Dear Amy,
Thanks so much for writing, and you don't know how much I appreciate
you saying "Thanks for answering our questions". It means
alot to me
to hear that. Thank you again.
You said the dirty word----FLEAS!!!!!! That's almost
like a cuss
word around here...haha No, every summer we put on our armor, and
grab
our swords and sharpen the guillotine for flea season.. The last few
winters have been quite mild around here, so our flea problem is more
like a battle. I don't pretend to know it all on fleas.
But what I
have used/use when they get so bad that the even get on me and in the
carpet of the house is Diazanon granules on the freshly mowed grass. I
cut my grass around my kennels as low as the cutter will cut.
I put
the diazanon out with a seed spreader pretty heavy. Next, there is a
zillion different types of dips and sprays. The best just plain
ole
immediate flea killer ive found to date is Adams Flea spray (dear adams
spray company, hope the checks in the mail for the plug...haha) Now
this stuff works almost immediately. Problem is for me, thats about
it. As soon as the eggs hatch out or the dog goes back to where the
fleas or bedding, they are back on in a couple of days. This is
what I
do when they are bad.. I get me some plain ole Joy dish soap and go
find me a 5 gallon bucket to sit on. I wash the dog with the joy soap.
On a summer day, the dogs enjoy the coolness of the water. The joy soap
will kill the fleas immediately. Next, I have a pump up sprayer
with
DuraKill flea dip that I spray on the wet dog. I do this to all my
dogs, then come back and use the remaining spray and spray the
kennels... I take all the hay that they might have in their dog box and
burn it.. Fleas love hay to live in.... I then spread my diazanon
out. 7 days later, I repeat the process again. Two days
after the
second dipping and soap washing, I put bio spot on the dogs. If
it
rains on my diaznon, i spread it out again. This is about the best
stuff and sequence ive used yet... I experiment every summer with other
concoctions, Its a never ending battle around here.. Also just a word
of advice, If your having a bad flea problem, its a good bet you are
going to have a tape worm problem also. So watch out for them in their
stools.
In regards to the safeguard womer, I buy the 3.2 oz size tube. When I
am ready to worm, I take a magic marker and put a black mark on the
adjustment ring and on the tube itself. I give each grown dog, one full
turn of the adjustment ring. On younger dogs, I give them a half
turn. Just a note, If you find you have worms in your dogs, be sure
and worm again 7 days from then to kill the hatching eggs from the ones
you just killed.
Thanks again for writing Amy, good luck with your dogs.
Jim