Service dog handler lobby

[lostforgottensoul]

It’s always possible that he picked them up on the way to your T’s office...or even at your T’s office?

No. His floors in the waiting room are hardwood and no other dogs. I doubt two fleas on his head came from there. He most certianly could of gotten them at my dad's. They have a severely over weight (and mean as f*ck) Shitzu and they aren't real proactive on that sort of thing. I also stopped treating my cat with Frontine about a year or so ago. She's dying of congestive heart failure and putting chemicals on her just makes me shiver. I did check and I do have 2 more of the cat Frontline. I will be treating her with a Capstar and Frontine (or what brand maybe switching to).

I forgot to say my cat is 100% indoor only and Chopprr indoor when not working, exercising, and using the restroom.

I’d probably try out cycling through the flea treatment that you’ using. Use one brand for 6 months, then flick over to a different brand for 6 months then back again?

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. But which brand? Advantix is crap. I may head to the pet store tomorrow and just check the brands. What gets me irritated as f*ck as I just bought 6 months of Frontline last month. Ugh! Times 2 because of the cat.

I can't order it on the Equine Mega Store site. Takes too long to get here from Austrialia, which sucks because it's cheaper.

Has anyone used the flea traps sold by Vector? I was thinking of buying a few to make sure I get them all. But many say a waste of money. I'll have the Capstar in a few days along with the flea comb. I have Frontline and flea shampoo. Other then another brand of preventative (and which brand) I am not sure what else to get. They have sprays for the carpet and a whole slew of stuff. House bombs. All sorts of stuff. Just don't want to be wasting money when it's not needed.

What about washing his bed cover (which needs to be washed anyway) but would that kill the fleas?

if he’s on an effective treatment, they won’t be able to breed, so it won’t be a long term thing.

I didn't know that! That's a relief. Yeah, it was all out panic today. Especially since he was working when I found them.

 

[Sideways]

What about washing his bed cover (which needs to be washed anyway) but would that kill the fleas?

Should do. Use a hot water cycle rather than just cold water.

Seriously, don’t panic! You got this lady. Keep up your regular checks. If there is an infestation problem? Your cat would be covered in them on account of not being on treatment previously (if Chopper has brought fleas home, they’d breed, and your cat would be fair game, yeah?).
Perosnally I have Buddy on Bravecto (and his heartworm includes extra protection for fleas using a different active ingredient) because we have paralysis ticks here as well. Both Bravecto and Serestor get good feedback about flea prevention, but a small number of dogs have side effects.

Nexgaurd and Frontline both offer more than one type of flea treatment. And certainly vets will usually tell you that you get what you pay for. Nexgaurd has just recently released a new flea & tick product, but I’m not sure if the active ingredient is the same.

If long term you don’t want to keep cat on treatment because of his health? There are ‘natural’ treatments like spraying cooking products on the animal instead that you could look into. Personally I don’t see why being covered in the smell of vinegar would be any more pleasant to the animal given the sensitivity of their nose, but it’s something to consider. If you find that you’re getting fleas often from dads place? Flea bites are reeeeeally uncomfortable for animals, so even with a heart condition, you’re doing the right thing by your cat treating the issue (if there is a problem...which there may not be). Don’t feel bad about that, k?

Some of the old school cheaper remedies (like flea collars & some flea powders & the ‘natural’ remedies) simply act as a repellent. If there’s been a spike in fleas in your region recently (it happens), a repellant may not cut it. But most of the better flea treatments now available interrupt the life cycle, which stops infestations in their tracks.

Don’t panic - this will pass. You’re doing everything right - and far more than most pet owners would consider doing.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Your cat would be covered in them on account of not being on treatment previously

She is. I mean, not to the point of me seeing them. She is a calico but has a white ish face. But, enough that a flea comb was covered with one swip. I shoved a Capstar down her throat and got bit badly but she swallowed it. It says I can give her a 2nd one in 24 hrs if needed. Hopefully I wont on account of being bit again. I forgot how hard it was to shove a pill down a cat's throat. Anyway, good thing is that a flea comb down all of Chopper resulted in nothing. So, that's good. It doesn't say how to treat with a preventative but I'm thinking let the Capstar kill the fleas then put prevatative on her in 24 hrs? She's already going nuts, scratching 1,000 times more then normal, so it's doing something. I have 2 more Frontline for cats. I'll have to buy more. I stopped the cat Frontline when I found out she was dying of congestive heart failure. Was afraid of adding chemicals to that. But, that was an error that I now need to fix. Ughhhh! But, at least I know now that the Frontline is working for Chopper. Maybe just use the flea comb before working him and get any fleas that jump onto him while treating the cat?

Don’t panic - this will pass. You’re doing everything right - and far more than most pet owners would consider doing.

Thank you! Just 5 yrs and never seen a flea on this dog. But, then the cats were being treated with Frontline as well, soooo. Yeah. Mistake there but, blah, we all make em. Right? I only have one cat now. The other I had to put down about 2 yrs ago. Then maybe 6 months later found out my calico is dying as well. Wow, this cat is going nuts with scratching and jumping around. Never had to use Capstar so never seen this before. Hopefully it will work within 24 hrs. Just not sure, how long to wait after giving the Capstar to put Frontline on her.

Edited to add: I don't think I want to put the Frontline on her while she is licking herself this much. She is jumping all over the place. Good grief! She's weezing more but I think it's from running and jumping everywhere. I could put her in her carrier or even Chopper's crate, I guess. He doesn't get crated anymore but geeze, this cat is going insane!

Edited to add 2: Maybe I should give Chopper his Frontline now that all the fleas are probably jumping around? He's due on the 21st. Just looked. So, likely ok to do now but then not sure if I should treat the 2 on the same day. Ugh, so many questions.

 

[Justmehere]

You won't do much good trying to speed it up. I'd give the Frontline on schedule. It will take a little time to resolve. Just hang tight while the cat improves.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I will @Justmehere! Thanks for the advice.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I gave the Capstar to the cat at 5:30pm yesterday. I wasn't sure how fast she would be flea free but I knew it only worked for 24 hrs. This morning no scratching or licking so I checked with a flea comb all the way down her entire body and not one flea when it was filled with fleas with one swip down her body yesterday. Holy crap that's pretty great stuff. Expensive but worth it. I didn't need to buy the one for dogs over 24 pounds but oh well. I have it just in case. I guess it's good stuff to have on hand. Since she was flea free and no longer licking herself, I went ahead and put Frontline on her this morning. Since she wasn't protected with Frontline orginally, the fleas can lay eggs on the cat so I likely will need to do the Capstar one last time when those eggs hatch. Then, with Frontline already on, that should be the last of it. Hopefully. I am pretty relieved that the Frontline is working and that I don't have to change brands.

Anyway, wanted to post how fast it made her completely flea free and when I decided to go ahead with the Frontline in case anyone else is dealing with this.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

They seemed to be gone, then they weren't. I think he is picking the fleas up from the field area where I run him. After I gave my cat the Capstar, they seemed to have disapeared by the next day totally. Then the following day (2 days after the Capstar) I took the flea comb down both the cat and Chopper and found one on Chopper. None on the cat. I figured left over fleas and that they needed a bit more time to die off. I know the cat will have eggs on her since she didn't have Frontline on orginally. So I've been checking daily trying to wait out for the eggs to hatch then I was going to give the cat Capstar one last time to hopefully be rid of the infestation (I put Frontline on Chopper the 20th. It was the day after the cat had Capstar and she was totally free of fleas by that next day and it was only a day early. So both got Frontline put on, on the 20th). Today I found 2 adult fleas on the cat and none on Chopper. I'm a bit confused. I know it can take a few weeks for the eggs to hatch if cold. Temps have been up and down. From 80 to 30. So, I have no idea when these eggs will hatch. I have not cleaned the bedding and stuff yet. Will pull the comforter out of the car and clean it tonight and giving Chopper a bath tonight with flea shampoo but I am doing my best to try to ensure I can work Chopper at my therapist's tomorrow but not bring fleas there. Any advise? Are these seeming to be left over fleas or is the cat getting infested again? When I put the Frontline on her, I 2nd guessed myself of whether I got it on her skin as I wasn't used to the smaller amount and her fur wasn't gressy where I put it in but when I moved her fur around on her neck I could smell the Frontline. So, I hope I got it on her skin. I haven't vaccumed because my house is a disaster and honestly, I'm not sure if I can physically but if it would help i guess i could force myself to at least vaccum the bedrooms. But anything else I am missing other then washing his bed cover and keeping an eye out?

Ugh, i hate this! Bugs and me are enemies. This is like dealing with lice. Eek!

 

[Friday]

Fleas can live for several months without a host, and even longer cocooned up as flea pupae. So it’s not quite as simple as treat & done, like with lice. Instead, you have to keep treating for them, even after you’ve not found any active buggers, for quite some time. Although the upside is that fleas are faaaaaaar less trouble to treat than lice, bedbugs, & scabies. You’ll probably be finding fleas in your dryer vent, carpet, etc. for about 6mo.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

You’ll probably be finding fleas in your dryer vent, carpet, etc. for about 6mo.

Oh lord! Really? Well, I guess all I can do is use a flea comb on Chopper before working and try to get any that jump on him. Geeze! Had no idea this type of thing could happen. I don't mean to whine. Certianly not the worst thing that can happen to a service dog team but UGH!

 

[scout86]

I know the cat will have eggs on her

I'm going to expand a little on @Friday's bad news. I lived in FL for a couple years and it turns out I'm allergic to flea bites, so I learned a LOT about fleas.

They actually lay their eggs off the animal. They mostly hang out on the animal looking for lunch. When I moved to FL, my original roommate had two dogs and was totally ignorant when it came to fleas. And she had a dog who was allergic to flea bites too. We went our separate ways at the beginning of summer, but her dogs lived with me for the summer. I bug bombed our new house before we moved in. Washed the dogs and loaded them in the truck immediately. From there on, they got an anti-flea bath once a week, I bug bombed the house every other week, and dusted the yard once a month. That kept them to a tolerable level. (Did I mention that the best view of FL was the one in the rear view mirror, when I left?)

That was a long time ago. Before nifty things like Frontline. Frontline is going to make this a lot easier. But, fleas CAN lay eggs outside. Like in the yard. They tend to hang out in places like furniture and assorted cracks in your rooms, when not feeding on your critters. So you definitely have to treat the whole environment, once you've got an infestation.

You live in an apartment, right? Could be this all got started with a neighbor; There's really no way to know. But, it's entirely possible that the whole building needs a visit from an exterminator. (Which some apartment building do down there anyway, just because you have such a thriving, and diverse, bug populations.

Having said all that, when I go visit friends in the flea infested south, I always treat my dog with Frontline (or something like it) before we leave home and I have yet to have one bring fleas back from a trip. Even though I know we've encountered fleas along the way. So, I'm going to guess a walk in the park with a dog who's been given a preventative is probably safe. Flea bites dog. Flea gets poisoned. Flea dies before it gets a chance to reproduce. I'm thinking your current problem is that they've moved in and set up housekeeping in your apartment. It's a PIA, but it's manageable. since both animals are now on a preventative, you just need to kill the fleas in the apartment. But that's going to involve treating pretty much every inch of the apartment.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

But that's going to involve treating pretty much every inch of the apartment.

Yeah and this apartment is a literaly disaster. I mean, really gross. It's insanely embarrasing that I allowed it to get this way but then I need to cut myself a little break since I am disabled. Already got a cleaned a little bit. What was the best product, in your experience for treating the enviroment? I am going to start moving some things into the other bedroom, which currently only has a bed and a dresser in it, to make it a bit easier to clean out the rest of it but I want to treat that room first then each thing as i put it in the room. Don't want to move things in there without first treating the room.

His bed cover and the comforter in the car got washed last night. He had no fleas on him when we went to the therapist's. Checked 6 times with a flea comb. A bit excessive but, still, he's a service dog and the last thing I want is for him to bring fleas anywhere. My therapist's reaction is helping. He didn't flip out or have any sort of negitive reaction when I said "Chopper's got fleas" last week and this week he said it made sense that it's the cat.

She has a ton of fleas again so I gave her another Capstar (was a bit harder to get her to swallow it but I am pretty sure she did as I held her mouth closed until she was licking her nose and had my hand in a way that if she spit it out the side I would of caught it or known) and then (I know this is a bit of an over reation but I needed to ensure Frontline was on her skin) I put the other dose of Frontline on her which totally made a greasy spot on her fur. Hopefully it won't overdose her.

To add, the charge for Frontline for cats from Equine Mega Store came out of my bank, didn't get reversed but their website can't find my order. So emailed the owner, attached a screenshot of the receipt to see what's going on. I guess I can buy it at a pet store but it'll suck to have to pay twice.

Sorry if there's typos. This phone's keyboard is lagging super badly on every browser. It's super hard to type anything. Another thing I need and can't afford. A new phone.

 

[Sideways]

I totally get why you’re feeling panicked about this. But panic - it rarely helps, yeah!?

Continually re-treating your cat? Isn’t necessary. It’s probably not doing anything more than costing an absolute bundle. You’ve treated cat with Frontline, so just keep both Chopper & cat up to date with their treatments moving forward, and breathe!!

Definitely I’ve also heard good things about the flea bombs that were mentioned earlier. Not being able to see what you’re talking about, definitely getting your place as cleared out and cleaned up as possible beforehand would be really helpful. Perhaps instead of buying evermore amounts of flea treatments, you could just hire a cleaner to come in for an hour as a once off??

With both pets covered, and your place clean, the fleas will slowly reduce in number. With no food source? They won’t survive. So all 3 of you are gonna get through this, okay? Don’t need panic, just gradually cleaning the place out, and trying as much as your back will allow to try and keep it reasonably clean (this is one of those reasons that they tell hoarders “This is a health hazard!” yeah? Because bugs and parasites looooove mess).

Not telling you anything you don’t already know. Just reminding you - breathe, be patient. Because it’s gonna be ok:)