How to Kill Fleas on Dogs

Posted by Gerald Njuguna on September 12th, 2007 at 04:35pm

All dog owners have to deal with dog fleas whether they like it or not! Fleas, which are brown in color, are insects with no wings that have sharp mouths that they use to bite into the dogs to get their food.

They cause the dog to scratch themselves in the affected areas. Some dogs are sensitive and can be allergic to flea bites.

Generally, fleas do not transmit diseases to humans from dogs but they can bite humans as well as cats. Fleas prefer warm climate and will live in the ground in the cool climate seasons.

If your dog scratches itself continuously, its a sign that it probably has fleas. I would advice that you take the dog first to the vet to have him checked out.

The vet will probably use a flea comb on the dog. Flea combs are wide tooth combs and remove “flea dirt” or dried blood flea excrement. If this is found, your veterinarian will recommend treatment. Most vets will always advise you to go for preventative treatment is its less expensive to do so.

Most of us would probably want to avoid the hassle of going to a vet and want a quick fix to sort out the problem. One of the things you can do is to comb your dog with a flea comb regularly. Put some petroleum jelly on the comb to help trap the fleas to the comb.

You can also use rubbing alcohol to slow down the fleas so that you can have an easier time catching them.

For those that prefer a natural approach to treating fleas, you can use Brewers Yeast and Garlic added as supplements to your dog’s food. However, this method of treatment is yet to be proven.

You can also go for over the counter flea treatments. Most of the over the counter treatments contain pyrethrins, which are natural insecticides derived from the chrysanthemum plant. Should you decide to use products that contain pyrethrins, be aware of the side effects!

Any product that contains pyrethrins has the potential of being toxic at some level not just to the animal, but to you as well!. Please make sure YOU FOLLOW the usage instructions found on the labels and if you are not sure, please consult your vet.

There are much safer products available out there in the market. One of the treatment that comes to mind is Frontline Plus by Merial. Its applied to the back of the neck on the skin of your dog. According to the manufacturers, the treatment will destroy 98-100 percent of the adult fleas within a 24 hr period and also destroy the eggs and larvae. They also say that Frontline Plus is water resistant for 30 days and safe to use on your puppies as young as 8 weeks.

Sentinel by Novartis is another popular flea treatment product. Sentinel is taken on a monthly basis and it alos prevents heartworms. Sentinel destroys the adult fleas, eggs, and its larvae. Novartis also makes other flea control products Program & Capstar.

Program is in tablet form and is also given on a monthly basis. What it does is interrupt the flea life cycle by stopping the eggs from developing fully but does not kill the fleas themselves. You are safe to use Program on puppies that are 4 weeks of age and.

Capstar on the other hand kills adult fleas. You can give it to the dog once per day. The manufacturer claims that the pill will kill the fleas within 30 minutes of ingestion and that one pill is enough to kill all adult fleas. Capstar is safe for dogs and puppies four weeks of age and older.

Its much easier to prevent fleas than to treat them. As a precaution when giving medication, its good to always seek the advice of your vet.

NEWS UPDATE: I’ve come across this incredible resource book titled “Veterinary Secrets Revealed” written by Dr Andrew Jones who has practiced Veterinary Medicine for over 10 years. In his book, he reveals simple secrets to safeguard your pet’s health, Slash Vet Bills, and even save your pet’s life!

He teaches over 1,000 safe, natural and effective solutions for healing your pet that are easy to understand and can be implemented at home. You don’t need a degree in Veterinary Science to do them I highly recommend this definitive manual if you are searching for information on dog fleas. To get more info, visit his site by clicking here->The Veterinary Secret .

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