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Fleas

Basenji Health Issues & Questions
  • I noticed that most of you seem to have your B's on flea medication. My Senji is 11 years old, and he's never been of flea meds. I just always assumed that basenjis didn't get fleas. Maybe he just has some strange body chemistry that keeps the fleas off. The same thing with mosquitos. I've literally seen a mosquito land on him for about a second and fly off. He was on Heartguard for most of his life. His previous vet used to test his blood and stool for heartworms, but always came back negative. Now that his new vet diagnosed his liver disease, he gets blood tests on a regular basis. (The previous vet, I found out, never tested him for anything other than heartworm!) I live in western PA and we get a fair amount of mosquitos in the summer. I think I've only ever seen him with one mosquito bite. He likes to walk through poison ivy too. Unfortunately, I'm always the one who suffers then! Dogs don't usually get poison ivy, do they?

  • To my knowledge, dogs don't get Posion Ivy…..

    As far as Fleas.... while we don't have a big problem here in No. California... I do need to use flea protection.. at times....

    To be on meds for heartworm is responsible... and I would never take a chance...

    Liver problems with Basenji is not uncommon... that to me is the biggest plus for blood work up at least once a year... especially with our old Basenjis... some as with the Kidney's starting to shut down... my 15 1/2 yr old has been Kidney failure (nothing to do with Fanconi, but just old age) for almost the last year.... we have kept her going to SUBQ fluids since we found this out... and while I would do no more then this, since she accepts the fluids well (we at this time give fluids 2 to 3x's a week...) we take each day as a bonus day until the time she is ready to cross the bridge....

    As far as flea meds.... if they don't have fleas... I would not worry about it.... of couse different then meds for heartworm... since that is a mosquitos born problem...

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    @khanis: I have NEVER heard of these legendary fleas or mosquitos…. and I am a Portland native... and have NEVER had a flea issue with my basenjis [Whippet, IG, RR, Newfs, or cats]. Our home ranges from 3-6 basenjis on average and still no problem, even with dogs that come/go for showing or boarding. The only time I have treated them [my dogs] was prior to traveling to the midwest or east coasts. During the time I lived in Portland, which is at the very northern end of the Valley and has more wind than the lower Valley, I noticed a lot fewer fleas and 'skeeters. I can understand why you haven't experienced them. Try camping on the shores of Fern Ridge sometime. Make sure you take lots of DEET. I grew up there and, man, the 'skeeters are horrible!:eek: I can remember our dogs and cats had a rough time of it, too. We were always picking fleas off them. But that's the difference between living in the city and living in the back woods. The conditions in the lower Valley are perfect for the growth of fleas and mosquitos: standing water everywhere and very few hard freezes. (Gramma lives in the "sticks" too and has lots of both in her area outside Salem.) But, again, back to the subject, she used Brewer's Yeast and had pretty good results with it.
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