Allergic to …. fleas?

So, once again my puppy (who will be 5 this year) has surprised me. Ramsey had running nose and eyes and was scratching and biting, more so than the usual. At first I thought it might be a dog cold, so I took him to the vet and found out…

Yes, my dog is allergic to flea bites. This was a new one to me, and of course, there is some medical term for it. (Heck if I can remember what it is though.) Our vet recommended, that instead of using the monthly flea meds that you put on the back of the neck and let absorb into the skin, we use a monthly pill. (Its a prescription called Comfortis.) We were warned that it smells like mildew. Yup, you hear that right, mildew.

So, you open it up and let it sit for a half an hour – so the mildew smell isn’t so overpowering? Not really sure why. (Mostly because it smells like… mildew.) Then we break it up into a few pieces and hide it to give it to him. He won’t eat it whole. You can’t even fool him into eating it whole. You can, however, convince him to eat the small pieces hidden in the depths of .. peanut butter. I have found that is the only thing that works for my dog. If you put it into something else, he will pull it out and eat the treat. (Good thing its only once a month.)

This has been very helpful. He still scratches; I think more to annoy me than anything else. He no longer chews himself up and the rest has gone away.

Now with the weather changing and pollen in the air. I am back to bathing his feet when he comes in so that he doesn’t chew them to scratch.

Oh the joys of being a dog parent! Though I wouldn’t trade him for all the world!