[fallen2grace]

I found some bugs on my dog this morning while scratching him down by his tail. (He can't reach there and is always biting himself.) I found one of these before while trimming his fur. But it was only one. They are really hard to get ahold of. They run fast and won't die.
I don't know what they are, but I googled fleas and this picture showed up.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll206/RemmiexChan/untitled-1.png

The one in the green circle. Except you can't see the legs on it. Can someone please tell me what it is?

[JudyKayTee]

How do you know they won't die? What have you tried on your dog?

[JudyKayTee]

If you "google" the over the counter flea medicine you will see how dangerous it can be.

Someone who knows a lot more than me will be along soon - I'll see if I can get someone to answer you.

It might be fleas (and there's never just one) but my experience is that they don't run, they jump.

- Off to find an expert for you.

(I don't know how old you are but you refer to your mom - you write very well, explain things clearly.)

[Catsmine]

From the Pest Control forum:

Flea Biology 101 - Fleas pupate inside a cocoon just like a moth or butterfly. They do not leave that protected cocoon until it's time to get the blood meal they need to breed and lay eggs. Bombs, sprays, powders, etc. cannot penetrate those cocoons. You need to get the flea to hatch itself out so it can be affected by the pesticide.

Research has shown that there are three main factors in getting the adult flea to hatch out: temperature, humidity, and the vibration or pressure from a potential blood source passing by. As far as temperature and humidity go, guess who likes the same things we do? Yep.

Setting up vibrations in your carpets and rugs can best be accomplished by the beater brush on your vacuum cleaner. The vacuum also sucks up eggs, some of the larvae, and the dirt the larvae feed on.

To keep the ones you vacuum up from surviving, the flea powders for carpets help in a couple of ways: killing fleas and showing you spots that need more vaccuming.

Keep in mind that every couple of days more pupae inside their cocoons will reach maturity, so vaccuming once won't do. Fleas spend an average of two weeks in the pupal stage, so vaccuming daily for at least that long is essential.

Sorry about the book length answer, but if you know why you're doing something you can do it better.

Summary:

Keep the animal treated. With neighbor animals you MUST keep it up.
Treat the home with a product to kill adults and a growth regulator to inhibit maturation.
Sprinkle flea powder liberally on the floors after the spray/bomb has dried.
Vacuum, Vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum (14 times) every day for at least two weeks, maybe three.

You will see them jumping. That's how fleas get onto a host animal.

[Aurora_Bell]

If it is a flea I highly recommend Revolution. It's in-expensive, but VERY effective. Kills all three stages of the fleas as well as kills two common types of worms. You need to get it from your vet, but in most cases if you tell them the age, breed, and weight they can prescribe it to you with out an appointment. The over the counter garbage, err I mean flea treatment is horrible. Very dangerous, and not usually effective. In fact you would probably have better results bathing your dog in dawn dish soap then what you would get from the stuff you buy at Wal Mart.

And most importantly like Cats has mentioned in the above post, consistency is your best tool. If your dog spends a lot of time outside in the summer months, than with flea and tick and worm treatments, your best results will come with routine treatments. Most treatments require every month in summer months.

[Catsmine]

You might want to check this out, to get a better understanding of why soaps work.

Soaps, insecticidal soaps, and detergents<

[fallen2grace]

Thank you all for helping. I'm sorry I haven't replied to any of you.

They are fleas. We bought Advantage and put it on him, it seemed to kill them, but last week I noticed white stuff where they were at. I've seen it before, but thought it was just dead skin. After talking to my dad, he told me that it was eggs.
So now he has them again.

My question is: does shampoo that says "fleas and ticks" on it really work? I've tried one shampoo already, but I don't think it worked very well.

[Aurora_Bell]

Try Dawn dish soap. I'm not a fan of flea and tick treatments. Simple Dawn dish soap with killt he fleas, and not harm your dog.

When dogs have had a bad infestation, it may take more than one treatment. By her second or possibly her third treatment, they should all be gone.

[shazamataz]

When my kids had them it took 2 months to fully treat them (2 x monthly treatments of Advantage) plus using sprays on the carpets about 3-4 times.

You can get rid of them but it can be tough.

Flea shampoos are worth about as much as the plastic bottle. They kill the fleas on the dog sure, but unlike spot on treatments they don't continue to keep killing them.

Spot on treatments stay in the dogs system for up to a month, so any fleas they pick up (or that hatch) in that time frame are also killed.
Cats post mention about how they come out of their cocoons. So if you have a flea egg in the corner of a spare room and no-one goes near it for weeks it can just sit there. One day your dog decides to go for a sniff and BAM! Fleas again. That's why it's so important to treat everything in your house as well as the dog for a period, not just a one off treatment.

[Catsmine]

if you have a flea egg in the corner of a spare room and no-one goes near it for weeks it can just sit there. One day your dog decides to go for a sniff and BAM! Fleas again. That's why it's so important to treat everything in your house as well as the dog fora period of time, not just a one off treatment.

Fleas can survive inside the cocoon for up to 2 Years!

[fallen2grace]

Fleas can survive inside the cocoon for up to 2 Years!

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Wow!

Thank you all! You have really helped me.

[Catsmine]

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Wow!

Thank you all! You have really helped me.

Da nada. We have fun helping people.