A Mystery

[Stacy, Bruno, Molly and Gracie]

I have a mystery on my hands!

10 days ago we discovered about 3 fleas on Bruno. I immediately jumped into action! He got a dose of Frontline plus, I combed and combed and combed outside going over every inch of him. I vacuumed, vacuumed and then vacuumed more - changing the bag each time. 5 days later I bathed him in a Zodiak flea shampoo. Oh and I have sprayed the house with Zodiak where he sleeps, lays etc.

 

BUT, every night I find these black dots in the top of his head, down on the skin and nowhere else on his body. Can they be flea dirt or flea eggs? He is not itching and I have not found a flea on him in over 5 days (and believe me I am checking!) It is like flakes. I am baffled! Could it be something else altogether? Thanks for the help :)

 

[Taylor & Huff]

Do the spots come off? Maybe he just has spots on his skin. Or it could be flea dirt.

[Stacy, Bruno, Molly and Gracie]

WOW, that was so helpful! thanks.  So it seems it IS flea 'dirt"  now what? i have treated with Frontline plus and I cannot find a flea on him anywhere. Any suggestions/

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

It takes a while for the flea medications to get rid of the fleas completely.  If you're concerned it didn't do the trick you could bathe him with a flea shampoo.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Call your vet and ask about the Capster pill too.

[Jane, Rooney & Stuart]

Fleas infest a whole house - not just the place that the dog stays.  I think you may have to bomb your house :(     I've never had fleas but I know of someone who has had them a couple times and this was the only way that they could get rid of them.

[Sue, Lola, Pongo & Hubby]

oh my goodness, this is terrifying. I'm sorry I can't be any help, just wanted to wish you guys good luck!

[Tina, Clover, Plus 5 More]

Here is a picture I found online of flea dirt to compare.  If you have fleas everything needs treated.  Bombing the house, treating the yard.  I would Bruno to have a flea treatment and treat the house/yard while he is gone.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

I would say that your picture looks pretty similar to Tina's online pic. I hope you can tackle this right away and get them out!! Sorry you have to go through this, but thanks for posting, because I learned a lot-good luck!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The Frontline will keep Bruno from getting infested, but you may have to do something about the eggs and larva that are still in the house. There are probably still some fleas emerging which are dying after they bite him, and that's where the flea dirt is coming from.  Just vacuuming won't do it. I agree with Jane, you should have the house bombed to get rid of everything permanently.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Strangely enough, Gracie Doodle had that same type of thing on her tail just after it attaches.  Some of the black things were loose and then others almost looked like black heads just under the skin.  The vet took a scraping and came up blank.  It never bothered her and so I figure it was really nothing of concern.  If the vet couldn't find anything of concern I wasn't going to be concerned.  That was a few years ago.  Maybe I had better go look and see if she still has them.  At first I thought we hadn't done a good job washing her.  You usually don't spend a lot of time on tails when shampooing!  I  just looked and there doesn't seem to be any.  I think it is one of those strange mysteries that never get solved.  If you find out what it "really" is, I would love to hear.  I thought the same thing you did...fleas or flea poop!

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Okay, now that I have read that it IS FLEAS, you need to totally bomb your entire house, spray your yard, door mats...anything that he lays on.  Even inside your car if you take him for rides.  Also, start the regular flea control on him.  I know a lot of people are against medications but I use Comfortis which is a tablet that you give once a month.  I use Advantix or FrontLine Plus if we are taking Gracie to tick areas.  I also give her Sentinel (another tablet 15 days after Comfortis) which is for heartworm and a sideline of it is that it has been known to fight fleas but don't use it as your main flea control.  We never have a flea!!!  Years ago we had cats, kittens and fleas!  What a mess.  That is when we did the bombing, spraying the yard, etc.