Dawn on Dogs to Kill Fleas?

Has anyone ever heard of this? We have a dog indoors (which goes outside for walks, potty breaks, etc.) and two cats inside. Benelli, our corgi/lab mix gets Vextra each month, and the cats get Advantage. The problem is I noticed the dog itching pretty good tonight, so I combed her and found fleas. YUCK!!!
Logic taught me that if Benelli has fleas, the cats probably do too, so I combed them. They also have fleas!
Thankfully, our carpet is super short (cheap) and the rest of our house is tile. I have sent the fiance on a mission to bring home carpet and upholstery flea killer powder in the morning, so HOPEFULLY *fingers crossed* a good, thorough cleaning will take care of the house.
I've heard from a few people that they have used Dawn dish soap on their dogs to kill fleas. I was wondering if it is true? I have heard mixed reviews online, and logic tells me that it would be pretty rough on the hair it's self (as far as oil and such is concerned) but would it be worth it for a one time treatment? She seems pretty uncomfortable already, I don't want to make it worse...
Also, the Vextra that I have been using is from the vet, one of those once-a-month treatments, and the last one was actually put on her less than 3 weeks ago by the vet clinic when she was spayed, so obviously it isn't working like it should...
Any thoughts? Any suggestions? Any ideas?!?!
I DON'T WANT TO LIVE IN A FLEA INFESTED HOUSE!!!! ICK!!!!

Thanks

If you get the blue dawn dish soap it works very well ! I wash my dog with it and it helps a lot with killing fleas, if not killing them it makes them very slow and lazy so you can grab them. You should really give it a try.

UmmmLetMeThink said:

If you get the blue dawn dish soap it works very well ! I wash my dog with it and it helps a lot with killing fleas, if not killing them it makes them very slow and lazy so you can grab them. You should really give it a try.

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All I have in the house is orange. Do you think it will work?

I have done it with my three dogs, works great on the ones on them at the time but has no residual kill.. If you really want them all dead for a low cost try this http://www.amazon.com/Monterey-Spin...=UTF8&qid=1343880063&sr=8-3&keywords=spinosad. Spinosad is the active ingredient in Comfortis once a month tablet, and is in a glycol suspension. I put a capfull on a piece of bread and feed it to my 50 lb+ dogs.. They will start scratching like crazy in 30min to 1 hours as the fleas start to die.. I also mix about 1 ounce up in a 32 oz sprayer and spray bedding, carpet and the dogs topically.

Kills the fleas on the dogs when they bite, new eggs will hatch babies will bite and they will die, after a couple of cycles you will be pretty much flea free.

Off label but have been using it for the last four years and the lack of fleas is great.

It also has been working great for spraying around the chicken run and house for flys, works good in the garden also.

PM me if you have any additional questions.

Bad news, if you're seeing fleas on the dogs and cats you've already got a flea infested house! Good thinking to treat the environment immediately. Check the product(s) you use to see which life stages they kill. There isn't really a single product out there that will kill all life stages, so if all you are killing is the adult fleas (or the larval fleas) then there's a good chance you could be seeing fleas again in another 3 weeks. Think of flea infestation as a pyramid. Adult fleas that you can see are only the top 2% of the pyramid, the other 98% of the fleas hiding in your environment are in the form of larvae, pupae, and eggs that are waiting to hatch and grow into adult fleas that can bite your pets. If you can get a product that will kill the eggs that would be best, otherwise you'll be seeing fleas again in another 3 weeks when the eggs that are in the environment start hatching out. Regardless of what you use, it may be prudent to mark your calendar and do another thorough cleaning each week for the next 3-4 weeks.

Dawn will work to kill any fleas actually ON the animal. ANY kind of soap actually will do this. However, the problem is that it will do nothing for the fleas in the environment. So as soon as the dog gets out of the tub the fleas will likely be right back on her. The soap will also work to remove any topical flea control product you are using (which is a minor point since it clearly isn't doing a great job anyway and at 3 weeks out you'd be about due for the next dose anyhow). The other problem (which is a bit more of an issue for you, being about due for another round of treatment) is that stripping the oils using dawn or another kind of soap will make any topical flea treatment you use in the days to a week following the bath less effective as it will interfere with absorption.

I would find another flea control product. Vectra is largely permethrin based (36% of the active ingredients). Unfortunately, permethrins have been around long enough that there are a lot of fleas out there that are resistant to them. Whatever you switch to, I would consider applying it every 3 weeks instead of once a month, at least for the first 3 or 4 months to be sure you are getting any newly hatched fleas that your environmental clean up may have missed. The flea life cycle, from egg to adult, is at it's shortest 3 weeks long (although the pupa stage can last for as long as a year if environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity are not favorable!) so reapplying every 3 weeks should get any newly emerging fleas. Which brings me to the point that you may not be seeing a total failure of the vectra to work. You could potentially just be seeing the newest fleas that haven't had a chance to be killed yet on your pets (although even I think that's being a bit optimistic). Another possibility is that you could be bringing fleas in on your clothes from outside. Most commonly, fleas hitch a ride in on the pets that go outside. But in bad flea years (and this has been one thanks to the mild winters most of the country has had) you can bring fleas in on you.

Mehjr10 said:

I have done it with my three dogs, works great on the ones on them at the time but has no residual kill..  If you really want them all dead for a low cost try this http://www.amazon.com/Monterey-Spinosad-Organic-Garden-Insect/dp/B000BWY3OQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1343880063&sr=8-3&keywords=spinosad.  Spinosad is the active ingredient in Comfortis once a month tablet, and is in a glycol suspension.  I put a capfull on a piece of bread and feed it to my 50 lb+ dogs..  They will start scratching like crazy in 30min to 1 hours as the fleas start to die..   I also mix about 1 ounce up in a 32 oz sprayer and spray bedding, carpet and the dogs topically.

Kills the fleas on the dogs when they bite, new eggs will hatch babies will bite and they will die, after a couple of cycles you will be pretty much flea free.

Off label but have been using it for the last four years and the lack of fleas is great.

It also has been working great for spraying around the chicken run and house for flys, works good in the garden also. 

PM me if you have any  additional questions.

 

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It is safe to feed the dog? I have a 13lb pekingese, wouldn't it be kinda harsh for her?

bawkaawk said:

It is safe to feed the dog? I have a 13lb pekingese, wouldn't it be kinda harsh for her?

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Spinosad isn't safe to feed to anything, according to it's MSDS:
It's also not safe to use inside a home
http://www.cdms.net/LDat/mp62B025.pdf

ANY kind of soap will kill fleas if you work up a good lather and let teh dogs soak a while.
If you're worried about his "hairdo" use your fancy own shampoo

The last time I had bad fleas used front line or equivalent spray. For me the spot on's never worked. I would fog the house first removing pets/people of course. While the house is fogging spray your pets and crate them out side because the fleas will just start jumping of of them. Vacuum good after and use powder or spray and make sure you get the baseboards in the rooms with no carpet. Then just kept spraying pets/house and vacuuming for a couple months.

I've been going crazy trying to get rid of fleas, I've been using every natural idea given and some. I got frontline despite the fact that I didn't want to poison my little doggie and it didnt work anyways.
I'm going to have to bomb the house, I'm not sure how I'm going to get the cats to cooperate but I have crates for them, they just may hate me for awhile lol
I've tried everything but the bombing, DE, salting the carpet, lemons, baking soda. I refuse to put borax down but my vacuum would have muscles or Hercules for the work out it's getting, if it were human lol
Fleas are a problem for pretty much everyone in my area.
Thanks for the advice!

I know your trying the natural remedies but you have to think about it as war. At this point i'ts you or the fleas (Its a shut out score fleas 1000 you 0) go in with the big guns. After you get rid of them you can go back to the preventatives.