Question by Sidney C: Fleas on linoleum in bathroom – won’t die!?
We have two dogs, both under 10 lbs. They tend to get fleas pretty badly during the summer, even though they only go outside to do their business. Our oldest dog has now even developed a flea allergy and bites and scratches until he causes open wounds on his skin and loses fur! In the past couple of weeks they have gotten fleas badly again, and brought them into the house. We have carpet in all rooms except for kitchen and bathroom – we have no fleas in the kitchen, we no longer have them on the carpet (as we vacuum frequently and have sprayed the carpet), but they have invaded the bathroom and WILL NOT DIE. The bathroom is linoleum, and very small! I thought there was no way for them to continue living on it, but they have proved me wrong. I have sprayed twice with two different flea sprays (that worked on the rest of the floors), washed the bathroom rugs several times and tried removing them for a while, vacuumed around all edges of the bathroom, and have steam mopped twice. Today we even flea bombed the entire house, in hopes that we would finally solve the problem… it actually made the bathroom situation worse. I walked into the bathroom for the first time after bombing and had six on my foot at one time, when before the bombing it would be two on me at a time at most. What do we do?? My husband and I are expecting our first child in less than two months and we don’t want to be dealing with this any longer! Please help!!

Oh, and today we sprayed our yard (again) with a concentrated flea killer. We have also applied frontline to our smaller dog and Comfortis to our older dog about a week ago – they still have fleas. The meds have always done the job of killing their fleas before, but not this year!

Best answer:

Answer by Ajulutsikael
If the Frontline isn’t working switch to Advantage. I had this problem before and you have to just spray the yard, house and deal with the dogs.

If you’re going to vacuum, use Borax on the rugs, its usually very good. There is a barn spray that I used a while back when I had a huge infestation and it worked wonders. It’s called LD-44z. It works, trust me.
I used this spray while pregnant with no problems, I just didn’t breathe in.

Also, fleas can live up to a year without feeding.

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Question by Kelly: Dog Food Recommendations?
I have an 8 month old Jack Russell Chihuahua who has special needs when it comes to food. She was suffering from a bad intestinal illness when I got her and she has since recovered due to the persistent care of us and our vet.
To prevent any further illness, she must be on a high quality diet with no beef, wheat, soy, corn, and things like that. She has had chronic ear infections and itchy skin which may be due to food allergies.
I know I want to give her a holistic food like Wellness, EVO, Canidae, etc, not the crap from the supermarket. I know all about by-products and preservatives and do not want them in the food either. I was going to go with Wellness, but I heard that it can cause horrible diharrea and intestinal upset, but she cant handle that in her condition.
So, I would like recommendations on what brand I should feed her and what brand works best with your dog. Also, if youve had bad experiences with some of these holistic/high quality foods, let me know about that too
Usually raw diets are great for dogs because they have more bacteria and a shorter intestinal tract so salmonella and e. coli rarely if ever affect them. However, my dogs intestinal tract has already been compromised and vets are not sure if she could fight off such bacteria if she was ever exposed.
Again, home cooking is a great idea, but id be worried about meeting all her nutritional needs and balancing all the ingredients. I want to make sure she is getting all the nutrients and vitamins she needs.
I would really like a dry and canned brand I could buy that would suit her needs… any suggestions or things I should stay away from?

Best answer:

Answer by bettathang
My dog doesn’t have any special problems, but he did do well on Evo when we were feeidng kibble. Have you considered a raw diet? I know it has worked really well for some dogs with bowel problems, and you’ll definitely be sure of the ingredients going into your dog’s food.

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Question by Hate you too babe: Please help..?
I have a dog that has had really bad “allergies” in the past few years only in the summer.. His skin get real bad and his hair falls out… Ive tried everything and cant keep paying to go tot he vet every month.. Any suggestions. i do not wanna put him down…
Money is not a problem but i feel bad that my dog keeps getting these things done to him. Its almost like the vet does not know what he has and hes just giving him stuffthat does not help. i feel so bad fo him hes always itching..

Best answer:

Answer by cameochis
What are you feeding him? Food is one of the primary causes of allergies in dogs. Many dogs are allergic to corn, wheat, soy and even beef. If your dog is on a grain based food (a grain is the first ingredient on the bag), that may be the problem. There are several brands that are very good. Eagle Pack, Innova, Wellness and Canidae are all good brands.

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Question by twilightinsanity: my dog has a problem, need suggestions?
I will describe the symptoms, and the treatments so far…

Basically her symptoms consist of a super itchy stripe of skin that goes from her shoulder blades to her tail.
Also she burps a lot and throws up once or twice a week for no apparent reason, often in the morning when she first gets up.

I have tried at least 5 different kinds of allergy food, to no avail – actually, she puked more often while eating some of the brands of food (ie Wolf King)

Vetrinarians (she has seen 4 so far) all want to start a prednisone routine (a shot and then a couple months of pills) I wont allow this since she has very bad withdrawls from steroids. (she has three legs – her mother sat on her – and has been given way too many antibiotics and steroids in her life due to the surgeries to remove one leg and operate on another twice)
I am treating her with KetoChlor (clorohexidine and ketoconazole) shampoo incase of possible candidia overgrowth, after 4 baths in 5 days she is not changed
She’s a Lab/Collie mix BTW…

Vets usualy just try to sell me prednisone, or cortizone, or they try to sell me whatever type of food they advocate.
Food dosent seem to help, and the steroids are not healthy, and are a temporary solution.

When I bathe her she is not itchy untill she gets mostly dry again, then she’s itchy again.

I dunno what to do about this, and frankly neither do the podunk vets I have taken her to.

I feed her yougurt (2 tbsp day)

She has NO fleas.

ANY advice is appreciated.

Best answer:

Answer by spike
sounds like it has a mange or something . But with the pukeing your dog hasnt rolled in something and tried cleaning it off itself because it could be chemicals causeing it. tea tree shampoo is good for itchy coats i use it on our dogs they suffer with dry skin.

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Question by Betty: Adopting a dog with….?
food allergies….

We went to the local animal shelter last night and I fell in love with a shar pei yellow lab cross.

She has terrible allergies which we were told are caused by food. Her skin is red all over and she has little sores on her belly with some spots where hair is falling out.

Does anyone have experience with this and if we adopt her, what course of action should we take (she will have a vet check before we bring her home).

Best answer:

Answer by miaugh
A correct food choice can help, but Shar-Peis (and Shar-Pei mixes) are often plagued by skin issues. Your vet can help you with medications and certain shampoos to manage it. Good luck!

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_shar-pei.html

http://www.sharpeirescue.com/health.htm

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