Question:
I have 4 labs.They have very dry skin and fleas.I have used flea collars,flea shampoo,they still have them.For the dry skin I have used baby oil,eggs in their food.I am at wits end I do not know what else to try or do,suggestions would be very much appreciated. Hubby is layed off so have no money to go to vet.Thank you Kathiesullivan5.

Answer:
Flea treatment is not expensive

Answer:
What are you feeding? That probably has a whole lot to do with the condition of their skin.

As for the fleas, collars, shampoos etc. really don't work and are pretty terrible for your animals. The easiest solution is to get a flea treatement from your vet, but there are more holistic solutions if you're up for a alot of work.

There's a good article that outlines the basics of getting rid of fleas without chemicals. I've done it, but it takes serious vigilence.
http://cats.about.com/od/parasiticdi...ntrolfleas.htm

Answer:
Hi Kathie, first off WELCOME! In answer to your post, you've got a couple of really good options that aren't as costly as you think. Use a flea collar in your vacuum bag whenever you vacuum - which with a flea problem, needs to be very often. You can also cordone off the pets to one room, dust the floor with flea powder and then vacuum, just make sure that your animals AREN'T where you're vacuuming Fleas live deep in carpet, meaning once you have an infestation, it's often tricky to get rid of them. Secondly, please call your vet and ask them about any combination monthly flea/tick application. These are relatively inexpensive since you can purchase them in packs rather than single servings, and your vet may be able to help you with a payment plan of sorts or give you other options. Both of my dogs are on Frontline Plus, which works well for them, though not all dogs react the same to all meds Good luck, pitgrrl posted a great link, especially if you're looking to steer clear of chemicals (which is tough, as she noted). Keep us posted and we always love pics of pets!

Answer:
Getting a product like advantage from your cet is the best way to go with fleas and may save you money in the long run and it is far safer than fleas products from the store, as the fleas lay 1000s of eggs in the rugs furniture, under baseboards they continue a cycle that is hard to control and store bought products only kill the adults not the other stages of development so every so many days the larva become adults, eggs become larva and you have a new cycle starting again once they feed off the dog they are fertile again it become a battle than can last several months which requires treating the house and the dogs before you can end once there is an infestation, in the past most people used to rip out all their rugs and throw them out to try and end the cycle faster.


advantage prevents any fleas for being able to reproduce, so it helps to break the cycle much faster by not allowing new ones to be born, and it is a lot safer for dogs than many of the other chemical treatment used especially for treating the house and yard .

As for dry skin diet plays a bing role and need to have the right ratio of omega fatty acids for you dogs, you could try supplementation with salmon oil, but I am kind of, of the opinion if the food does not make the coat nice on it's own than it is not the right food. I realize money is tight and with feeding 4 dogs that is a lot of food to go thru so you need to at the most bang for the buck,

If you have a Costco/ maybe Sam's Club look for Kirkland premium foods a 40 pound bag is about $20 it is comparable in quality to many foods costing twice as much
It is made by Diamond and is the exact same food as their Diamond Naturals line http://www.diamondpet.com/products/d...dogs/dry_food/

Depending on what you are currently feeding now, you may need to cut back the feeding portions for each dog, a lot of the cheaper foods will have more grains and fillers like peanut shells that have no nutritional value which means you have to feed more of, and very little meat which is necessary for a good coat and skin

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