Old & New Problem with Muffin such as....

[ROSITA DENNIS]

I've been busy lately, that's why I haven't visited our forum. Now my problem is getting bigger and I am getting frustrated and miserable. Since I got Muffin from the breeder, (7years old retired breeding machine) she's been infested with fleas. I have been going to the Vet. for topical flea medicine, it was gone for a week, but back again..on and on and on. The Vet staff know me now very well because of this on going progressive problem. Last Tuesday, I asked for Revolution to see if it's better than Advantage. I applied it to her last night. Today, I caught 6 ctive fleas plus several eggs. Nothing works would you say. I took her outside our house and combed it with flea comb to remove the eggs. Our dther dog and the cat has that now too.The Vet says fleas keep coming back because they are in our house but we vacuum our house 2x/week plus Wet vacuuming. Did you have the same problem? What did you do? I never had this problem before when I had my other dog for 10 years that I put down.
The other problem I now have with Muffin is that she started scraping the dry wall. A part of the dry wall is scraped hard and her teeth and beard was full of dry wall stuff. Please ..any suggestions! I am so miserable as I love her to death now and I don't know what to do. Any suggestion will be appreciated. Thanks!

[diva pup]

If possible you may need to bomb your house. If that is not possible buy Borax and sprinkle it on your carpet, sweep it down into the fibers and vacum 24-48 hrs later.
You need to keep all your pets on whatever topical you are using and see if your vet will give you the pill to kill all the existing fleas on your pets.

I do not know what to tell you about the drywall, try Bitter Apple and see if that works.

Good Luck!

[Patti]

When I lived in the pet building of an apartment complex, this was before they came out with all these newer flea products, I would have to take Zorro, my Yorkie back then, to the groomers for the day and bomb the house with a flea defogger. Just put her toys, bowls and any of your food items in cabinets and set off several bombs/ I found one that really worked first time I think it was Xertol or something like that. I think you have to treat your house to get rid of a severe infestation. Good luck.

[shadream]

years ago, I was raising persians and himilayans and I had a cat bring them in, you can well imagine the flea mess I had with about 10 long haired cats, the only way I found to get rid of them was to bomb the house, one bomb on each floor, else you can get rid of fleas on pet but the eggs are still in your house waiting to reinfest, I would also keep all pets on flea preventive all year round. I do keep all mine on flea preventive and have not had fleas in over 25 yrs.
For the wall I agree with the previous post there too, bitter apple, also she may be missing something in her diet or be bored. Try walking her more or playing with her more so she will get tired and maybe leave the wall alone, or put her in another room if you can't watch her, away from her wall.

God bless and consider yourself hugged, I have been there and it can be quite a battle but it can be won.

[DianaB]

I've read that if you take clear deodorant and rub it on the wall that will take care of her chewing on the wall. I haven't tried it because Reuger isn't a chewer but I've read of several others who tried it and said that it worked.

[ChestersMom]

Okay, here's my two cents' worth. First, get Frontline Plus. I've tried Advantage and Revolution - not impressed. Frontline Plus kills the fleas and the eggs. Second, go to the hardware store and get a bottle of Boric Acid (that's the basis of a lot of flea killers anyway and you're not paying for the fancy label or the perfume). Sprinkle it on your carpet, heavily (I use a coffee can with holes poked in it); you might want to send the babies somewhere else for a few days (after the Frontline treatment). Let the Boric acid sit for 24-48 hours and then vacuum it up. Empty the vacuum cleaner - IMMEDIATELY. That's part of the problem. Fleas get in the vacuum bag and multiply. When you vacuum, they get right back into the carpet. For the next few vacuums, remove and dispose of the bag after each use.

I used to do some repair work on homes and condos after people had moved out. If it was infested with fleas, it worked every time.

Good luck!

[SnowWa]

Usually - it's the warmer climates that have continuous flea problems - and the colder climates (with freezing winters) have few.

I would think that with the severe problems that you are having that you need a professional exterminator visiting your house (this is what all of us had to do in California - we had a monthly visit by a professional. We had the outside and inside of our house sprayed. And - this kept the flea problem down markedly.)

So - it's a two-fold problem. You need to treat your pet - and you need to treat the pet's environment.

Good luck! I do empathize with you. Because when I lived in California - it was a real and terrible problem.

Good luck! Carol Jean

[ROSITA DENNIS]

Thank you so much for your very good suggestions! Our Vet has been suggesting that we have to bomb our house. My husband was so reluctant as he said there were no fleas in our house as you cannot see them jumping up and down the floor. Anyway, I forwarded him all your suggestions and he finally decided to bomb our house last Saturday. I didn't realize that it indeed involved a lot of work. I had to empty all our clothes and towels into our Trail Manor that we opened in our backyard. Then, we put our pets in there. My husband applied flea killer on our cat and his dog after it's bath. My Yorkie had this topical Revolution since Tuesday(19th) All day Sat., I was beat removing clothes etc. out of the house and back, includding some staff that are delicate. I finished putting away things today Sunday includding washing all the dishes and pans etc. It was a lot of work and we'll see if it's all worthwhile. Thanks again everybody and I will give you an update about the success.

[Monday]

Many years ago I had a husky ... took him to the groomer for a bath and asked him if there was a wart on his snoot... turned out it was a tick ... had to fumigate my parents' house and my car as well .... it never returned ... good luck

[JiggityJig]

Omigosh, after all that work, I hope that works for you!

If not, I second this solution:

buy Borax and sprinkle it on your carpet, sweep it down into the fibers and vacum 24-48 hrs later.

We have other animals that would be very difficult for us to remove from the house in order to bomb, and we have really struggled with fleas in the past. We tried many things--THIS WORKS!!! And is safe to do while the animals are still in the house....it just might dry out your feet if you walk around barefoot, is all!

GOOD LUCK. I definitely feel for you!

[ROSITA DENNIS]

It took me a while to update you about ou flea problem. I had a lot of things going on about my mother, so before I go home to the Phils. to visit my mother, I want to give you an update. I told you that we bombed our house, then all ou pets had a topical flea medicine includding the cat. She is an indoor cat, so it might have jumped from the 2 dogs. Still I was so frustrated because I was still catching fleas although Muffin had revolution. Our Vet doesn't carry Front Line.We continue on killing fleas by using powder flea killer you can get at Pet Store and also spray which I did at night when we are all upstairs for bed. I bought this flea comb and believe it or not, I combed the fur of 2 dogs and the cat every single day. It was just Muffin I've been catchng 1-2 fleas everyday. I decided I would take her to the groomer and cut her hair really short and see if that will help not to catch fleas as I realize that she must be catching them from the grass when we go for a walk. You know, when they need to go, they will jump into the grass and do their little business and the Vet told me that fleas are really bad this summer and Fall here in Grand Rapids as we had a warmer winter last year and so fleas were still out there multipying. He told me that they even ran out of Topical Flea medicine as owners are buying it like crazy. Anyway, to make my story short, Muffin got a very very short hair cut close to the skin. Its more than a week now since she had this very short hair cut and since that day I still continue to comb her hair with the flea comb..guess what I haven't caught any fleas yet. Thank goodness. Iam so happy about it. I also read that suggestion from Sharda Baker, the Yorkie Book Writer. It is cold here now and Muffin wears her sweater when we go for a walk. Iam so relieved but I won't let the fleas get away again. I still try to catch fleas everyday using flea comb to make sure she's flea free everyday.

[Mom2Max]

i had this same problem as well. we had taken sampson our boston down to alabama and my step dads outdoor cat apparently had fleas, jumped onto sam, we then got max, and of course it was one huge cycle. we use the frontline PLUS it works much better b/c it kills the eggs. also, we had to use the borax on the carpet and i always emptied the canister outside in the trash after every use. then we bombed the house... all seemed well inside but it seemed the dogs still had a few here and there.. well my vet said that they were probably in the yard! so my husband got some stuff to treat the yard ( will have to get the name of that ) anyway, fleas can live anywhere, and on any animal, imagine strays around or anything. so they are all in the grass. so since all that work, and then doing the yard, we havent seen a flea since!! i still use the frontline plus, and i vacuum with the borax everytime, just in case. also borax gets rid of any odors, smoke, pet smell, just musty like closed up house smell, so its good for almost anything. glad you havent seen any sense then, but when it gets warm once again, you may want to treat your yard as well!

[Monday]

Originally Posted by ROSITA DENNIS

Muffin got a very very short hair cut close to the skin. Its more than a week now since she had this very short hair cut and since that day I still continue to comb her hair with the flea comb..guess what I haven't caught any fleas yet.

wow! That just convinces me to keep giving Monday a puppy cut ... I am so glad you "fixed" the problem ... that can be so costly ... and now you can hug your babies again and not worry about fleas. Good Work!
Debbie

[CardsGrl]

one thing u can do for ur yard hun that will help and ive used it it is good is by a good trazadone yard pellets and trest ur yard every 6 months and that will kill them also u will want to do it and try to do it just before a rain so it soaks in and dont let the little ones on it til a couple of days after the rain...

[Mom2Max]

TRAZADONE thats what it was LOL thanks.. me and hubby were racking our brains tonight as to what he treated the yard with.. it really did help. and we will do the same next year right before it gets warm, and then again about 4-6 months later!