Lots of FLEAS!!

[DistrictNurse19]

During a head check for lice, I found 6 (big!) fleas in this little girls hair, along with "flea dirt". I captured a couple fleas and had a nearby veterinarian verify that indeed the insects are fleas. No evidence of head lice or nits were found. She was sent home for "live activity" but the vet told me the home must be badly infested for the fleas to be so numerous and comfortable living on a human head. The family cannot afford to treat their pet dogs or to "fumigate" the home to rid the fleas. Any suggestions??

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

Lots of baths, warm, soapy water and plenty of elbow grease! Fleas don't just breed on their hosts, they are equally at home in dust and dirty carpets.

There is clearly a hygiene problem in the home, so it might be possible for the local environmental health officers to get involved.

[sharpeimom]

do they have a vacuum cleaner or even a shop vac? the dollar store sells flea collars for about $2 apiece and they'd probably need 2 or 3, plus a package or two of cheap sweeper bags. total: about $20.00 or so. about equal to 3 packs of cigarettes. cut a collar into 2" lengths and put a couple in a new sweeper bag and put onto the sweeper and vacuum thoroughly 2x per day for about a month. change the bag every couple of days and replace with a new one. store the collar pieces up away where younger kids can't get them in a ziplock bag.

add a shake of garlic powder to the cat food or a small dog's food and more to a large dog's food. onion is poisonous to dogs and cats but garlic isn't. fleas hate it. add up to a tsp. of yeast to cat food or for a small dog and up to a tbl. for a big dog. you may have to work up to that much, but fleas hate the taste.

those suggestions came from our wonderful vet. he also suggested calling a local vet and/or shelter and seeing what ideas/help they could provide.

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

That's a good idea! Many animal welfare organizations provide dips-in fact one of our local ones has a large trough of ready-made-up dip which is prepared fresh daily.

The OP mentioned flea dirt; what she probably saw was flea eggs. Poor baby, I wonder how often her hair gets washed?

[sharpeimom]

our friend the v-e-t (we have to spell that horrible word around two of our cats) just called back.

he suggested bathing the pets with dawn dishwashing detergent plus adding a few drops of dawn

to the kids' shampoo after it's poured out into the hand. it has to be dawn.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

I live in the country and had a horrible flea infestation last summer. We spent probably $300 on products for the pets, home, outdoors, etc. Nothing worked until we gave the dogs the oral pill Comfortis. With a couple days the fleas were gone and diligent vaccuming kept the newly hatched ones from reinfesting our home. Not that this particular family can afford this, but wanted to throw it out there.

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

What precisely is Comfortis? I live in South Africa, and the only oral treatment I know of is Program. That one works by causing the fleas to become sterile, so with regular treatment it's supposed to eventually get rid of the fleas; I don't know of any that gets rid of them so quickly...

Kathy, I googled Dawn...sadly, this is also not available locally. Although Procter & Gamble have branches here, they focus solely on hair care, personal hygiene and beauty products. I did, however, make a note of their customer care number, so maybe I can persuade them to try marketing Dawn here. I don't know of any locally made dishwashing liquids that kill fleas, although one in particular is excellent for cleaning grease marks.

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

Comfortis is an oral product for dogs only (not approved for cats) that kills fleas pretty much instantly, or at least within 24 hours. It is available in the US only by Veterinarian. I can't recall all my research on it, but it works very differently from something like Program. It is relatively new and there are many naysayers, but it was literally the only thing that worked for me.

As a side note, I only used it for one month and the fleas never same back. I still have a second month's worth that I bought and never had to use...saving that up for this summer, lol.

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

Got a manufacturer name for me? Summer's here and with it come the sand fleas... Someone once told me the damn things are indigenous to Cape Town, lol!

[Purple_Scrubs, BSN, RN]

Here's their website http://www.comfortis4dogs.com/

[sharpeimom]

we use advantage plus on the dog and the cat version on the cats. our two smaller weight/size cats still get the kitten version. they can't have the cat version unless they weigh at least 10 pounds or 4.535 kg.

artie (king arthur, knight of the roundtable) only weighs 4.5 pounds (2.041 kg.) at 16 months and baby

( who came named) weighs 5 pounds even. baby is structurally tiny, but artie was rescued from a crackhouse where they also cooked meth, and our vet thinks that stunted artie's growth. abby gets the kitten version because she's still a kitten. the advantage plus kills fleas, ticks, heartworm and comes with stickers to put on your calendar to serve as reminders to remind you to do it again next month. our cats are indoor only but the dog goes outside. he gets advantage plus for dogs plus a heartworm chewie

monthly.

the dawn isn't a flea preventer but our vet said it will make the coat or your head "an inhospitable and

unwelcoming place to live" and make them want to leave.

when i spoke to our vet about this thread, he reminded me of something i already knew. if flea/lice

tx will use up what would otherwise be their cigarette and beer money, most likely the "tiny livestock"

will flourish.

i wish i knew what the answer is but i don't. if i had a simple cheap solution, i'd make a million bucks.