Fleas!

[Pickles]

We just found out that my dog has fleas :eek:. He has never had them before, but it is likely that I brought them home from the SPCA where I volunteer with the dogs. We are doing our best to clean the house and will be getting our dog treated ASAP. But thinking now, can Pickles get fleas? The entire family has flea bites.. can she be affected to? If so how can we treat her. Also when disinfecting the house we will have to spray everything with flea-killer I'm assuming the fumes will not be good for her. But what can I do? Since every rrom must be sprayed its not like I can put her in a seperate area of the house.

Its basically like a kid with lice.. every single thing has to be bagged, and cleaned. It wont be a happy christmas here!

Any advice is needed. I truly have no idea what to do :(
Thank you so much in advance.

[chapala]

As far as I know, fleas don't like birds, so I think Pickles will be fine. But, you really need to get him out of your house if you're spraying pesticides. You could end up with a dead bird. Can you take him in a small travel cage to someone else's house for a couple of days?
Reta

[jodeg]

Years ago, before products like Sentinel came out (protects dogs from fleas and Heartworm), we had problems with fleas on our dogs.

Whenever we had to "bug bomb" or spray the house in any way, the birds I had then were completely removed from the house, cages and all, and taken to our neighbors for a couple of days.

Good luck! Fleas are a nasty problem and tough to get rid of! After Sentinel came out, all the dogs we've had since then have been on it and we haven't seen a single flea! It's expensive, about $10 a pill (once a month) around here, but for us, with 3 dogs, it's worth it!

[Phoenix-cry]

Rather than the pill I would suggest frontline or advantage in the future, it's cheaper and actually tends to work better since that pill only keeps fleas from reproduction through changing their hormone balance where as the topical stuff kills both fleas and ticks.

Bird definately needs to find a new place to be for a while!

[Pickles]

Thanks everyone :)
I called my vet just to make sure and she said Pickles should be safe from the fleas. Our dog (Shankly) is getting treated with Advantage in the morning. The vet told us spraying isn't crucial as long as we vacuum everything really well. So I think I'll do that. Pickles gets very stressed while sepereated from me, and she is growing all of her feathers back in from plucking a few weeks back and the last thing I want is a relapse. Does anyone know how long it typically takes to be rid of the fleas entirely? My dog has a doggy-friend, and I was wondering how long it will be until they can see eachother again.

[Phoenix-cry]

Advantage works in three to five days for a full kill. And your doggy friend should be on a topical flea treatment as well.

Good luck!

[jessief423]

My dog has gotten fleas off and on. I give him the chewable kind, not sure what brand and it seems to work for a few months. Fleas only get bad when they get in the yard or if you don't treat your dog. I use flea shampoo on my dog about once a month and that seems to take care of everything pretty well. You shouldn't need to spray your house if its not an "infestation".

[abird4u]

When we bought our house it was infested w/ fleas. It was hard finding a product that was "bird" safe. Our vet recommend Flea Busters. We put the Birds in the bathroom while they did the house. Took about 30-45 minutes for them to complete the house. They have a 1year guarantee of no fleas w/ money back or will redo house. They will even do you yard if its an outside problem.

[Pickles]

Well he's treated!
And the entire family is on a vacuum-spree.. almost every room has been cleaned out.
Phoenix-cry, even though he has had Advantage applied (at around 12:00 this morning) I found a live flee on my dogs ear about 6 hours later. Is that okay or has something gone wrong? The vet told us to keep him dry but my dad let him out into the backyard. We're in Canada so the snow is pretty deep! Do you think it will make a difference.

Also thanks for your info abird4u, its good to know there are bird-safe products if things get really bad.
:)