I live in a small apartment with an Australian Cattle Dog and the poor guy has fleas.  I don't know if they came with the apartment, or came with the dog, or he picked them up sometime after we moved in.

Fleas suck, the dog is itching all the time, and they've found their way into my bed so I wake up every morning with a couple new bites.


I tried bathing him in flea shampoo, I followed the directions- lathered the dog up and let it sit for 10 minutes, then rinsed.  He still had fleas.  I tried a topical flea treatment, this helped for about a week and then the fleas came back.  He is now wearing a flea collar that said it kills fleas in as short as 24 hours, and lasts for several months.  He's still scratching a couple days later.

I've been washing my bedding in hot water every 3 days or so.  I've applied carpet powder in the one room that is carpeted and I vacuum the carpet and couch once a week.

I've been doing this for 5 weeks now, and I still can't manage to get rid of the fleas.  I think the dog might be picking them up outside and bringing new fleas into the apartment.



What can I do to end this infestation?  Would shaving the dog help with getting the fleas off of him?  I think after I get the fleas off the dog I can curb the infestation in the house.

Food grade diatomaceous earth. Use like a powder on your dog, and sprinkle it on your carpets, under couches, etc. Vacuum it up after a few days and do it again.

If you want to see how bad your infestation is, set a small plate of water and a bit of dish soap on the floor, with a bright light pointing at the plate. Let it sit overnight and count the dead fleas.

DE works on my bulldog when she gets her annual flea infestation.

Go to walmart and buy a 3 month supply of pet armor.  It will kill all the fleas eventually as they jump on him and bite him. You should be using the stuff on him anyway. All dogs are going to pick up fleas.

Are you confirmed its fleas and not bed bugs? Are you getting bit too?

Flea thread 1

Flea thread 2

I'm a big fan of comfortis; alot of the OTC meds are sketchy and you often get what you pay for.  I can not count how many times people come in with stories of countless dollars spent and hours spent in attempts to "skimp" on quality flea preventatives only to spend more on bathing, collars, and sub-par products.

Cschelk2 DVM

Baking soda and table salt applied liberally to carpets, sofas, bedding. let sit as long as you can. kills the eggs so they don't keep rehatching/reinfesting.

I am getting bit too.  I haven't actually found any fleas or other bugs (like bedbugs) in my bedding. I wake up every morning to new bites, anywhere from 2-10 a night.  The dog definitely has fleas; I've pulled a few out of his fur.

I will try the diatomaceous earth, where can I buy it?  Can I put it on my couch?  I think my fabric couch is harboring some of the fleas as well.  Luckily most of my apartment is wood floored so there aren't too many places for the fleas to hide.

I put a topical flea treatment on the dog the second week of August, I don't remember the brand- the previous owner of the dog gave it to me when I adopted him.  I'll buy K9 advantix and try that next.

That's what I use. It works. They have it at Walmart now.

If I were you I would put the stuff on him and then set off a couple flea bombs in your place. DE works too but nothing gets rid of fleas in the house like flea bombs.

May be coming from an adjoining apartment...

Three flea threads in three months...mod's can we get a sticky?

Where do you get that stuff? I haven't seen it anywhere.

You can use Borax indoors.  It's cheap and can be found at WalMart or Kroger.  Sprinkle it on carpeting and let it sit for 24 hours.  Vacuum it up when you're done.
It dries out fleas and their eggs.  It won't harm couches or sofas either.

You can use Comfortis or Bravecto on your dog for the fleas it might be bringing in.

Frontline/Advantix, after a good bath. Wash all linens to remove eggs and vacuum/steam clean the floors to remove excess eggs. If it keeps up elevate to say, Sentinel to break the flea cycle.

Update:

I put the dog on a nitenpyram/lufenuron regimen and it worked great.  It took two doses of lufenuron about 2 days apart to get all the living fleas off of him, but no new ones have showed up in the past week.

I also put diatomaceous earth (food grade) on my carpet, and vacuumed all areas of the house and washed all linens.

The fleas are still in my bed.  I'm going to try vacuuming every day for a week, and if that doesn't work I'll flea bomb my apartment.

Yeah, that's good stuff. It's the only flea control I use. 9 dogs in the house on 145 acres. Spraying the yard is out. daily swimming in the cow pond washes off the topicals, I don't care what they claim. A bad infestation (my first in 30 years) last year was quickly controlled. This year a couple of shelter dogs that came to visit brought fleas. Each time a little of the flea killer and the flea controller brought quick resolution.