washing pet in dawn dish soap

Can you tell if bathing my dog in Dawn Dish soap can help with the fleas.  My Vet told me to bath her in the dawn dish soap.  I did that on Monday morning and checked last nite and this morning and have not see a flea on her belly.  She also isn’t itching and biting now.  She is allergic to the fleas.  I have been to the Vets since June till now.  She has been having the treatments every month, but it seems that the bath has helped.  Is it my e imagination or is that true is does work?

This depends on what you mean by the word “work” as used in your question. As our FLEA CONTROL ARTICLE explains, washing your pet is one way of having a big impact on the local flea population. In general this won’t solve problems but by removing and washing away all the pet dander, skin and other organic pet matter flea larvae need to eat, you’ll be thwarting their ability to grow into healthy, biting adults. Additionally, the cleaning of the pet will no doubt enable the pet to have a better chance at healing if it’s suffering from flea bites. These two results of washing your pet can make you believe things are okay but there are a few things to remember.

First, as stated above, the use of any shampoo – whether it’s Dawn or our TRIPLE PY FLEA SHAMPOO – by itself will not cure or solve any local flea population. If you have fleas active in the home, you’ll need to employ one of the methods outlined in our article.

Second, be careful not to “over do” the washing. In general, the frequency of pet bathing should depend mostly on the breed of animal, their skin and fur type and where they mostly spend their time. Some animals can be bathed twice a week and do fine; others can dry out and get irritated skin which tends to make any flea problem worse and more uncomfortable for them to endure. For pets that not do well with regular baths this can present a real problem.

Lastly, using a skin conditioner like the OXY ANTI ITCH can really help in between baths if the pet is suffering from flea bites. And again, treating them and the home with one of the flea control products listed in our article will be required if fleas are currently active and thriving.

Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:

Flea Control:  www.flea.net/flea-control

Triple Py Shampoo:  www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page247.html

Oxy Anti Itch:  www.bugspray.com/item/oxy_med_itch_relief.html