Itching! Advantage/Flea preventitive question

Food, Fitness and how to keep them healthy.

Postby StalkerBlueDog » November 28th, 2009, 10:46 am

So for the first time in 5 years I have itching in my house.

I left last weekend to a little minor every now and then itching and came back and Kaylee had itched all the hair off under her tail nub, her belly, and had bitten alot of the hair near her rump shorter. The sheltie crew is itching a little tiny bit, but nothing I probably would have noticed if Kaylee wasn't itching so bad.. and no hair loss from them..

though kaylee (an aussie) tends to be more of a drama queen about things then the shelties. I don't see any fleas (though 3 of the 4 are black dogs which makes it tougher to find them if they are there) and there is a little skin flaking on Kaylee's back side from the itching. The Aussie does have a less dense coat then the shelties which also could have something to do with it?

So I went and got some advantage from the vet thinking that that might be the first logical step to stopping the itching... Applied it before we left for Thanksgiving on Wed. My question is how long does it take to kick in.. I hit all 4 dogs with it just in case, and have one tube left over I can redo Kaylee with if need be..

The next option is to try to change food to see if it's a food allergy (there's rumors that our food formula might have recently been changed..) so I'm wondering how long it should take if it is indeed fleas that are plaquing the aussie.

Other question is is there another, less expensive flea preventitive that people are happy with?
Jill Rakin CPDT-KA
"DAWN" U-CH Canami's Age of Aquarius CD RE AX OAJ NF CGC/TDI (1/3 AXJ, 1/5 U-GRCH, MACH pt'd)
"KAYLEE" U-CH Canami's Protector of Serenity (AKC major Pt'd)
"LEIA" Sorella's Rebel Princess (UKC pt'd)
"LUKE"Canami Sorella's A New Hope RN
User avatar
StalkerBlueDog
My dog can kick your sheep's ass
 
Posts: 292
Location: Canandaigua NY

Postby Marinepits » November 28th, 2009, 11:13 am

StalkerBlueDog wrote:I left last weekend to a little minor every now and then itching and came back and Kaylee had itched all the hair off under her tail nub, her belly, and had bitten alot of the hair near her rump shorter. The sheltie crew is itching a little tiny bit, but nothing I probably would have noticed if Kaylee wasn't itching so bad.. and no hair loss from them..


Oooo, poor girl! Definitely sound like flea issues, given the areas she chewed up. :(

So I went and got some advantage ..... My question is how long does it take to kick in.


I think Advantage kills the fleas on contact and within a day they are supposed to die off completely (I don't use it but that's what I remember reading when we researched it for our crew). But, *if* the fleas are in your environment, they could be re-infesting the dogs for quite some time if the environment isn't treated too. However, Kaylee may just be uber-sensitive to the fleas and having a worse reaction than the others. If Mac gets even one flea bite he tears himself to shreds which is why we have to keep him on Frontline year round. :(

Other question is is there another, less expensive flea preventitive that people are happy with?


Given that you have Aussies/sheltie and have to be super-careful with Ivermectin/Heartguard type products, do you also have to be cautious with types of flea preventatives?
Never make someone a priority in your life when that someone treats you like an option.
User avatar
Marinepits
Proud Infidel
 
Posts: 15621
Location: New England

Postby plebayo » November 28th, 2009, 12:29 pm

Other question is is there another, less expensive flea preventitive that people are happy with?


Well Advantage is losing it's patent or something in 2010 and you will be able to find the ACTUAL product at Petco and Costco [or Sam's whatever you have] for much cheaper than your vet.

Also if you buy the large tubes you could split them up amongst your dogs, just check with your vet on the dosage. At the costco here the Frontline [which Merial has admitted to selling the product to them] is $39.99 for three tubes, regardless of the dog's weight.

I know there are natural alternatives to flea prevention but I haven't tried them. I mostly treat if I see a problem or if my dogs have been exposed to dogs who might have them. For your more sensitive one, probably year round would be best. I have a dog like that too.
Suzanne
Seth, CGC & LiLo
♥♥Sofie - Always in my heart. ♥♥
User avatar
plebayo
Mrs. Dr. Kildare
 
Posts: 943
Location: Oregon

Postby pocketpit » November 28th, 2009, 2:08 pm

I don't have a preference for any particular product but I too buy the large tubes and divide it among the dogs so I have to purchase less. Advantage, Frontline and Revolution are all the same strength product just packaged in different amounts for different sized animals. I have the exact amounts written down for each of those three brands if anyone wants to be precise in their dosing.
User avatar
pocketpit
Supremely Bully
 
Posts: 1201
Location: WA

Postby Malli » November 28th, 2009, 2:13 pm

advantage should kill fleas on contact or within 24 hrs on the dog.

BUT, if the dog is allergic, then the bites will continue to itch, whether or not the flea is around ;) (Keep in mind, if anyone gets bathed, it may wash off some or all of the advantage)
I can only please one person per day. Today is not your day, tomorrow doesn't look good either.
_______________________________________
"You didn't know of the magical powers of the break stick? It's up there with genies and Harry Potter as far as magic levels go." SisMorphine 01/07/07
User avatar
Malli
E-I-E-I-O!
 
Posts: 6341
Location: CANADA EH?

Postby Brownies Mom » November 28th, 2009, 5:24 pm

Funny you should ask. :mrgreen: A-Jay began licking at the base of his tail and scooting on the carpet shortly after we got him. He had just tested negative for parasites/worms, so we figured it was his anal glands. Within a day of having them emptied, he was back at it. :doh: We had the glands expressed again, and he went right back to the licking/scooting. :nono: The vet gave us a cream to try, :prescription: but its not something you could use long term and as soon as we stopped using it, he started up again. He was on an antibiotic at the same time, because of a foot wound, so I'm thinking that would have addressed any chronic bacterial skin infection. The liquid that came out when the anal glands were expressed was normal, and there does not seem to be any impaction or infection in the glands, and the vet felt no tumors.

I was wondering if this could be a food allergy, so I went to a book I have that I really like (Pet Lover's Guide to Natural Healing for Cats & Dogs, by Barbara Fougere), and under "Itchy Dogs" it says that "if the itching is at the base of the tail, it is nearly always caused by a flea allergy. If the itching involves the front half of the dog (e.g., ears, paws, and flanks), it is usually atopy, a food allergy or scabies mites." (note that she uses the phrase "nearly always" and "usually" - which I took to mean these are guidelines for trying to guess what the heck is going on, but not necessarily concrete assumptions). Interestingly, it notes that flea allergy is the most common allergic skin disease in dogs. The first recommendation in all the subsequent sections is "treat for fleas - whether you see them or not." How do you treat for fleas, though, if you've already been using flea preventative on the dog? :| It just doesn't seem to fit. I've flea combed the dogs, and they don't have fleas, and I'm 99.9% sure we don't have fleas in the house. He could easily have been bitten outside, which might have started something, but it has been going on for almost 2 months, and it seems to me like a reaction to a bite wouldn't last that long? So then I wondered if there might be some fungal or yeast thing going on that is causing the problem.

Whatever it is, the poor baby has rubbed himself raw, and he is actually getting sores on his bottom, so a couple of nights ago I brewed some green tea, and have been holding soaked gauze pads over the area for a few minutes, 2 - 3 times a day. It seems to be working. :clap: He's not licking or scooting or bothering it, and its not red and the inflammation is gone. It seems like wishful thinking, :dance: but I'm hoping he just needed to stop aggravating it in order for it to start healing.

If we can't resolve it, it seems like the most logical next step is to try an elimination diet to determine if there are food allergies. The first time he went to the vet specifically for this issue, my husband took him, so I don't know if they did a skin scrape, but that might be worth trying, too.

Anyhow, sorry to hear about your particular situation, and I wanted to let you know about the green tea, in case it might help while you are working on a resolution.
Marianne
- A-Jay (APBT)
- Remy (English Setter mix)
User avatar
Brownies Mom
Just Whelped
 
Posts: 81


Return to Nutrition & Health

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users

cron