possible case of flea allergy dermatitis - no visible fleas

[sgrey]

I believe my 2 year old Cairn Terrier may be suffering from a case of flea allergy dermatitis, or hypersensitivity to flea bites. We experienced a case of fleas 4 months ago and since then, we've had her on Advantage which works well. In the past two weeks, she's been scratching a lot and various red bumps as well as scabs/lesions have been appearing. Typical symptoms of a flea bite allergy.

As I said, she's been on Advantage for a few months and in all that time, I've only seen one live flea. Everything I read online for treatment and prevention of her allergy indicates that we need to get the flea situation under control... but other than treating her monthly and making sure our apartment is clean, is there anything else that can be done?

It seems a single flea bite can cause these symptoms so I'm worried that after we treat this case, it will reappear if we don't change the prevention routine. Any suggestions would be great! Thanks!

[MaxaLisa]

I know someone that tried everything, but after she switched to Comfortis, that seemed to control everything.

You might try bathing her in something like the flea shampoo from Mad About Organics, or something similar that is non-chemical. When my sister had that problem with her dog, she use their shampoo and Advantage, though I don't know how well some of these flea chemicals work with bathing.

I guess the second question is whether you are sure it's fleas, but it sounds like you are.