When you discover fleas on newborn puppies, you look for some prompt treatment that does not cause any harm to their health or delicate skin. Read this article to know how to rid fleas from newborn puppies safely.et
Like adult dogs, newborn puppies can also get infested by fleas. They mostly get them from the mother dog. The poor thing suffers a lot due to severe itching caused by flea infestation. Fleas are extremely harmful for the pets mainly because these parasitic insects live in their body to suck out blood. Newborn puppies with fleas should be treated as fast as possible. This is because prolonged flea infestation means huge blood loss from the pet’s body, which may result in anemia. The worst part is that anemia can even lead to death of a newborn puppy.
Natural Ways to Kill Fleas from Newborn Puppies
You cannot use regular flea shampoos for adult dogs on a newborn puppy. It can be used only when they are at least 10 weeks old. At this stage, their skin is so sensitive that if it comes in contact with any chemicals, then severe skin reactions may occur. Therefore, it is better to eliminate the fleas with the help of a flea comb and a pair of tweezers. The step by step instructions are as follows:
Step #1: Bathe the Puppy
First of all, you have to give a bath to your little puppy. Take some warm water in a tub or sink. Be careful about the temperature of the water. It should not be so hot that it gives skin burns. Place the puppy in this water and wet his body properly from neck downwards. Take a little puppy shampoo on your palms and apply it all over the pup’s body with special attention to the belly and the areas near the neck and tail. Rub it well to create some good lather. While applying shampoo, make sure that it does not get into the eyes as it can cause irritation. Then rinse off the shampoo with clean water. A good bath helps to get rid of some of the live fleas from the pet’s body.
Step #2: Dry the Puppy’s Fur
After bathing, place the puppy in a clean and dry towel. Now, remove the extra water from the fur with the help of this towel immediately. Allow the moisture residues, left behind, to air dry up for some time. If your puppy has long, fluffy fur, then use a blow dryer set at the lowest temperature to dry the hair.
Step #3: Use Flea Comb
When the fur is slightly damp, start combing with a flea comb. These are specially designed fine toothed combs that can catch adult fleas, larvae and eggs. You can get this comb from the local pet stores. Run this comb in the different directions to eliminate maximum number of fleas. You have to comb the problem areas like inner part of the legs and belly several times. Half of the fleas will get caught in the comb and others will fall off. Keep a small bowl of water to which, a few drops of dishwashing soap has been added. After you have finished combing, place the flea comb into this solution. This will prevent the fleas that are trapped in the comb from flying all around the house. Pick up the fleas that have fallen on the ground and put them into the soapy solution.
Step #4: Use Tweezers
After flea combing the puppy, you will find a few of the stray fleas trying very hard to survive by hiding themselves in the fur or by running around. You have to pick them up individually. The best tool for this job is a pair of tweezers. Hold each flea with the tweezers, pull it up and drown the fleas into the bowl of soapy solution.
The puppy treatment should be followed by treating the mother dog with dog flea shampoo. Otherwise, the puppy will get infested all over again. Another thing that needs to be done is to make your entire house free from fleas with the help of vacuum cleaning. When your puppies have fleas, do not forget to check them for signs of anemia regularly. You can find it out from their gums. Their gums should normally be pink in color. If it has turned pale or is white in color, then you must take your puppy to the vet for immediate treatment.