Wworm

... for the first time, and it was kinda stressful, to be quite honest.

Well, for all the heat waves everywhere (and i hope my palz in hot weather stay cool somehow), it's still rather cold out here for swimmin'. hi was 73. low was in the 50s. so call me crazy, but i'm not so in the mood for being in water and getting cold afterwards.

anyhoo... my playgroup palz and i have been afflicted by somethin' called fleeez for the past month, actually ever since my birfday partee. yikes. too much partying. we've been using frontline & advantix & flea shampoo and stuff. one day, we found 8 fleez on me!! my person was grossed out. plus, i feel a little bad because my person got 30, yep 30, flee bites from me.

we hadta do lotsa laundry & vaccuuming and it's gotten bettah (except my retriever friend recently had 50 fleez on him!) for me, but i still scratchin' lots. would love to hear ur flee eradication storeez.

anyway, my person has been thinkin' of takin' me swimmin' for awhile now. and with the flee, she got the bright idea of the swimmin' pool acting double as kinda a flee dip. maybe it'll kill at least the adult fleez on me. chlorine. might be good for killin' fleez. anybody try that? wonder if it works.

so.... we put the life jacket on. the pool is heated actually to 80something degrees, so felt like a baff. and my person didn't let go of me. we went swimmin for 20 min or so. later she held on to my chest and i doggie paddled with my hind legs.

yeah, so that's the report. i dunno if i like it much. i slept very well that nite. i dunno if i'll ever be like estha williamz here on anything like that. we'll see.
--your pal, Worm

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see what the Worm is up to: http://bassetworm.blogspot.com/

charady2

What works for us in regards to fleas-20 mule team borax. it is in the laundry soap aisle. this stuff: 20 Mule Team Borax

Anyway, sprinkle it heavily over every floor-and even on furniture/under cushions before going to bed at night. Then in the morning, vac/sweep it all up and take outside immediately. Supposedly it dries up the larva which will slow down your flea population, giving your meds a better chance of working.

We had an issue with our rottie one year-he wasn't really scratching, neither were the cats-but myself and my oldest son were covered in bites. Went and bought frontline for everyone. Then I took taz outside for about an hour or so (he loved it out there-and it was after kids were asleep) and sprinkled that stuff all over. Cleaned it up and the next day we weren't getting bites anymore. I have also left some under the couch cushions before too.

I have read online before that the same can be accomplished with salt-never tried it, but may be cheaper in the long run. A friend had moved out of her house, tore up old carpeting and was just doing some work in it. One day all was fine, the next day the place was infested. She flea bombed it-still pretty bad. We did the borax and all the sweeping/vac and it was tolerable at least (not sure how quickly they died off in that, but it was HORRIBLE-you could see the lil monsters jumping on you, icky!)

good luck! This stuff is usually about 4 bucks in my grocery store

jaleely

that's right! I have heard of the borax before, charady2! Salt won't work, it's a totally different compound, but you're right the borax will!
Also, frontline sucks in my opinion. The only one that's sorta worked is advantage...and the one that's worked 100% is advantix. HOWEVER...the last road trip Bowser, Daisy and I took we stopped at a friend's house, who has TONS of grass (like an acre) and many cats who only wear flea collars, and the next day we came home and Daisy had 3 live fleas, and Bowser had over 30 But they were both at the end of the month for the flea treatments too...but jeez some dogs just get it bad, poor babies!
Okay, so i know after a while chlorine kills lice, it might work for fleas!
Worm, i would love to take bowser in the pool! He's only been swimming once, in a little pond, and he hated it *lol*
But i do have a life jacket for him, maybe he could get some good exercise for those scrawny legs he has! (Bowser says "NO mama!!")

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Baby Bowsah's Bwog

paisleysmom

Wworrmmie-- ya swim? Good for you! You are soooo brave! Your not afraid of the monsters at the bottom of the lake??? Maybe pools don't have monsters. I'm afraid the fish will bite my toes.
Fleas -- yuck -- can't help ya there -- gots no fleas on me! Maybe you can get a bird to pick then off ya -- you know ya see pictures on National Geographic of animals with birds on their backs picking off the fleas. Maybe Annie will write in and tell ya what her Mommy does coz I remember that they had a problem with fleas too!
Heres to hoping the fleas don't like to swim --
Yours 4eva Pais

paisleysmom

OH NO!!!! just saw on the news -- they found a croc in a pool in Australia -- Wworrmmie WATCH OUT FOR YOUR TOES!!!!!!! Told ya there were monsters!!!

Annie714

Ugh...fleas. What a nightmare, huh Wormie? We had never had this problem til this year, or maybe it was just never this bad.

What we have tried this year:

1. Diatomaceous Earth, rubbed on both dogs fur, sprinkled around/near/in sleeping areas and on grass.
2. Brewer's Yeast with Garlic pills, given to both dogs with breakfast.
3. Avon Skin So Soft, mixed with water and sprayed on both dogs and brushed through to skin.
4. Malathion, sprayed in yard.
5. Frontline, applied to both dogs.
6. Baths with Essential Oil shampoo, more than the dogs would like me to mention.
7. Daily skin attention from me to check for fleas, hot spots, various other boo-boos.
8. Bedding washed in HOT water and constant vacuuming.

That's all I can think of right now...and we still have fleas. The DE is a short term help, the malathion is poison, the Brewer's Yeast doesn't do anything, the skin so soft makes them smell good as do the baths, the daily skin attention is probably their favorite, the Frontline only works for about 2.5-3 weeks....it really is a never-ending daily battle. No one else in the house has been bitten by fleas, I have maybe 4-6 bites at any given time. I am an alarmist when it comes to Annie...I see 7 fleas and get crazy when in reality, it could be much worse. The daily skin attention is because of that one hot spot last November, I hated it and hated that she had a boo boo. I like to keep right on top of anything she is paying too much attention to just to make sure nothing like that happens again.

It has been cooler and even rained last night, the fleas need to find a new home. It's frustrating, and gross, but it really does have to be dealt with each and every day just to keep the upper hand!

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Blog about the antics of Annie and I. http://thechickandthehound.blogspot.com

Boomer's Mom

Hey Worm, didya wear a speedo to go swimming in?

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Boomer: Born 4/18/2010
Biscuit: Rescued 1/26/12, approx. 2 yo

Chez Basset: Come for the kibble, stay for the belly rubs.

klm42005

Wwormy Phelps.....Great job on the swimming Mr..(I tried it once in Lake Erie..not a fan but I can swim)

As for Fleas, Ma says that they do make a pill you can get from the vet or 1800 pets that kills fleas instantly (almost 100%) but only works for 24 hrs...so combine that with advantix plus my vet recommends sentinel for heartworm and stops the adult flea cycle..hopefull these in combo should work...my older little brotha Victor (Mr. D) has fwee allergies so we has to be on tops of it and no itchies so far for hims

~happy swimmings my buddy Wworm and no more fleas on me...

Woody Hayes

Mikey T

FWIW there are two formulations of frontline, Frontline and Frountline plus

both contain fipronil which is a pesticide, there has be some document resistence to it is some South America cattle bugs but so far with extensive testing that is not the case so far with fleas That said Frontline and advantex in the various form both contain pesticides of some sort that have in some insect have appear to develop resistance to and what most people do not realize is they do not kill instanantly so it is very possible to kill fleas and still get bit and they take 24-48 hours after application to be effective.

They only kill adult fleas so constaant reinfection is possible unless using the plus version which also cotains a lifecycle growth inhibiter that effect eggs and larvae as well. Also this is a stratigicaly important as well to minimize the posibility of the fleas becoming resistant to the pesticides because the growth inhibitor prevents a flea that develops resistance from passing long the genetic for resistance.by killing them/

When people say any one of the major topical don't work it has been a case of not understand the lifecycle of the flea and the systemic nature that an infestation need to be teated including the house, yard beding etc. eggs that 30 day or more to hatch and are extremely resistant to pesticide and not other treatments so single treatment stratagies without preodicly well timed follow up rarely are effective.


Understanding Persistent and Recurrent Flea Problems

Flea Management Program

roscolaylamommy

We had a REALLY bad flea infestation one year before we had our hounds. All 5 of my cats got a really bad round of fleas. After various baths, flea treatments and vacuuming we still had fleas. The sad part is we had hard wood floors in every room except one. After several weeks of frustration I asked the vet what I should do. They recommended bug bombing the whole house. She said fleas and their larva can live just about anywhere including the crevices between the wall and the floor (like bed bugs). She said that if we didn't bug bomb to call an exterminator but that would be expensive. Good luck! I hope you get rid of them.