Dog Flea Allergies

Dog flea allergies can be a very painful experience for your dog. Our dog Molaki had wheat allergies from his food and flea allergies. It took us a while to come to those conclusions but when we did, he got his needed relief.

A dog scratching just seems to be a normal activity that people think is just natural. In our opinion it is more and more natural because the dogs these days are having more and more health issues. But that’s another subject.

When a flea needs to feed, it finds a host, such as a dog, and bites it. When the flea bites the dog, compounds in the flea saliva are released into the dogs skin. These compounds stimulate an allergic reaction. The result of this allergic reaction is extreme itchiness. Flea Allergy Dermatitis can occur in dogs as young as six months old, but may not appear until a dog is older than six or seven years.

When your dog is scratching abnormally, there are a few things to check in order to determine if it’s a dog flea allergy or something else. First, do you see any fleas on him? Might sound like an obvious statement but some dogs are harder to spot fleas than other. You can take a flea comb or just a small fine tooth comb and carefully comb his hair down to his skin. Notorious hide outs for fleas are going to be along the belly towards the rear end, and on the top side back by the rear end.

Carefully and slowly comb through the fur and look for fleas, red spots, tiny specs or anything out of place.

If you find any fleas then it’s time to get a flea treatment. If it's a dog flea allergy, you have several options at this point. You can take your dog to see a professional groomer where they will give them a flea bath. Give him/her a bath yourself with a good flea shampoo. Utilize a flea collar or give them a flea treatment.

Lets go over some of those options.

Professional groomer. This option allows you to be hands off the situation. Maybe you’re allergic as well, maybe you don’t want to deal with it or whatever the reason, they can help. We have a professional grooming facility in our shop and they commonly give flea baths. If your dog just picked up a couple of fleas somewhere, this is a good option. If the source is at home, you have more work to do. We’ll talk more about this later. Tell the groomer he might have a dog flea allergy. She can look for signs as well.

Home bath. Another good option if your dog is small. You can utilize your bath tub. Make sure to use a good dog flea shampoo that is made specifically for dogs. If you get it from a natural pet store, chances are you will be getting a good one. Most shampoos call for leaving the shampoo on for at least 5 minutes. This will help drown any fleas as well. If you have a large dog like us, you may have to take him outside on a nice day to bathe him. There are also self-washing places.

Flea collars. Another option for dog flea allergies that remain somewhat hands off. Applying a collar is usually no big deal. There effectiveness has come more and more in question however. There are natural collars that don’t use any harsh chemicals. These are fine for minor issues but like most herbal type flea products, their potency is less than those made with chemicals.

Flea treatments. You’ve heard and seen many of the flea treatment commercials. If you have a dog flea allergy, they sound wonderful and can help some dogs if used properly. Our belief is that you only use the treatment when it is needed. Sounds funny saying that but we’ve seen many people who give it to there dogs every month. We believe this can and usually do cause problems sooner or later.

You can’t keep applying harsh chemicals on your dog without some type of consequences. There have been many good arguments on which product are best. I believe there is no one product that works well for every dog. Every dog has the ability to act differently when these chemicals are applied.

There are natural applications you can put on your dog that don’t contain the chemicals. They typically use alcohol as a base to get into your dogs skin. We sell one product that uses cloves as its main ingredient to combat fleas. It’s a strong smell the clove but is less harmful to your dog.

If your dog has flea allergies, we found it best to attack with the stronger flea applications to control them fastest. If you’re just trying to control a few fleas, some of the natural ones will probably do.

Other than seeing fleas you can look for signs of fleas such as red bumps, scabs or redness of the skin. You may also find flea feces or what's its more commonly called flea dirt. You may never find a flea and your dog may still be allergic. It only takes a couple of fleas to cause a reaction.

Controlling the fleas on your dog is just one part. He obviously picked up those fleas from somewhere. If you know where (like someone else's house, vets office, groomer ) and caught it soon enough you might get by with just treating him. If not, you’re going to need to treat his bedding and/or carpet where he roams. To be safe, this is normally suggested.

You need to get to the heart of the problem. Fleas can leave their eggs anywhere. You must control the eggs as well as the fleas themselves.

What we found works the best for around the home on carpets or bedding is boraxo. Just the plain old boraxo laundry cleaner seems to kill fleas and their eggs. We sprinkle it around on the carpet, place a sheet over the application area and leave for 24 hours. We place the sheet over the area so our dogs can still run around without disturbing the powder and/or getting it on their feet.

Vacuum it up and continue vacuuming every day for a while. You need to do this to continue picking up the eggs.

We’ve had very good luck using this method. With all our dogs and cats, we’ve done it a few times.

There are of course sprays you can get for our house as well. Or lastly, use a bug bomb.

Don't forget outside as well. If they are getting them from outside in the yard and bringing them in, you will need to treat that area as well. If your dog roams free through a wooded area, there may not be much you can do for areas coverage.

Dog flea allergies left untreated can cause very serious problems. We’ve seen dogs that looked like half their skin was raw. Immediate treatment for any such abnormal scratching helps get a jump on whatever is causing it.

Keeping a healthy immune system helps fight off everything your dog may go through. Start by seeing our page on Healthy Dog Food for a place to start.

We have teamed up with National Pet Pharmacy for your convenience of ordering products online. They have great prices on flea treatment products. Many items ship free and they price match.

Click on one of the ads below and save on your first order. It's hard to beat their prices and you can search by type or pets condition.