hi there, i'm a new dog owner who just brought home my little one from the kennel a couple weeks ago. she had a few fleas but they seemed to have died off after a bath. however, she scratches incessantly! it drives me mad, i can't imagine what it might be doing to the poor thing! after reading about The Life Cycle of a Flea, i thought it a possibility that there might be some that are too small for me so i bought a pack of those squeazable portions of flea killer which i promptly applied. nowhere in the box does it have information regarding how long before the buggers start to die off but more than 36 hours later my little Peeps is still scratching like mad (and bitting her toes and tail too!)... i just read that someone was having problems with a dog allergic to dust mites but i live in the Algarve, Portugal, have no central heating and even in January I get to walk the dog in the sunshine... any wise advise please?

It does sound like fleas still - which sort of flea killer did you buy? A lot of ones from pet shops are not effective...the better ones you get from vets.

Or it could be some form of mite infestation - not sure what brands of flea treatment you can get over there, but the vet should be able to give you an all-in-one that treats for mites, lice and fleas.

You would also need to treat all their bedding with an appropriate killer/do a boil wash on it.

You would need to rule all these things out before worrying about an allergy...hopefully you wont need to go down that route as it is very difficult to pinpoint allergies as it could be to food, dust, pollen etc etc...

Hope you get it sorted!

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At this stage I wouldn't be worrying about allergies either. There are lots of reasons why your dog might be so itchy and the best advice would be to get your vet to check her over.

I hope that she's better soon - let us know how you get on!

Just thought of something. Get a nit comb or small tooth comb, stand the dog on a white sheet or white paper, comb through. If some little dark specks come out that look like dirt, get a piece of wet cotton wool and dab them. If they look like dried blood it is the faeces of the flea. They suck the animals blood and then excrete. This is what a vet told me to do when our cat had an irritation and we werent sure if it was fleas.

If you do this then you will know one way or another.

If its not fleas, then fish oil is very good for itchy skin.

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thanks a mill for your comments. the scratching is better now, i think the product just needed time to take effect. i bought it at a chemist and it's supposed to kill all sorts of unwanted creatures for 4 weeks. now, about washing all her bedding...she's taken possession of one of the chairs in the lounge! that's where she sleeps!!! when i first brought her home, i left her carrier with a blanket and that is where she slept...but she was so timid we couldn't get her out without forcing her to! so from there we went to just having the carrier out at night so she'd start socializing...she tried to take over the sofa but i wouldn't allow her so she found the chair. anyway, as a first time dog owner i'm loving it :-)

You can get a household spray for the chair and any carpets, rugs etc

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When treating fleas, it's not enough that you just treat those fleas that infected your dog, you need to treat the entire surroundings also.

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Agility Equipment:: Wireless Pet Fence::Underground Fences

WAIT -
U just treated the dog TWICE, U cannot safely treat the house, too!
good G**, these are POISONS -- don;t U grasp that?

U have to STOP for awhile, and let the dog recover from one exposure -
U have bathed the dog in one flea-killer, and squirted another on their skin; now U are going to BOMB the house??!

not only are U exposing YOURSELF and family to repeated poisons, but the *dog* who is much smaller than a human, can ** die **.
toxicity is a reflection of SIZE - what may not kill us, can make us very ill.
what can make a human very ill may KILL a dog who is not 180# with a matching liver-size!
there are NON-toxic means of controlling fleas and other parasites - i would strongly suggest that U investigate them. vacuuming the crevices + upholstery every 10-days with extreme attention to detail, then bagging + FREEZING the vacuum-bag + discarding it, is one; diatomaceous-earth to dessicate flea-larvae in the house is another; bathing the dog in a NON-toxic ordinary shampoo and letting the lather drown the fleas (takes 5-mins minimum of standing un-rinsed + soaped) is a 3rd; NEMATODES in the yard to eat the flea larvae is a 4th.

please quit poisoning the poor dog with a succession of nasty chemicals, unless U want to bury the poor creature shortly after acquiring the dog.

best regards,
--- terry

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terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007

I would suggest you go to the Vets, Advocate is my number one choice of Flea treatment, Frontline if pushed and in a hurry. Bob Martins, no. However if these are not working there may be an underlying issue that the vet can determine with a simple skin test. I know my dog suffered badly with biting/itching in the summer, we were back and forth the vets no end of times. It was horrible seeing him that way. The only thing that worked were steroids.

I agree that repeated use of pesticides is dangerous, but where did it say she treated the dog twice Terry, or did I miss something.

Also, when I had cats I treated them with Frontline (drops) and treated the house, as directed by the vet. I tried natural means in the house: borax and salt,vacuuming, essential oils, etc., but there were still survivors biting our ankles, so I had to buy a spray for the carpets too.

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