Dog Flea Bites – How to treat them

Spots was playing with Tippy, our neighbour’s dog happily in the backyard. It was dinner’s time and Spot came running home. Something just doesn’t seems right about Spot.

She was scratching feverishly and could not stop through out the night. This scratching continues for couple of days more and it got worse. She started biting off patches of her fur, exposing raw inflamed skin throughout her body.

Does this sounds all too familiar to you?

That’s right, Spot has brought home a tiny friend and this friend of hers is the cause of all her misery. I guess you all may already know what’s her name. Yes, it’s "Fleas" and Spot is suffering from dog flea bites!

When flea bites, they excrete salvia which causes an allergic reaction in some dogs leading to skin eruption characterized by a red-spot surrounded by a reddened halo. It’s accompanied with itch causing increased scratching resulting in hair loss, crust and erosions of the skin and pimple-like bumps. In severe cases, the skin becomes thicken and darkened. Hot spots may develop which appear as red oozing sores causing immense pain to your pet. (See some flea bite pictures)
flea bite pictures)

Often, flea bites are most commonly found in areas like the lower back or tail and the thighs or abdomen areas.

Here are some simple home remedies for flea bites:

1.Bath your dog to keep it clean and prevent secondary infection. Always bath it with cold water and never use hot or warm water. Cold water will help in alleviating the inflammation as well as the itch while warm or hot water tend to stimulate itch.

2.Use fresh aloe vera juice to apply to the inflamed skin. Aloe vera has a soothing effect and it also promotes would healing.

3.Supplement its diet with fatty acid like flaxseed oil which has an anti-inflammatory effect.

In chronic cases, where the condition is bad and your dog is suffering from the constant intense itch, a visit to your vet may be necessary. Your vet may prescribe a steroid cream or a steroid jab and administer an anti-histamine to bring about a more rapid relief for your dog.

However, treating flea bites on your dog alone is not a solution to your problem. You have to look at the root of the problem and in this case it’s the fleas. You have to get rid of all the fleas not only on your dog but also in your entire house including the garden and yard. Only then would you succeed in preventing future flea bites on your dog.

Learn more on "Getting rid of fleas on pets", "Getting rid of fleas from house" and "Home remedy for fleas in yard to help you in eradicating fleas totally.