One stormy
afternoon, you are driving home from work and you spot what looks to be a five
week old puppy. You pull over to check it out and it is a puppy trying to get
shelter from the rain. You decide to bring the puppy home with you and will
call around the shelters tomorrow to see if anyone has reported the puppy
missing. Once you get the puppy home, you notice the poor wet cold puppy has
fleas all over. You think to yourself, well I have some topical flea medicine
but upon reading the label you notice the age restriction. Well I can’t use the
topical flea medicine, so what now?
There are a few things you can do to help your puppy or kitten before they are the recommended age for topical flea medicine. Using a flea comb (metal comb) to manually take off the fleas, which would require you to pop (kill) them between your thumb nails or with the flea comb. Another safe option for puppies and kittens is Dawn original (blue) dish soap. Now it is not recommended to get a kitten or puppy wet, but in this case it’s better than them becoming anemic because the fleas are sucking up all their blood.
My pet advice recommendation would be bathing the kitten or puppy in a small sink with the water running before you put them in. Do not fill the sink up with water! Quickly wet the kitten or puppy with some lukewarm water (using a cup or spray hose), then apply a small amount of Dawn. Massage it in well and let it sit for about a minute or so. You have to scrub pretty good because the fleas are going to try to hide under the fur. Once you do not see any more fleas, rinse the kitten or puppy completely and wrap in a warm towel.
If you have a hair dryer put it on the lowest sitting and keep far away from their face. Make sure not to point the hair dryer too close to them either. If you are going to use a hair dryer you have to be very careful not to overheat them, so just do a quick blow dry and then wrap them back in the warm towel. The fleas are gone today but what about tomorrow?
There are a few things you can do to help your puppy or kitten before they are the recommended age for topical flea medicine. Using a flea comb (metal comb) to manually take off the fleas, which would require you to pop (kill) them between your thumb nails or with the flea comb. Another safe option for puppies and kittens is Dawn original (blue) dish soap. Now it is not recommended to get a kitten or puppy wet, but in this case it’s better than them becoming anemic because the fleas are sucking up all their blood.
My pet advice recommendation would be bathing the kitten or puppy in a small sink with the water running before you put them in. Do not fill the sink up with water! Quickly wet the kitten or puppy with some lukewarm water (using a cup or spray hose), then apply a small amount of Dawn. Massage it in well and let it sit for about a minute or so. You have to scrub pretty good because the fleas are going to try to hide under the fur. Once you do not see any more fleas, rinse the kitten or puppy completely and wrap in a warm towel.
If you have a hair dryer put it on the lowest sitting and keep far away from their face. Make sure not to point the hair dryer too close to them either. If you are going to use a hair dryer you have to be very careful not to overheat them, so just do a quick blow dry and then wrap them back in the warm towel. The fleas are gone today but what about tomorrow?
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| Metal Flea Comb |
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| Dawn Original Dish Soap |
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