I have a twelve year old Aussie, Raven, he is my Service Dog. Until now he has been in perfect health, never a bad day. Early autumn he began scratching/biting around his tail, i found a couple fleas, combed them out, bathed him carefully with herbal shampoo. He is up to date on Advantage, considering trying Comfortis. (vet does not like it) As time has passed he has been chewing, scratching the top portion of his rump toward the middle of his back. I first tried tea tree oil/aloe, no comfort. Next colloidal oatmeal packs, nothing. Different hebal shampoo, an herbal cream, cortisone cream and spray, triple antibiotic when it became raw, benadryl caps that made him vomit and finally to the vet for a check-up--said yes, it is flea saliva dermatitis. Shot of cortisone,(Depo Medrol)and Cephalexin 500mg for possible infection. Three days later it is as bad as ever, the wounds are now open and actively bleeding.
He is fed a variety of food daily, nothing the same so i highly doubt that it can be blamed on food allergy.
Your suggestions please.
Thank you
ken

 Quote: Ken Kinyon

I have a twelve year old Aussie, Raven, he is my Service Dog. Until now he has been in perfect health, never a bad day. Early autumn he began scratching/biting around his tail, i found a couple fleas, combed them out, bathed him carefully with herbal shampoo. He is up to date on Advantage, considering trying Comfortis. (vet does not like it) As time has passed he has been chewing, scratching the top portion of his rump toward the middle of his back. I first tried tea tree oil/aloe, no comfort. Next colloidal oatmeal packs, nothing. Different hebal shampoo, an herbal cream, cortisone cream and spray, triple antibiotic when it became raw, benadryl caps that made him vomit and finally to the vet for a check-up--said yes, it is flea saliva dermatitis. Shot of cortisone,(Depo Medrol)and Cephalexin 500mg for possible infection. Three days later it is as bad as ever, the wounds are now open and actively bleeding.
He is fed a variety of food daily, nothing the same so i highly doubt that it can be blamed on food allergy.
Your suggestions please.
Thank you
ken

From the body geography of the pruritis and some other things you mention, the vet's diagnosis of flea hypersensitivity (or flea saliva dermatitis, or flea allergy) sounds right on to me, even though the more usual age for this to appear is much earlier.

What is done for this is to remove the fleas from the dog's environment asap.

Before I/we re-invent the wheel (by typing what you may have already read), have you done a search here for flea threads? Much has been said about ridding your home of the little bastards (and much of it is said with real flea hatred), as well as trialing some antihistamines that might help give the dog a little relief.

However, number one is getting rid of the fleas. A dog who has developed flea hypersensitivity will only get worse. There are dozens of components (including amino acids, polypeptides, and more) in flea saliva that can trigger allergic reactions, and the dog who has developed a flea allergy typically shows increased reaction to increased numbers of flea saliva components.

Herbal shampoo doesn't mean shampoo for people, right? That would not be good for the dog's skin, which is a very different pH from people skin.

The bleeding wounds are wide-open doors to infection (from all kinds of sources, including fleas). This makes me suggest that you consider a referral to a derm vet.

I urge that you read some of the flea threads here for many suggestions for ridding the environment of fleas and bathing the dog specifically for ridding him of fleas.

Here's a couple I pulled up:

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=29702&page=1

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=26210&page=1#276445

http://leerburg.com/webboard/thread.php?topic_id=31107&page=8#348099


And there many flea-experienced members here. (Weekends are often slow on dog board, though.)

ETA
I'm very sympathetic. Fleas are pure misery for a hypersensitive dog, and major effort and frustration for the owner trying to eliminate them from the home.

Ditto everything Connie said. I'l add--forget about food allergy. This has nothing to do with food. I also would suggest that all those "natural" flea remedies won't be enough, IMO. Those might be helpful for a mild flea issue, but for a dog that has a hypersensitivity (and I know, I have one) you may need the big guns. You need to rid your house of fleas, and that is no easy job. And a proven insecticide to kill fleas on the dog and prevent them is in order.

I've had good luck with Comfortis (combined with lots of environmental de-fleaing). I paid a professional to treat our home and felt it was worth the expense.

ETA: many people are finding that Advantage and the other "old reliable" monthly topicals are no longer effective. Fleas are becoming resistant to them. Some people are alternating between two different meds, or using them twice a month, rather than monthly.

And I still never actually saw a single flea. If you've seen fleas, there are a jillion more in your house, unfortunately.

Good luck.

 Quote: Ken Kinyon

I have a twelve year old Aussie, Raven, he is my Service Dog. Until now he has been in perfect health, never a bad day. Early autumn he began scratching/biting around his tail, i found a couple fleas, combed them out, bathed him carefully with herbal shampoo. He is up to date on Advantage, considering trying Comfortis. (vet does not like it)

I will recommend Comfortis all day for this problem. The active ingredient in Comfortis, starts to kill fleas within 30 minutes and killed 100% of the fleas within 4 hours as well as kills fleas before they can lay eggs. This will help cut the population in your home. From what I observed working in vet clinics is that a flea will bite the dog and then walk around looking drunk before falling off dead. It does not continue to feed on your dog like the other products. So that means less flea spit to up set your dog. Flea Busters is the product that I like for treating the environment. I am lucky where I live and the fleas are not so bad. I only treat my dogs 6 moths out of the year.

Good Luck,

See post above (fixed broken quote)

Edited by Connie Sutherland (11/27/2011 10:00 AM)
Edit reason: mod note

My dog is already on Revolution but two of my neighbours are complaining about their dogs having fleas. My dog has not been around their dogs but I would like to know if I can use Comfortis along with the Revolution as a (me being paranoid) backup for the Revolution?

Also, when I check on the Internet about buying Comfortis, the packages only go up to Brown 60-120 lbs. My dog is 158 lbs should I buy an extra package of Green 20-40 lbs to go with the Brown?

I remember as a child our cat having fleas and the horrible time my parents had getting rid of them. I really don't want to deal with fleas. Yuk!!!

Thank you all for the replies, it is helpful. More info for you as follows: The herbal shampoo i used was specifically for dogs. It is for itchy-dry-hot spots-dermatitis type issues, not to rid fleas. it helped a little but not enough relief as far as Raven is concerned.
As far as fleas in the house-- it should be under control as far as i understand Advantage type meds. Am i correct in that those types of medications kill fleas, larvae and eggs? I have treated each dog for the past four months so would assume that this should be enough time to know that eggs should not be a huge problem in house. My vac has a flea collar in it. I will take into serious consideration that Advantage may not be working as well as it once did. I have two other dogs, both were checked closely for fleas, cannot find any, the vet double checked, nothing, no signs of biting or scratchiong either. Vet said all it takes is a bite or two to set off this reaction (that Raven has).
I have not found a vet in my area that takes Comfortis seriously. I want to use it. How do i bypass a vet selling it to me?
So, assuming that i have fleas under control in the house, snow is coming so outdoors will be better, no fleas actively on Raven, do you have any other suggestions on relief from his agony? Benadryl makes him ill. The topical Benadryl spray was ineffective. Chlor-Trimeton (Chlorpheniramine Maleate) 4-8mg for his body weight seemed to trigger more scratching, may be my imagination since i am watching him so closely but it certainly did nothing to help. My vet put off as long as she could the injection of Depo Medrol so as not to lower his immune system needlessly. I see varying opinions of using colloidal oatmeal but i ended up trying it as a pack just on his worst areas, it gave very temporary relief. Cortisone cream was tried. Currently i have him wearing a tee shirt(any ideas of something better?) and wounds covered with colloidal silver. This seems to be working better than anything so far, the redness is now pink. The only other thing he is getting is Ultram, seems to help with pain, he is not limping or panting as hard.
Thaks again, you all are so kind, i appreciate it.

About "no fleas actively on Raven," I betcha this is not correct. Is this dog black (I am guessing from the name)? There is no way to detect all fleas or declare a dog flea-free after a visual exam, even on a dog who is not black.

If you spread a white bed-sheet out on the floor and vigorously brush the dog on it, you will find flea pepper (flea poop). This is identified positively by adding a small drop of water to one. It will turn red (because it's your dog's dried blood).

Unfortunately, snow does nothing to eliminate the fleas multiplying in the house. The tee shirt won't help unless you mean for it to protect parts of the dog from his scratching claws, because the flea can hop on anywhere and make its way to the backbone, shins, belly, etc.

Advantage helps with the in-home environment, but it isn't enough. It really takes all the steps outlined in the links to get rid of them --- sooner is better, of course; they are multiplying.

The flea collar (bad for a dog but IMO good inside the vacuum bag) helps, but the vacuuming has to be very frequent. I empty it outside directly into the outdoor trash container. The floor isn't enough; the furniture needs to be done too.

There are other steps outlined in the links I posted.

I may sound didactic, but I've been there and done that over the years, and I know how much work it is to get rid of fleas once they're in the house.

" Vet said all it takes is a bite or two to set off this reaction (that Raven has)." The vet is correct.

" The herbal shampoo i used was specifically for dogs." Good.

Did you see in the links about how to give the bath properly for flea-ridding (using any dog shampoo)? (And of course the dog's beds and mats need to be laundered and dried at the same time.)

 Quote: Debbie Martin

My dog is already on Revolution but two of my neighbours are complaining about their dogs having fleas. My dog has not been around their dogs but I would like to know if I can use Comfortis along with the Revolution as a (me being paranoid) backup for the Revolution?

Also, when I check on the Internet about buying Comfortis, the packages only go up to Brown 60-120 lbs. My dog is 158 lbs should I buy an extra package of Green 20-40 lbs to go with the Brown?

I remember as a child our cat having fleas and the horrible time my parents had getting rid of them. I really don't want to deal with fleas. Yuk!!!

http://foxnestvet.homestead.com/ProductFleas.html
Scroll to:
Comfortis Once a Month Chewable Treats for Dogs & Cats

Lists positives and negatives. Includes the statement “Safe to combine with other flea control products.”

I wouldn't have said this, and I was surprised. I'd check with the vet and read both the Revolution and Comfortis inserts. Also, http://www.comfortis4dogs.com/about-us/contact.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

" My dog is 158 lbs should I buy an extra package of Green 20-40 lbs to go with the Brown?"
http://www.comfortis4dogs.com/about-us/contact.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

I hope this helps.

Thanks Connie. That Foxnestvet website is very informative.


ETA: Sorry for the hijack.