know you probably did, but sounds sorta like your tank isn't filling up fast enough. I only bring this up cause once we shut off the water....but didn't completely open the hot water valve...and ended up needing to replace the electric heating element on our water tank. It was a 'DUH' moment in our house. Course, Dave has a zillion valves for shut-offs...no wonder a gal gets confused!

i think it opened it all the way. we have some "roommates" right now. she was running a bath for her daughter while we where giving him a bath. hopefully thats all that the problem was. we rerinsed him last night with just warm water but he's still scratching with no signs of fleas. we both looked through his hair and cant see any. we are going to get some good moisterizing doggy/puppy shampo at the store tonight. we had been using baby shampoo, and the seemed to work great. he never scratched after a bath with that stuff.

We always use Frontline and that works wonders!! Good for ticks too!!

Wyluli -- do you put it on once a month? That's weird you're still seeing fleas!

Check your water inlet to the heater and make sure (if there's a filter screen ) that it's clean and clear. The screen on my hot water hose to my washer was so clogged and rusty , I only had the cold water hose working.

i think it was just too much for the water heater to keep up with. my gas bill has doubled since they've been here, but thats a whole different story for some other day.