An Itchy Update

After all the commotion of vacuuming and laundry and a slight freak out when I looked closely at the back of his hind legs to see them covered in splotches/bumps/red, we were off to the vet with the pup. And thank goodness we went.

Thankfully Ollie does not have fleas....

Although at one point he was in contact with them.

We have him on a preventative medicine already, First Shield specifically, so I was doubtful that it completely failed but was worried that maybe the medicine didn't soak in enough before we went in the ocean. Both the nurse and the doctor were unable to actually find any live fleas on him; both from looking closely and from using a flea comb (and believe me, the Dr went to town with that comb.) So that was a very good sign. They did find the Flea Dirt that I mentioned in my previous post, just like I thought I saw. The combination of the dirt and his red splotchy legs were signs that he had been bitten by fleas, emphasis on the bitten (not infiltrated by a flea army.) The doctor then told me that his itching, irritation, and redness was most likely caused by an allergic reaction to the bites themselves. Phew.

So we walked away with a bottle of home flea/tick mist to spray on our furniture, his bed, the carpet, etc etc (just incase there was a female flea on him and she decides to reproduce) and a correct dosage of Benadryl to hopefully make him less itchy and uncomfortable. We want to make sure that his excessive scratching and biting doesn't open up his skin in any places and make him more prone to an infection, hence the Benadryl.

Crisis avoided.

Tomorrow I'm going to spray down our apartment with the mist and we have to keep him on Benadryl two times a day for a week and go from there. I am so happy that we don't have a bigger problem on our hands.... at least for now. Knock on wood. For now, I have a sleeping puppy on the porch probably due partly from his lack of napping all day (the vacuum commotion and vet trip kept him awake) and some drowsiness from the meds.

Finally, I want to say thank you so much ladies for all your kind words, concern and good suggestions on my last post! I'm sure we all hold our furry friends near and dear to our hearts and it was nice hearing such sweet things from you in my time of crisis worry.