They're Back

Or maybe they never left, the fleas that is.

I prefer they're back.

Last weekend Gus really started to chew at his back, on his hinnie right above his tale. By the Thursday night it was all scabby and nasty. We decided we needed to take him to the vet.  I thought perhaps it was allergies.  We have been using a flea preventative, Front-line, since the November out break and had seen no traces of fleas on Gus or in our house so the idea that it could of them never crossed my mind. 

At the vet office, the assistant used a special flea comb and couldn’t find any of the nasty little buggers.  We discussed the possibility of allergies, Gus had started eating a lot of the corn that we feed the geese, his food is grain free there were some tummy issues in the past. Then the vet came in and she used the comb. She found one. The horror, I wanted the ground to swallow me up, I felt like I failed as a mom. How could I let me baby get them again and not realize it! Besides how could he have them?  After the all out war we had declared on them in November and the preventative, he should be fine. Not and itchy-scabby mess, it was supposed to be allergies he was going to go home with some steroids and creams and a cone of shame and that would be the end of that.

Now it’s flea baths and sprays and powders, mountains of laundry and a lot vacuuming.  Come to find out what we were going through wasn’t that uncommon. The vet said they were seeing resistance to the preventative, Front-line. We weren’t the only ones. That made me feel somewhat better. I still wanted to cry knowing the battle that waited for us when we got home.

 He is now on Vectra-3D. Gus’s doctor said this is a better product and they don’t even administer FL at their clinic any more. They also gave him an antibiotic for all his scabies and a shot to suppress his immune system to help with the itchy scratchies. Apparently some dogs are sensitive to fleas while others can have hundreds without being all scabby. Gus happens to be one of the special ones. A single flea bite can drive him nuts, he is allergic to their saliva. Gross I know.  

He is doing much better. He has stopped itching and the scabies are starting to heal. We applied the Vectra right when we got home and haven’t seen any fleas. The house has been sprayed and thoroughly vacuumed.

As far as if they were living with us all this time, I think not. Gus is allergic, we would have known. He also spent a weekend in February at his Gammie’s, there are no fleas at her house and her dog doesn’t have them either. I think he picked them up again. It was nice out last week and we were letting him spend long periods of time outside on adventures, he probably one of his friends or a wild animal shared them with him

Moral of the story: Fleas suck, Front-Line isn’t all its cracked up to be, and Gus has sensitive skin.