Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Bourgeois Complaint, Here



My dog is infested with fleas. We've done the Advantage, the Frontline, the flea bath, the oral pill. I went out today and got some kind of spray and an old-fashioned flea collar. I hate chemicals given the extremely sensitive Neuro-Girl.

Help me, Rhonda.

Anyone?

17 comments:

  1. Kill the dog.
    Okay. Sorry. I'm projecting my own desires.
    Sounds like you're doing everything you can. Flea dip? Flea bath? Some vets give them.

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  2. I'm no help.

    First thing to come to my head was how to tune a ukulele: "my dog has fleas."

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  3. Oh man- this is a tough one. I am assuming he is an indoor dog...that means your house is alive with them (yecchh). Fleas live forever (according to my exterminator) so you need to have the house professionally de-flead, which means you will have to leave the house, and that the company you use swears they are not leaving poisonous traces around (but I imagine Calif has that covered). While having the house de-flead, you will have to take the dog to a groomer or vet who will get the felas off it. The be prepared to do it all over again...been there, done that...sorry- it's a mess and you can only hope that eventually you can be proactive (including an exterminator coming 4 x yearly). :( good luck!

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  4. when we lived in san clemente we used salts in the carpet .... I think you have wood floors though .... but you can still put it on throw rugs and the dogs bedding. We bought our salts from a carpet cleaning place and it was pricey - but then we figured out it was basically borax, salt and baking soda. It kills fleas DEAD.

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  5. Ugh, I hate fleas! We finally got rid of a nasty infestation of them, knock on wood. We did the flea collars, flea baths at home, flea baths at the groomer, flea dips, and outdoor spray. I ended up hiring an exterminator to come in and spray non-toxic stuff inside and out. I was freaked out by it since Emily doesn't walk and is always on the carpet. This sounds odd but she leans over and licks everything, carpet included, so I am really paranoid. We chose Western Exterminator and honestly it took two trips of them spraying but the damn fleas are finally gone!

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  6. Well, that is just TFBS! WTF? No excuse for fleas with all you've tried!

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  7. Capstar pill for the dog.

    Natural salt flea killer powder if they're in the house.

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  8. You are my second friend THIS WEEK to tell me this has happened - the other friend lives up here. UGH. It made me hurry to put the chemicals on our cats, though I dislike them, too.

    Another friend sells Shoo Tags: www.shootags.com. I haven't tried them yet, but they might be worth investigating. Good luck!

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  9. Zut! alors. Le pauvre chien, la pauvre famille. C'est dommage.

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  10. We have often been told to bath the dog in Dawn Dishwashing liquid for fleas but we can't seem to find it over here. Can't have a lot of chemicals here either. We use revolution on our boy, is still chemical though.

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  11. Striking out with me as helpful also.Just went through this with our dog but the advantage and the bath worked.I'll send out a prayer of fleas be gone though ... it's about all I got.Speaking of which ...

    Loved your write up.Great topic.And as a catholic,who loves my faith,I do get where you are coming from.Really I do.I guess I would be called a cafeteria catholic however.Lie it or not,right or wrong,I do take what I need and leave the rest but on Sundays,when I sit there,I feel peace.That a we now have a new kick ass priest.Real and honest and funny and spiritual and just what our parish needed.

    Let go of the guilt Elizabeth.You and the kids will find your way.

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  12. Elizabeth, I'm sorry to hear this! Thinking about this made me itch.

    Restrict the dog in the kitchen. De-flea the rest of the house--fleas are likely hatching in rugs and upholstery. Wish I could remember what noxious powder we used for that...as a cancer survivor, I hate chemicals too; my body doesn't need any encouragement to mutate. But fleas suck blood and carry disease...

    Take the dog to the vet for a dip. Nasty stuff but you've got to neutralize the eggs too. Ask when you need to come back for the follow-up. The alternative is to give the dog daily flea baths for at least two weeks.

    Write a story about this. It's high on the last-straw list.

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  13. Our 95 pound old Golden Retriever suddenly has fleas this summer in spite of that expensive "Frontline Plus" which we put on him.

    My husband bathed him in DAWN dish detergent last week (outside in the dog's wading pool) and the fleas literally fled. LOL! It works wonders. He washed him twice and left it on for a few minutes before rinsing and no more fleas.

    We had the fleas in the yard, though, and had to use poison to kill them. Some granular stuff we got at Wally World, but it got rid of them. (I also have ___ cats and trust me, if you've ever bathed a cat, you'll use anything to kill fleas in your yard!) LOL!

    Good luck. Blessings!

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  14. I fear we've got 'em too. Grace keeps stopping in her tracks and whipping her head around like she's been wolf whistled. She looks a little crazy. Truth be told, I feel the same way and I don't think I have fleas, just a lot going on in my head. There's supposed to be some sort of nematode that you can spray on your lawn to eat the flea eggs and stuff... perhaps ask at the nursery.

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  15. oh,
    good luck with this.
    knock on wood.

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  16. We had terrible trouble about three years ago and used the beneficial nematodes on our yard, then checked the dogs with a flea comb after walks.

    If the Dawn detergent works well for bathing, the nematodes would probably take care of the source, and they are natural and not a poison. They eat the flea larvae. They come on a sponge and you put it in water and spray on the lawn. Results in about 7-10 days, as I remember.

    We bought them from a local nursery, so you could call around your area. Or do a google search. But I would imagine California would be at the forefront of natural lawn/pest solutions, and you can probably find nematodes in your area.

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  17. I'm pretty sure it doesn't need to be Dawn dishwashing detergent. I think it has something to do with changing the surface tension of the water, so any soap or detergent should work.

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