How to treat fleas on puppies that are too young for conventional medicine

Newborn puppies are ideal hosts for fleas to parasitize and lay eggs. Dog fleas (scientific name is Ctenocephalides Canis) are obnoxious parasites because they can cause puppy skin to itch and irritate. In severe cases, puppies can become anemic from blood-sucking fleas. Unfortunately, getting rid of fleas in puppies is often a bit difficult because the puppies are too young to tolerate over-the-counter flea products. Therefore, if you want to treat fleas for puppies, you should keep the dog’s hygiene, at the same time handle fleas in the mother dog and bedding or soft objects that the puppy comes in contact with. This article will guide you with more detailed information.

Table of Contents

Flea treatment for puppies

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Understand why conventional flea products should not be used on puppies. Newborn puppies’ bodies are the perfect environment for fleas because they are warm, moist, and very easy to suck blood. Unfortunately, no flea product is safe for newborn puppies. The internal organs of puppies are often more sensitive than adult dogs, so it is very easy to experience the side effects of flea medications.

Depending on the drug, possible effects are excessive drooling, vomiting, breathing problems, and becoming extremely sensitive to stimuli or severe depression.
Some anti-flea products even explicitly say on the label that they are not suitable for puppies. Other products have not been tested on puppies, so manufacturers often contraindicate them for use in puppies.
In particular, you should avoid using pet products containing permethrin because these products are not safe for puppies. The dog’s metabolism is too weak and it is very difficult to break down Permethrin, so this substance can accumulate in the puppy’s body and cause nerve damage, leading to excessive tremors, drooling, paralysis. or even convulsions.
Permethrin-free products are often ineffective and a waste of money.

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Give your puppy a warm bath. Since there are no over-the-counter or prescription products that are suitable for puppies, the only solution is to remove the fleas by hand. To bathe a puppy, you need:

Pour warm water into the tub or basin. The temperature of the bath water for puppies is similar to the temperature of bath water for babies.
Place the puppy in the tub of water, keeping its head above the surface of the water with your hands.
Use your hand to scoop water and pour it over the dog’s coat until it is completely wet.
Remove the dog from the water bath and place the dog in a warm, clean towel. Gently pat the dog dry.

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Use a comb to brush the puppy’s coat and remove fleas. Wrap the puppy in a dry towel and lay it on a flat surface. Brush the puppy while the coat is still wet and remove all fleas.

The teeth of a flea comb are usually very thick and can pull all fleas out of a dog’s coat.
You should start brushing from the neck and over a hairy area. Brush each patch of fur until the dog’s body is completely combed and all fleas are removed.

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Kill fleas by crushing or dropping them in boiling water. You should kill all fleas after removing them from the puppy’s coat to prevent them from returning and causing reinfection. You can kill fleas by rubbing them between your fingernails or by dropping them in boiling water.

You should place the cup of boiling water out of reach of the puppy to prevent the dog from bumping into the cup and getting burned.

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Keep puppies away from bedding or flea-infested animals. You should keep the puppy in a flea-free environment after helping the dog get rid of the fleas. However, do not spray flea prevention on the puppy’s coat. Instead, you should separate the puppy from its mother or untreated bedding. This step helps prevent reinfection of the puppy with fleas.

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Know when to start using flea products on your puppy. As the puppy grows older, the body can process the anti-flea ingredients in the medicine and the medicine will become safer for the dog. You should always follow the directions on the medicine label for the specific age the puppy is allowed to use. The following licensed flea medications can be found:

Revpution (active ingredient is Selamectin) can be used for babies after 7 weeks of age.
Frontline (active ingredient is Fipronil) can be used on puppies after 8 weeks of age.
Oral medications like Comfortis (the active ingredient is Spinosad) are only safe for puppies after 14 weeks of age.
The above products should not be used on puppies under the recommended age.

Flea treatment for mother dogs

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Understanding why flea treatment for mother dogs is essential. If puppies in the same litter are infected with fleas, surely their mother is infected with fleas. Therefore, you need to treat the mother dog for fleas to avoid re-infecting the puppies.

Keep in mind that other pets in the household may also come into contact with the mother dog or puppies, so there is also a risk of flea infestation and should be handled.

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Use only prescription drugs, and avoid over-the-counter or “natural” medications. Although it is possible to use flea products on the mother dog, you should also choose carefully.

If the mother dog is nursing, some of the chemicals in the medicine can pass into the puppy’s body after suckling the mother’s milk and cause illness. Therefore, only prescription products should be used specifically for nursing mothers.
Some over-the-counter products are often labeled “natural” or “drug-free,” but that doesn’t mean they’re safe for puppies. And even without causing any negative side effects, these natural or herbal products are very ineffective at treating fleas.

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Use drugs containing Selamectin for pregnant or lactating mother dogs. Prescription medications containing Selamectin (such as Revpution and Stronghpd) are generally licensed for use in pregnant or lactating mother dogs. ^{[1] X Research Source}

According to the manufacturer’s instructions, the medication should only be applied to the adult dog’s skin and allowed to dry for a few hours before exposing the mother to the puppies.
Medicines containing Selamectin should only be used in recommended doses and for external use. Experiments have shown that when taken orally, Selamectin can cause fetal abnormalities in rats. ^{[2] X Research Resources Efficacy of selamectin administered topically to pregnant and lactating female dogs in the treatment and prevention of adult tapeworm (Toxocara canis) infection and flea (Ctenocephalides felis felis) infestations n the dams and their pups. Yanye-Johnson, Maitland et al. Veterinary Parasitpogy. 2000 Aug 23:91 (3-4):347-58}

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Avoid using drugs containing Fipronil and Spinosad because it is not safe for nursing dogs. Some of the specialized flea ingredients in the medication are not safe for pregnant or nursing dogs. Therefore, you should read drug labels carefully or consult your veterinarian to avoid using medications containing these ingredients.

Fipronil (found in Frontline flea repellent) should not be given to pregnant or lactating dogs as safety in puppies has not been established.
The ingredient Spinosad (found in Comfortis oral medication) can be excreted in breast milk. It is not yet certain whether Spinosad will cause negative side effects in puppies, so you should avoid using this product to treat fleas in the mother dog.

Treating fleas in the environment

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Understand the flea life cycle. Adult fleas often find a host to parasitize. For every flea found on pets, it is estimated that another 20 are living on bedding, carpets and sofas.

Be aware that female fleas often lay eggs on soft items such as carpets and upholstery. Flea eggs are usually very hardy because, when a suitable host is not found, they can lie dormant for many years.
When the eggs hatch, the larvae and pupae will develop on carpets or bedding, feed on dirt to complete their life cycle and become adult fleas.
Therefore, you need to remove eggs or larvae hiding in your dog’s bedding, carpets and sofas if you want to prevent the risk of flea infection for the mother dog and puppies.

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Wash your puppy’s bedding to kill fleas. As explained above, the puppy’s habitat can be filled with fleas, larvae and pupae waiting to molt and become adults. Therefore, bedding needs to be cleaned and disinfected thoroughly to get rid of fleas completely.

Because flea eggs have an extremely hard protective shell, spinning the bedding in the washing machine is not enough to kill them.
Use sprays or bombs that contain insecticidal ingredients. These ingredients can spread and crept into every corner where flea eggs, larvae and pupae are. You should use pesticides according to the directions on the package.
After spraying pesticides and waiting for the medicine to take effect, you should put the bedding in the washing machine and wash it with hot water to remove harmful chemicals in the medicine (which can be harmful to puppies) as well as eggs. , larvae and dead fleas.

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Spray insecticide to kill fleas on carpets and other fabrics. Finally, you need to kill any fleas living on carpets or other soft objects. You should spray insecticides containing Permethrin such as Staykill or RIP fleas.

Pesticide spray manufacturers often recommend vacuuming before spraying. This helps loosen the carpet fibers and allows the spray to penetrate deeper. In addition, the vibrating action of the vacuum cleaner can ‘awaken’ larvae that are full of hope that they can find a parasite host.
Spray insecticide on carpets, sofas, and other soft items according to label directions. Permethrin in the spray works by paralyzing the nervous system, inhibiting muscle function, and ultimately killing the insect. Insects are not able to break down pyrethroids like mammals, and are therefore very sensitive to the effects of the drug.
Be sure to keep puppies, other pets (including birds and fish), or children out of the room before spraying. After spraying is complete, ventilate the room for a few hours by opening the window to blow the residue out of the room.

Advice

If the mother dog, puppies, or other flea-infested animals have been in the car, don’t forget to spray the inside of the car with insecticide.

Steps

Flea treatment for puppies

Flea treatment for mother dogs

Treating fleas in the environment

Advice

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