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Itching!!
Recently my dog developed and itch on the upper part of her belly, when she stands up its almost as is she feels something biting her and darts from the spot to get away, i found a couple fleas on her but then gave her a thurough flea bath and she has been getting the over the counter flea and tick killer/treater for the past 4 months, she has little blackish/brown specks on her belly but again i havent found maybe 4 fleas on her and i check her over everytime i get my hands on her, any ideas what this could be, its killing me to see her like this and not be able to do anything. please help!
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A good way to test if she has fleas is to put some water on the specks that you have found. A moist tissue will work. If it comes away stained red, it's fleas, as the specks are dried blood, flea poo!
If you have found four fleas on her, there are going to be quite a few more that you've not spotted. The person who said that the fleas will be in bedding, carpeting, etc is correct as fleas only go on an animal to feed, they live and breed in your soft furnishings. They can lay up to 50 eggs a day, so you can see, if you have even one flea, you have a problem!
Over the counter flea killers are not normally very effective as fleas build up a resistance to the ingredients quite quickly and so they become useless. Your vet should be able to recommend the best to get. There are also flea growth retardents, which stop the eggs from hatching. However, the problem with these is that as the incubation period can be rather long, (up to eight months), you would need to spray every couple of weeks to stop the problem, which could get expensive.
A natural way to get rid of them is to use salt. Sprinkling salt on your carpets etc will dry out the eggs so that they won't hatch. This would need to be done and vacuumed every three days for at least nine days as flea eggs hatch every three days. Nine days would take you through a fleas life cycle. As above though, the incubation period is very long so would need to be taken into account. I can't guarantee how effective salt would be but it does avoid chemicals and cost.
If your dog does have a flea allergy, one flea is all it takes. If it gets any worse with symptoms like licking herself into raw patches, scratching herself raw etc, she will need to see a vet as she then becomes at risk to secondary skin infections which will need antibiotic cream. Bath her regularly whilst dealing with the flea problem as this does get rid of some of the fleas and can sooth her skin. But the longer you leave the problem, the worse it is going to get.
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You need to see a vet. The over the counter medications for fleas and ticks are 9 times out of 10 no where near as strong as the ones you can get from a vet.
That being said the over the counter stuff MAY be working.....BUT it may not be working for your home. Yea killing the fleas on your dog is great but if she goes on her favorite bed or even in a different room of the house she'll be getting more fleas on her. You need to get her out of the house, take her to a groomer and tell them she needs a flea bath. While she's at the groomer get a flea product for your house. I'm not sure what works because I've never had this problem but consult your veterinarian. If you treat your house while she's being treated the problem should go away...
And if you aren't finding any more fleas there is still the possibility that she is having a reaction to it. Your best bet is to see the vet....or at the very least just give them a call and ask what they suggest.
Good luck I hope you can help your dog feel better. :)
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I could tell you to try scouring the internet for an answer but it may just be allergies to the treatment your using, did you think of that?
However unfortunately the safest answer is to go to the vet and check it out =/
Try using a different cream and maybe inquire the pet shop about the problem. Better to talk to a trained professional though, preferably if they could personally inspect the problem.
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