On Mon, 23 Jun 2003 03:20:51 GMT E S Major <wh.TakeThisOut@tever.com> whittled these words:
> We just got a 6 week old miniature dachsund...
> Living in Pittsburgh, we drove to a friends place in New Creek, WV to pick
> her up.
> Upon arrival is when we were told that the puppy has fleas..... the mother,
> and the 2 puppies were NBOTH infested when we got there.
> We *DID* bring this puppy home, and now we have discovered that our budget
> for this week only allowd us to purchase 10 cans of food to last her till
> next payday..... (the 30th and the 1st)
> What can we do to get rid of these things? We have no more money and we do
> have household chemicals.....
Use ordinary human shampoo. The water should be barely warm to the touch,
cooler than you'd like for bathing, but still warm. The fleas will most
likely survive the treatment and will come back and infest you AND the
puppy if they can. So make sure they are well flushed down the drain.
If, for example, you bathed the dog in a plastic basin then tossed the
dirty water in the yard instead of down the drain all your efforts would
be wasted. Do not feed the puppy in the hour before bathing or after until
it is entirely dry and warm. Hair dryers are can dangerous for a puppy of
that age, they don't regulate their body temperature well enough. A very
young puppy may not pant or otherwise warn you that it is getting too warm
or too cold. You need to pretty much know the temperature the puppy is
being exposed to while wet. So use a space heater or similar to warm up a
room (bathroom is fine) to about 80 degrees. Towel dry and keep the puppy
in that 80 degree room until completely dry.
BTW, fleas can be life threatening in a puppy that young. Find a fine
toothed comb or some other way to physically remove the fleas once the
puppy is wet. You may have an old toothbrush that can help with this. Or
go through the fur very carefully and use fingernails to pull them off.
Toss them in a bowl with alcohol or soapy water then rinse down the drain
when you are done. Since you won't be using insecticide it is likely you
won't get them all. Wait 24 hours before rebathing the puppy and trying
to get the rest. There are no houshold chemicals that will kill fleas
that are likely to be safe in a puppy that young.
It is likely that the fleas have given the puppy tapeworm so you will need
to budget some money for tapeworm treatment, along with the ordinary
distemper etc shots.
>> Stay informed about: Out Of Control Fleas 
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