Flea Treatment for Your Dog - A Complete Guide for Pet Owners

It doesn’t make you a bad owner if your dog has fleas. They can pick them up on a walk, from the ground or another animal. You’re likely to face fleas at some point as a furbaby owner, so be sure to brush up on some tips to get rid of fleas in your home. 

Look after your fur family and manage fleas all year round by understanding the signs of fleas and how best to treat them. Proactive, regular treatments are your best friend when it comes down to managing fleas on dogs, as an infestation in your home is a lengthier and more complex battle.

If your dog reacts strongly to a flea bite, consult a dog allergies guide. They may have a flea bite allergy and you can find useful information such as treating food allergies in dogs as well. 

Are Fleas and Ticks the Same?

Fleas and ticks are both parasites, but they are not the same thing. 

Ticks latch onto a host and suck blood, embedding their head into the skin. They are responsible for at least 10 different diseases in humans alone. 

Fleas live in an animal’s coat or bedding, carpets, furniture and dark, hidden spots. They too feed on blood and cause itchiness both from the bite and from moving around on your dog. 

Allergies can occur from both tick and flea bites, sometimes causing a severe reaction. This is why it's important not to leave your dog’s allergies undiagnosed, as it can be incredibly uncomfortable for them. 

Telltale Signs of Fleas on Your Furbaby

The common symptoms of dog allergies are similar to those of fleas. The best flea treatment for dogs will depend on the severity of their symptoms and take into account other factors, such as whether they have allergies, which is one of the possible causes of your furbaby sneezing a lot. 

Excessive scratching or biting

Also one of the common signs your dog has pollen allergies, is when your dog scratches and bites, your first consideration should be to check for fleas. 

Hair loss

A side effect of excessive scratching or potentially because your furbaby has a flea bite allergy, hair loss is another sign of a flea problem

Hot spots over the body

Some dogs react so strongly to bites that where they are bitten turn red, raw and inflamed. They are itchy and when scratched, they can begin to ooze. 

Tiny insects on your dog's fur

You may find black or reddish-brown insects crawling around on your dog’s skin. Check the base of their tail or around their rump first, as they often gravitate there. These are fleas. 

You may also find black spots on their skin or in their coat. This is the flea’s feces, consisting of digested blood, known as flea dirt. 

Muscle loss or pale gums

This would indicate anemia caused by a severe infestation of fleas and you should be looking to initiate a dog flea treatment as quickly as possible.

Best Flea Treatments for Your Dog

Flea prevention for dogs is ideal, killing the flea cycle before it can begin. Once you have flames in your home environment, it can take months of diligence to remove them. 

Take a look at the following treatments, including flea and tick prevention for dogs, which you can couple with home remedies for dogs with skin allergies if your furbaby is suffering from excessive itchiness. For those with dogs with allergies, be mindful to choose the best food for a dog with allergies to improve their well-being. 

Flea combs

These fine-toothed combs are a chemical-free option to physically remove fleas and eggs from your dog’s coat. 

Flea sprays

There are pet-specific flea sprays that can be directly sprayed onto the roots of a dog’s coat to kill fleas on contact. You can also use a household-specific flea spray on your bedding and carpets.

Spot treatment

This treatment comes in the form of a small pipette that you apply directly onto your dog’s skin at the nape of its neck. 

It quickly is absorbed into the bloodstream or spread throughout the skin to either kill fleas on contact or poison them once they bite your dog. 

Flea collars

A medicated collar can protect against fleas for several months at a time. 

Some are water-resistant and odour-free, so you have options available to you depending on the environments your dog enjoys. 

Oral tablets and chews

The active ingredient in oral medication options is delivered into the bloodstream so that when a flea is exposed to it, they are killed. 

Chews and tablets are flavoured to be palatable to your furbaby. 

Bathing

A good first measure is to then begin a course of treatment. Bathing will remove some fleas and eggs from the skin as well as the accumulated flea dirt. 

This will also stimulate a healthier environment for your dog’s skin and potentially help them with their itchiness.

Treating Your Home Environment to Remove Fleas

The best flea and tick treatment for dogs includes consideration of their environment as well. Fleas and flea eggs can drop off into your dog’s bedding, on your carpet or anywhere in your home where your dog spends time. 

Larvae hatch from eggs and can survive up to three months on food particles from dust and debris. It then pupates, spinning a cocoon where it can lie dormant for up to two years, waiting to be triggered by vibration to hatch out as an adult flea. 

Be sure to treat your home environment with chemical treatments and with frequent washing to catch all stages of the flea life cycle. In an active household, the flea life cycle will take between 1 to 4 weeks. 

If you are managing seasonal allergies in dogs, similar treatments are often suggested, both to clean the environment and to ease the symptoms your pet has. 

Take Home Message

As it is with many conditions, prevention is often the best treatment when it comes to fleas. With regular flea prevention treatments that you can give your furbaby, you can take the bite out of a flea infestation. 

However, fleas can come from anywhere, so it is important to know the common causes and solutions of why your dog is itchy. 

There are several modes of treatment, with many methods used in conjunction with one another, such as using a chemical treatment after a bath and a comb. 

Be sure to treat your home for fleas as well, as these little suckers can live for quite a while in your dog’s, or even your own, bedding.