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A flea is a wingless creature that depends on a host animal’s body and survives by drinking its blood. But what if you find one flea on your dog? It’s normal for you to see a flea on your pup’s body but that shouldn’t be ignored at all. Because you might have heard that a flea survives a few months but they can lay hundreds and even thousands of eggs in their lifespan. It doesn’t take much time for one flea to breed and multiply to many.
I Found One Flea On My Dog What Should I Do?
You can take some mild soap added lukewarm water and use it to remove the flea from his body. But you need to always remember one thing, that is, as soon as you notice only one flea on your dog, you should immediately take steps to kill them. Because the flea can breed and multiply themselves in a very short time. As soon as you have seen a flea in your dog’s body, it’s better than you contact your vet immediately. He will give some medicines or drugs capable of killing adult fleas. And you have to deal with the little ones by using flea removal dog shampoo. When you’ve found one flea in your dog, you can take the following immediate measures:
- Firstly, you need a tweezer that will help you to detect fleas in your dog’s body. While checking the whole body, you should also look if there are any ticks available there or not.
- After that, you need to use a flea and tick removal shampoo over your dog. This shampoo will kill all possible fleas and ticks (if any) survival in your dog’s body.
- Then you again need to thoroughly check your dog’s body if there are still fleas surviving in his fur.
- If not, then for a permanent solution to this problem, you can start using a flea and tick collar like the Seresto collar which acts as a flea treatment.
- You can also have a try of the flea removal medications like Simparica TRIO (which is a chewable tablet), Bravecto flea removal chews, Nexgard chewable, and more. In this regard, you should keep the floor of selecting medications open for the Vet.
- But if you notice that the fleas are still crawling in your dog’s body, you surely need to consult your Vet. Before your dog loses all of his body nutrition, your vet needs to prescribe him reliable drugs.
I Got A Flea On My Furry Kid, But Later On, I Saw No More
Discovering a flea can seem just like a minor problem to you. But it requires immediate action. Fleas are known for their rapid reproduction ability and infestation potential. Although you have spotted just one flea, you have to take immediate action to prevent the chance of further problems. You have to search the places like your dog’s fur, its bed, and the surrounding areas in the hope of finding any sight of additional fleas or their eggs. One flea can be a sign of a hidden larger underlying issue, which can turn into a full-blown infestation later on. Even if you find only one flea on your dog but no more later on, it still requires treatment. You should treat your dog with veterinarian-approved treatments, like Frontline Plus, Simparica Trio, and K-9 Advantix for fleas, and protect your dog against future hitchhikers. To remove the remaining parasites or eggs, you can do regular grooming, along with regular cleaning of the living places. Recall that the security and confines of your furry buddy come first. Even one flea is enough to cause irritations, discomfort, flea allergy, dermatitis, etc. So you have to take action as fast as possible upon sighting one flea in order to give no chance to any possible upcoming worst-case scenarios for your dog.
Why Are Fleas Dangerous To My Dog?
In dogs, a flea can put intensive negative impacts. As they are blood-sucking insects, they can cause a lot of internal issues to your dog. Again, some dogs have allergies to flea which may result in each bite of the flea turning into an inflammation. The flea eggs intend to drop off the animal’s body. And so you’ll find eggs in cloths or on other different corners of your house. Though they don’t survive on the human body, they may sometimes bite you causing unpleasant irritations.
How Can I Know That My Dog Has Flea?
First, you saw a flea in your dog’s body which is more prior to breeding. Some symptoms that your dog has become prey to flea are:
- Dog is having vigorous irritation, itching, and scratching all over the body
- Your dog will be seen biting and chewing his skin
- Loss of hair can also be a symptom that flea is breeding in your dog’s body
- Inflammation, red or irritated skin, scabs can be symptoms of the flea as well
- Flea dirt is black-colored specks that turn into a red-brown structure when sprinkled with water. If you find flea dirt in your dog’s body, it’s a symptom as well.
- If you see flea egg or white-colored rice like structure also known as a tapeworm in the sitting place of your dog, it can be a symptom of your dog’s developing flea.
How To Treat My Dog From Flea?
The flea is most common to attack your fur baby in the summer time. So when you notice only one flea, you should take him to the vet before the condition becomes worse. Your vet may prescribe some pills able to kill the adult flea in his body. Moreover, besides the flea treatment, you can also use special shampoos and conditions for controlling flea and tick.
How Can Flea Be Prevented At Home?
Usually, flea treatments are allocated for dogs. But if still, flea breeds in your dog’s body, you need to know that the treatment is no more acting in your dog’s body. So, your house also needs to be treated along with your dog. Flea and tick sprays for both inside house and garden or outside are available in the market. Moreover, if the previous flea treatment isn’t working, you need to get a new one. Moreover, you need to be concerned that the flea can’t deal with excessive heat. If you steam vacuum the carpet or the place when your fur babysits, you’ll be probably able to kill all those fleas along with their eggs lying there.
Essential Steps To Control Flea At Home
Noticing a flea in your home or in your fur baby’s body is common as a dog owner. But this one flea shouldn’t be ignored at all. You need to take essential initiatives to control them in your home. Some steps are mentioned as follows:
# Tropical and Oral Flea Control
Tropical and oral Flea Control includes the use of various flea and tick treatments and pills. Some of these treatments target adult fleas whereas others eggs, and larvae. However, the use of these treatments depends on the prescription of the Vet.
# Prescribed Flea Control Medications
Prescribed flea control medications for dogs include flea treatments like Frontline, Bravecto, etc and they are quite effective in controlling flea. Bravecto starts its flea-killing process within two hours and continues till 3 months. And the most renowned prescription for controlling flea and tick in dogs is the Seresto collar.
# Non-Prescribed Flea Control Medications
Non-prescribed flea control medications designed for dogs refer to those medications which aren’t prescribed or suggested by vets. But they are able to fulfill their task easily. An example of non-prescribed medication includes Capstar which is able to kill more than 90 percent of flea within 4 hours. And begins to work within 30 minutes.
# Dog flea and tick control shampoos
Among the flea and tick control shampoos, you’ll find a lot of options like Adams plus flea control shampoo. Moreover, home ingredients like garlic, lemon spray, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, and chrysanthemum can also act effectively in this regard. But, tea tree oils are highly toxic to dogs and so you need to be conscious of not applying them to your fur baby.
Wrapping It Up
If you have seen a single flea in your dog’s body, you need not be nervous because these insects are common in dogs. Instead of being nervous, you should take steps to prevent the further breeding of this insect. If you don’t start killing this flea within perfect time, you’ll find them getting millions by multiplying. One more thing, that precaution is way much better than that of cure. If possible, keep on checking your dog’s body by a flea comb in order to ensure if your flea treatment is working or not.
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