Fleas on my puppy!

[Marissa Edmonds]

Hi all,
I need some help. We have had a heck of a time with fleas since we got our Zoe 5 months ago. She's only 7 months old and we are dealing with fleas for the third time! Gross! I feel like I'm doing something wrong! We've switched her food to grain free, she gets salmon oil pills twice a day to help with her dry skin, and I brush her everyday. This time around I've noticed some pretty nasty scabs on her back that have me worried. I've already used the topical flea treatment and flea shampoo. She is in the midst of getting her adult coat so her fur is twice as thick right now. It's impossible to run a f,ea comb through her hair! Does anyone have any suggestions for effective flea treatments? I don't want to do something to make her skin worse, but these fleas need to go away! Has anyone tried the pills? Or are there natural remedies that aren't as harsh? Also are there any treatments I can put on her skin that won't be dangerous if she eats them? I wanted to put neosporin on her scabs but wasn't sure if it was safe. Any advice on the subject would be helpful, I'm about to start pulling my hair out! Thank you fellow doodle parents!

P.S. we live in the pacific NW, not sure if fleas in the winter are a common occurrence here, or if its a bad season. Any fellow northwest-ers that have dealt with this?

[Oliver & Elizabeth]

My puppy is 9 months old and I live in the Seattle area, we also are always battling fleas! Having a young puppy, I too was reluctant to use harsh treatments, and tried natural remedies like brewers yeast and herbal flea sprays without success. As for conventional treatments that I've tried:
Program (oral) - doesn't kill adult fleas but prevents reproduction - didn't work for us, an adult flea always seemed to come back from puppy class with us.
Capstar (oral) - kills adult fleas, only lasts for 1 day - like a flea bath in a pill, but doesn't work long term. Amazingly effective in killing all adult fleas on the dog.
Revolution (rx, topical) - kills adult fleas and prevents reproduction - not greasy, quick drying, after about a week or so we were flea free (on month two and still flea free)!

I hope this helps! Good luck, fleas are the worst! :)

[Scott Payne]

Have you tried food grade diatomaceous earth? It is not harmful to humans or animals. I had some fleas in my house in the carpet. I sprinkled a light coating on the carpet and waited 6 hours.  Vaccuumed  multiple times after that. Then vaccuumed several times the next day.I also dusted my entire back yard with it.  DE is super fine (makes flower look like sugar!) and has rough edges that pierce the outside of fleas, roaches, etc. Once they have been pierced by the earth, they will die. It doesn't work for the fleas in the pupae stage. We have no more fleas or roaches for that matter!  gardeners and ranchers are the primary users of it.

Hope that helps.

[Sue & Lily Grace]

We live in an apartment and there is no winning with keeping the fleas from jumping on Lily Grace. I have had them jump on me outside. This part of Florida is bad with all the sand and warm weather even in the winter and add to that people that don't take care of their animals it is a constant battle. We have tried Frontline Plus and after two months it just was not working. This seems to be the treatment of choice here and I think the fleas have become immune to it. My Vet put Lily Grace on Confortis 2 weeks ago and it seems to have them under control. It is not my med of choice because it can be hard on their stomach and I give half to her 15 minutes after her morning and evening meal. Good Luck.