Ok, with Tori (Koda)'s permission, I'm posting this here.

When I rescued Cinder, (The piebald) I also rescued a 7 yr old Great Dane. Her story totally pulled at my heart, and my girlfriend's, so we took her. She is a fully papered, AKC dane. She was born in NO, and was found by her owners, after going back, in the rubble of Katrina aftermath. She switched owners 3 times since then, and her last owner decided she was too old, and dumped her.

Here are some pics of her:








HERE IS THE ISSUE:

She is INFESTED with fleas. I have been bathing and soaking her for 2 hours already. I am going to take her to the vet first thing Monday, but I was wondering if anyone would know what I can do to help her feel more comfortable while she heals. She is itching and has sores all over her. I have been putting coconut oil on the sores, mixed with alittle antibiotic cream, but she just looks miserable.

For a flea infestation the way to go is Advantage, Frontline or any of the other kick ass flea killers. Organics might work but take longer and then you'll be fighting a battle of various flea cycles. (eggs, nits, adults)

Comfortis is worth its weight in gold to me. We got a really really bad infestation a few years ago and I tried everything with no luck. Bought a box of Comfortis and it worked like a charm. I bought the 6 dose box in 2010 and still have half of it left because I just don't need to use it. I haven't used anything for fleas since, but I keep it on hand just in case. You might wanna look into it, followed by some essential oils (lavender and cedarwood work for fleas, I think). Val knows tons about oils and will probably pop in somewhere :p

Myndi wrote:

Comfortis is worth its weight in gold to me. We got a really really bad infestation a few years ago and I tried everything with no luck. Bought a box of Comfortis and it worked like a charm. I bought the 6 dose box in 2010 and still have half of it left because I just don't need to use it. I haven't used anything for fleas since, but I keep it on hand just in case. You might wanna look into it, followed by some essential oils (lavender and cedarwood work for fleas, I think). Val knows tons about oils and will probably pop in somewhere :p

Comfortis didn't work on Kale. He started itching a ridiculous amount and I saw fleas crawling around his belly (and I am extremely consistent with flea control, to the day). And that's with spraying the yard with IGR. Comfortis and Trifexis are notorious for not working on some dogs and working great on others, Kale just turned out to be the unlucky one.

I'd go with Advantage, It kills the fleas 2x faster than Frontline Plus. But if you also have a tick problem, I'd go with Frontline since Advantage doesn't have anything in it for ticks.

Quote :

Comfortis didn't work on Kale. He started itching a ridiculous amount and I saw fleas crawling around his belly (and I am extremely consistent with flea control, to the day). And that's with spraying the yard with IGR. Comfortis and Trifexis are notorious for not working on some dogs and working great on others, Kale just turned out to be the unlucky one. Sad

I'd go with Advantage, It kills the fleas 2x faster than Frontline Plus. But if you also have a tick problem, I'd go with Frontline since Advantage doesn't have anything in it for ticks.

That's so strange! Maybe its because we live in such different areas, but I can hardly find anyone locally that can still use Frontline/Advantage with success. Everyone returns it lately. I've only heard from one person about Comfortis or Trifexis not having an effect on fleas and we sell a ton of it where I work at. I wonder if it could be a regional thing?

I'd start with a bath in Dawn dish soap (maybe followed by a medicated shampoo for the sores if your vet suggests such a thing?) and a dose of Capstar first, and then a good chemical flea/tick product such as Advantix or something similar. If you care to do oils in addition to that, it's entirely up to you. Have you determined the reason for the sores?

We use advantix in our house because there are alot of ticks around here.

Sura is flea and tick free.

I have used the oils on my dogs for about 3 months now, so I will be switching to those soon, but I couldn't use those to get rid of the eggs etc.

Dawn was the FIRST thing I used. I did a 2 hour bath of alternating dawn and a flea shampoo that my vet gave me. I don't remember the name, and I threw away the bottle,

I got Advantix and put it on her. This is the only time I will use chemicals, because it's a topical and I don't like the topical solutions. Comfortis didn't work on my dogs either, so I didn't even try to use it on Kizmit (that's her new name)

I think I got them all off, I don't see anymore, and I'd brushed her with a horse brush to make sure that there was nothing I missed.

I was really more concerned with the pain she was in from the fleas, and wondered if there was some kind of itch relief etc that I could give her BUT she is feeling fine it looks like now.


The advice here confirmed what I thought to do.

Thanks

You can also get an IGR or insect growth regulator to spray your yard and house. Its non insecticidal and is safe to use around pets and children. It would help the flea population that kizmit introduced decrease dramatically. Brand names that are trusted are Nylar and Archer.

ETA: you might be able to use some hydrocortisone spray that people use for athletes foot to help stop the itch and resuce some of the pain, as long as she doesn't lick it off. I used that on Kale when he had a hot spot a year and a half ago and it really help him leave it alone so it would heal.

While I understand the urgency to get the fleas off her and keep them off... Bathing a dog (especially in such strong shampoo such as flea/tick) would render the topical product essentially useless if applied directly after...

arooroomom wrote:

While I understand the urgency to get the fleas off her and keep them off... Bathing a dog (especially in such strong shampoo such as flea/tick) would render the topical product essentially useless if applied directly after...

The bathes were an hour prior to putting the advantix. I made sure that she was completely dry and had waited the recommended hour.

hypers987 wrote:

You can also get an IGR or insect growth regulator to spray your yard and house. Its non insecticidal and is safe to use around pets and children. It would help the flea population that kizmit introduced decrease dramatically. Brand names that are trusted are Nylar and Archer.

We just did this as well, but we used the ortho max spray that we have been using for a few years now. We just have to wait til it dries to let the dogs out.

I missed Val's portion about the sores:

The sores are because of her scratching and chewing, I'm supposing. The vet said it probably was too.

She seems to be acting a lot better, and not scratching so much.

Tiff&Kya wrote:

arooroomom wrote:

While I understand the urgency to get the fleas off her and keep them off... Bathing a dog (especially in such strong shampoo such as flea/tick) would render the topical product essentially useless if applied directly after...

The bathes were an hour prior to putting the advantix. I made sure that she was completely dry and had waited the recommended hour.

From my experience it's best to wait at least 24 hours but 48-72 is better... It disperses through the oils in the skin and if the bath has stripped that...

arooroomom wrote:

Tiff&Kya wrote:

arooroomom wrote:

While I understand the urgency to get the fleas off her and keep them off... Bathing a dog (especially in such strong shampoo such as flea/tick) would render the topical product essentially useless if applied directly after...

The bathes were an hour prior to putting the advantix. I made sure that she was completely dry and had waited the recommended hour.

From my experience it's best to wait at least 24 hours but 48-72 is better... It disperses through the oils in the skin and if the bath has stripped that...

I will probably reapply then, later in the week. I put it on mainly because I needed to get the rest of the fleas off that I couldn't with the bath.

I'll ask the vet on monday to make sure it is safe to reapply it.

ETA: I couldn't let her stay in the house until the fleas were gone, that's why I was in such a rush to get her cleaned up, and flea free.