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I don't even know.. flea treatment?

Laced

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I don't even know how to begin to explain today. i'm so frustrated i can't even think, not that I can think much when I'm not.. ugh. I have fibromyalgia, and have been having a really rough week,month.. year.. life? ugh anyway my little dog had a groomers appointment that the groomer had already canceled and rescheduled twice, and i didn't want to wait another week. But I couldn't drive today, My husband is working out of town so he asked his brother to take her in for me. well.. I guess the groomer called my husband at work and told him she was covered in fleas and she was going to flea dip her for an extra $10 and he was in the middle of something so he just said ok!? and I didn't hear about it til it was time to pick her up and his brother stopped by to ask for the extra $10 on his way over. So I was totally freaking out! 1. we try to avoid as many chemicals as possible, especially now with our new bird. 2. how can the little white dog that sleeps with me and is nearly always in my lap or next to me be covered in fleas without me knowing about it or being bitten at all? and lastly.. I know absolutely nothing about "flea dips" which apparently are actually a spray? The only thing I've ever heard about flea dips was several years ago a local farm store did a special free flea dip thing one weekend, and several dogs ended up getting really sick, i think one might have even died. *scary* Needless to say, they've never done that again.
Anyway.. I told him I needed to know exactly what they put on her and he went to go get her. And came back with this picture. (hope the picture works.. It says Advantage treatment spray for dogs) Has anyone ever used this or know anything about it?
My pup is home now, happy and acting her self, but I'm still freaked out. I kinda feel like maybe i should bath her again? We stopped using monthly flea treatments on our dogs several years ago and have never had any problems with fleas here and while he had gone to pick her up i checked our 2 other dogs, and the cat who thinks hes a dog and not found one flea. We have found a few ticks in the last week, gross but tis the season. And now later found out that His parents dog has been having problems with fleas for months now. poor puppy. So while i was originally thinking maybe our groomer was full of it, I guess its possible she could have picked up enough fleas in their car.. ugh. So maybe i should leave whatever is on her there just in case anything got on her on the way home? I'm worried about any possible fumes? there is a slight smell or something, could jus be whatever shampoo she used too, or possible transfer between her and the bird somehow off clothing/furniture? who knows. and the cat tends to lick her too. and i heard some dog treatments cant be used on cats.. ugh I'm really thinking i need to try to bathe her.. would dog shampoo be enough? i dunno.. sorry this is so long, i think its become more of a rant/vent then a question.. but I know some of you must also have dogs and other pets, what do you use for fleas/ticks? Do you take any special precautions? Should i try to bathe her?
 

sunnysmom

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greys4u

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Go to 1 800 pet meds, they have it and list the ingrediants, also, speak to someone there that can help with your questions
 

zoo mom

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No info on the flea dip. But for future reference there is now an oral "treat" for fleas and ticks. My dog thinks it is the best treat ever. My vet recommend it over the topical.
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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For the first few days, simply wash your hands before you handle the bird and that should be enough of a precaution. The cat should be fine, the small mount he or she would get from licking the dog won't hurt her. Cats should always have flea products produced just for cats as they are much more sensitive to the pyrethrins used in flea products than dogs are. I have a dog and multiple cats. They all wear flea collars and all I do is wash my hands before I go into the birdroom to interact with the birds. That was the only precaution suggested by my avian vet.
 

Laced

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So my husband was able to call and actually talk to her. not just random texts. She said she did do an actual dip. She shaved her, then dipped her, then sprayed that spray in the picture in and around the cage she was in, as well as spraying the actual hair she cut off, she said she was really like super infested.. i really don't know what to say about that. I guess we'll see. shes a white dog, and shaved pretty good since it was meant to be her last real shave before it gets cold. so if anything gets on her it should be super easy to see. But I really just don't see how she could have fleas that bad without me knowing, wouldn't i at least have some bites? I mean I've handled stray cats for just a few mins (years ago) and gotten random flea bites or seen them jump on me. How could i not see any? Or not be able to see anything on the other dogs or cat when they all share bedding? I really hate to say it but There is a small part of me that wonders if she just wanted to charge an extra $10.. ? but we will definitely be keeping a close eye on them all for awhile and maybe look into starting something monthly again. i just hate the idea of giving them something when we've had no problems.. kinda feels like spraying yourself with OFF bug spray to go grocery shopping or something. lol

Anyway, she said the dip is only to kill whats actually on her atm, and not a preventative... so at most will only give her 24hours or so of relief (not that she was in any itchy distress before?) So I'm going to let her just rest from her outing but will give her a quick bath before we goto bed.

The lady also said she's used these things in the shop with her birds in the next room and never had any problems.. Shes got a couple large pet birds that i believe live at the shop, so i guess thats something? ..and I think we may be looking for a new groomer.
 

MiniMacaw

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Sorry for the difficult situation with your pup. If your pup does indeed have fleas she will need a treatment for it. Those washes and sprays only kill *some* of the adult fleas but often times the larvae and egg stage remains on the host.
It is possible for a dog to have fleas and not see any. I’ve worked on a few dogs over the years (much loved and well taken care of dogs) that were what I would call infested and the fleas just hid very well and very quickly behind ear fluffs, at the base of the tail, or under collars.
Most current flea and tick medicines that prevent and kill all existing stages of fleas would not harm your bird so long as you practice good hand washing in between dog/bird handling.
Also my go to trick to see if the pup has fleas when I couldn’t find any of the quick buggers (or to make sure medication was working and there were no fleas) was to check for flea dirt. Looks like regular dirt in a dogs coat but put a tad on your finger and put a drip of water on that and it turns red...voila fleas.

.
 

Laced

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yeah..you see, the thing about that is... we have red dirt here! lol sometimes it so red after it rains i have to do a double take on the muddy foot prints to make sure no ones hurt.
but yeah now that shes all clean and shaved it should be fairly easy to see and i'll be sure to double check the ear fluffs <3

and if we do start finding any fleas we'll get some kind of monthly treatment for all of them, I really hate the washes and sprays.
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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You can easily tell flea dirt from regular red dirt because the red dirt will remain granular when you drop the water on it and the flea dirt will literally dissolve and disappear. Really, try an experiment and take your red dirt and drop some water on it; you will see the dirt remains granular unless you add enough water to actually make mud; then the mud is camouflaging the granular substance of the dirt: but you will be able to feel the granules when you rub them between your fingers, and the granules will not disappear. Flea dirt is just undigested portions of blood and has no actual granular form; it is excreted by the fleas as small dry pellets and remains that way until you add water and then dissolves completely back into the blood it is and disappears leaving a red liquid with no gritty residue. Flea dirt also is incapable of making "mud".
 
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Laced

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Good to know! I've still not seen any fleas, or flea dirt. I did however find 2 more tiny ticks on her last night, and one on our cat this morning. I wonder if the lady saw these tiny ticks and thought they were fleas? Really i think i'd prefer the fleas. So grossed out atm.. if your at all sick to your stomach searching google for pictures of dog ticks is not the thing to do.. bleh!
From the little bit of searching i did manage i think they are seed ticks? Ive never heard of them. they are small grey with a tiny white dot on them.

Our vet was closed today for some reason, first nice day in while he was prolly out playing golf lol But I'm going to try to call in the morning and get some monthly treatments for them all. Any advice on brands of that would be awesome, years ago i think we used frontline? is that still good? I remember we tried 2 kinds and one left a super grease slick down the dogs back that stayed until we bathed them and one didnt.. but i cant remember what ones ugh.
 

Laurul Feather Cat

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I use the Soresto flea collars which are good for seven or eight months. Really like them for both the dogs and cats and I avoid that dang wet area on the neck of my pets. Hated that from those "spot" treatments for fleas and ticks.
 
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