Choosing the right flea protection for your dog
A practical guide to spot-ons, collars and oral treatments — and how to pick the right one.
Most owners buy flea treatment when they see a flea. That is already late. By the time an adult flea is visible on your dog, the majority of the population is not on the dog at all — it is in your home as eggs, larvae and pupae, in the carpet, the sofa seams, the gaps between floorboards and the pet's bedding. Adults on the animal are roughly 5% of the problem. This is the single fact that explains why flea treatment so often “doesn't work”: the product killed the adults faithfully, and a week later the next generation hatched out of the floor.
In Batumi's mild, humid climate fleas breed indoors all year. There is no reliable winter break, which is why seasonal treatment leaves gaps here that it might not in a colder country.
## Why it is worth taking seriously
Fleas are not only an itch. A heavy infestation on a puppy or a small dog can cause anaemia serious enough to need treatment. Many dogs develop flea allergy dermatitis, where the reaction to flea saliva is out of all proportion to the number of bites — one or two fleas can keep a dog raw, bald over the rump and tail base, and miserable for weeks. Fleas also transmit tapeworm: a dog that swallows an infected flea while grooming gets the parasite, which is why a good flea plan and deworming belong in the same conversation. And fleas bite people, usually around the ankles.
## The types of product, and what actually separates them
**Oral tablets and chews.** Given by mouth, working from the bloodstream. Some kill within hours and last a month; the isoxazoline family covers one to three months depending on the product and kills ticks as well. Unaffected by swimming, rain or baths, which matters in a seaside city. No residue on the coat, so nothing rubs off on children or furniture.
**Spot-on liquids.** Applied to the skin between the shoulder blades, spreading through the skin's oil layer. Usually monthly. Cheap, widely available and effective, but the pet should stay dry for a couple of days after application, and the spot stays slightly greasy for a day.
**Collars.** Modern medicated collars are far better than the old ones and can give several months of cover against fleas and ticks. They need to be fitted correctly — snug enough to contact the skin, loose enough for two fingers underneath — and they can be lost or caught.
**Shampoos and sprays.** These kill what is on the animal at that moment and then stop. Useful for immediate relief in a heavy infestation, useless as a plan.
What separates good products from bad is not the marketing but the active ingredient and whether the dose is right for your dog's weight. Cheap unbranded pipettes from a market stall are the most common reason a household spends months fighting fleas: many contain too little active ingredient to work, and some contain compounds no longer considered safe.
## Two safety points that matter more than the rest
**Never use a dog product on a cat.** Permethrin is common in canine spot-ons and is severely toxic to cats — it causes tremors and seizures and it kills them. If you have both animals, keep them apart until a dog's spot-on has dried, because cats groom their housemates. If a dog product goes on a cat by accident, that is an emergency; phone us immediately.
**Dose by weight, and by age.** A product for a 30 kg dog is not “a bit much” for a 5 kg one, it is an overdose, and splitting pipettes intended for larger dogs is guesswork with the active ingredient. Puppies have minimum age and weight limits that vary by product. Pregnant and nursing dogs, and dogs with a history of seizures, need specific advice. This is worth two minutes with a vet rather than a guess in a shop aisle.
## Treating the house, which is the part people skip
If your dog has fleas, treating only the dog fails. Do all of it at once:
Vacuum thoroughly — floors, along skirting boards, under and inside furniture, the car — and do it every day or two for a fortnight. The vibration also encourages pupae to hatch, which sounds bad but is good: newly emerged fleas meet your treatment instead of waiting months in a cocoon for it to wear off. Empty the vacuum outside.
Wash all bedding, yours and theirs, at the hottest temperature the fabric allows. Treat every pet in the house, not just the itchy one — the cat that never goes out still carries and feeds them.
Then keep going. Because of the life cycle, you need continuous treatment for at least three months to break it, and in this climate year-round cover is simply the sensible default. Stopping in October because the itching stopped is how it starts again in December.
An environmental spray for the house is worth it in a serious infestation. Ask us which, and keep pets and children off treated surfaces for as long as the label says.
## When to bring the dog in
Come and see us if the skin is broken, scabbed or infected, if hair loss is spreading over the rump and tail base, if the itching continues despite good treatment applied correctly for six weeks, or if you have a puppy with pale gums and low energy. Flea allergy dermatitis usually needs treatment for the allergic reaction itself, not just the fleas, and constant scratching often adds a bacterial skin infection on top that will not settle on its own.
If you would rather not guess between the products on the shelf, bring your dog in and let us weigh them. Choosing the right one takes five minutes and it usually costs less over a year than the wrong one bought three times.