Dog Flea Allergies
Dog flea allergies are a common cause of skin irritation and hair loss in dogs. Even if you think your dog doesn’t have fleas all it takes is one flea bite for a reaction to occur. Luckily, dog flea allergies are very easy to treat once the cause has been determined. Your veterinarian may recommend giving your dog a steroid injection to help ease discomfort until the flea medication starts working. Further treatment is based on the severity of your dog’s flea infestation.
If your dog is severely infested the fastest way to kill the fleas is to give your dog a product called Capstar. Capstar (nitenpyram) is a tablet available from your veterinarian that contains a medication that will start killing fleas within minutes. In fact, almost all of the adult fleas on your dog will be dead (you’ll actually watch them fall off and die!) within four hours.
But keep in mind–the fleas that you currently see on your dog are only in the adult stage. There are thousands and thousands of baby fleas in your home just waiting to grow into adult fleas and infest your dog. You can manage this by giving your dog a dose of Frontline Plus once monthly for three consecutive months starting on the same day you give the Capstar. This will kill all the fleas as they develop through their complete life cycle from eggs to adult. Flea bombs or sprays are not recommended while treating dog flea allergies. Daily vacuuming in the areas where your dog spends most of his time is all that’s needed.
