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How do I safely treat a bad flea problem on my 7-month-old puppy?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | German Shepherd | Female | spayed

7 month old puppy has fleas bad! What can i give?

3 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Jenna Beyer, DVM, MBA, cVMA

Veterinarian, Certified Veterinary Acupuncturist

Published on October 14th, 2017

Pretty much all of the OTC flea medications are safe for 7 month-old puppies. There are several options, such a monthly topicals, flea collars, or a Seresto collar. Flea shampoos don't work well at all. Prescription oral flea preventative seem to work the best, in my opinion, so I would recommend that Grace be checked out by a vet so she can get started on one of these. Please know that it can take several months of consistent treatment to get rid of a flea infestation. Fleas don't live on the dog, they only jump on at bedtime. So, if you see a 2 or 3 fleas on Grace at one time, then there could be 20-30 fleas off of her, laying eggs to make new fleas! Here is some more information on fleas: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=3682

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    Answered By Laura Johnson VMD

    Veterinarian

    Published on April 3rd, 2018

    Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Trixie is very cute! At not even 5 weeks old there are no approved flea products. Revolution topical can be used once she is 6 weeks, frontline and nexgard can be used once she is 8 weeks. So all you can do for the next 7-10 days is bathe her in an oatmeal based shampoo or Dawn and manually removed the fleas with your fingers and a comb. Treat the environment and all other dogs and cats. Once she is 6 weeks apply Frontline and then start the Nexgard a month later. Once the fleas are off her hopefully the scratching will stop. Again she is really young to start medications. I hope this helps!

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    Answered By Rebecca, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on June 19th, 2017

    Bailey is cute! Be sure to read any labels before using flea medications, many are not labeled for use in animals under 8 weeks. You can use plain blue dawn dish detergent to wash her. Let the lather soak a couple of minutes and that will kill any fleas she has. It does not repel fleas though so she could pick up new ones. Ideally I recommend seeing a vet to get her on a prescription flea prevention (much safer than many OTC options) as well as heartworm and intestinal parasite control. She also needs to see the vet monthly for vaccine boosters as a puppy.

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