I almost killed my dog using Head and Shoulders...really. Gave her a horrible rash, the vet said the ph was all wrong for a dog. I use Dawn dishwashing soap, but we don't have a terrible flea problem here.

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My brother, a vet, visually confirmed fleas, as well as the cheapo flea and tick topical dosed for a 50 pound dog (my parents got it because it had a golden on the package) and then visually confirmed my mom buying Abby a regular coney dog from Skyline and I visually confirmed her feeding Abby a 9 inch turkey sub when we took both dogs to the beach last October.
But, I originally thought thyroid, too, as our last Golden, Sammi, had hypothyroidism.

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Your parents won't listen to your brother and he's a veterinarian? They're a tough case! Is Abby a golden?

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Golden retrievers think life is a party thrown especially for them

Yes, she is a 2 yr old golden. And they have never listened to my brother, even when we had Sammi.

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If she has fleas that bad I would look into getting comfortis. You can use Advantix, the over 55# dose is good up to 130#, according to Bayer.

Any shampoo, head &shoulders or dawn, will drown/kill fleas. There is NO LASTING residue from shampoos (even ones labeled flea shampoos) and only work as you are bathing. Your best bet is comfortis IMO because it works really fast, like the capstar pill, and it lasts a month. The only thing it doesnt do is ticks but if fleas are the main problem i would concentrate on that first.

As far as the weight issue, keep pressuring them, diabetes is a real concern with overweight as well as, shorten life span, joint issues. The first thing to try is a weight management food, limit the food but do this gradually if she is getting alot, they want to feed her what her ideal weight should be and see how far they get with that. If you dont see a difference at all they may want to get her thyroid checked, maybe even now, to make sure thats not playing a role in her being overweight. To me an severely obese pet borders on abuse.. We see them coming in alot and its not fair to the dog to live like that.

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Alison and 2 Furry Kids and 2 non furry kids

Lilly- Golden DOB 1/28/11
AKC name: Goldridge Lights Action Lilly RN CCA
http://k9data.com/pedigree.asp?ID=433352
Sanford- JRT DOB-9/5/06

Bridge dogs
Toby-Boxer 10 yrs. old (rescue) 9/17/2002-11/1/12
Charlie- Boxer (1st "child" together)2/19/02-3/18/12
Julie- golden retriever ( my heart dog) 5/6/96-3/3/07
Ruby- terrier/chow mix (my 1st dog) 8/1/90-1/15/05
Rusty-shih tzu (million dollar dog) 2/5/99-1/20/04

I use Trifexis, the dosage I use goes up to 120 lbs.

She's on weight control food, but my mom thinks weight control= no calories, so she refuses to feed less than 3 cups/day as well as free feed a bowl over night and mixing table scraps in it to "get her to eat her food"...its sad...she watches Maggie when we travel and she calls me concerned because Maggie throws up, but Maggie isn't used to eating taco bell nachos and coney dogs in addition to kibble...I've said "a normal dog doesn't eat that much crap...Maggie only eats 1 1/2 cups of kibble/day." This made my mom start telling people that Maggie is so hard to keep because she has a "sensitive system".

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Please forgive me if I am out of line, but it has been my experience as a daughter that parents routinely do not listen to the advice of their adult children (you can guess how I know this.) They simply will not accept that their child (who in their mind has a chronological age of about 12) knows more than they do about any given subject.

Sadly the dog is theirs and there is not much you or your brother can do to change how they care for it. The harder you push them the more resistant they will be to take your suggestions. Frustrating I know when you care about the animal who suffers. What will happen potentially though is that you will perhaps damage your relationship with your parents. Is it worth it to you?

I apologize if I offend... just thought I'd throw this out there.

I have never heard of using head and shoulders shampoo on dogs... I wouldn't do it. Dawn can be good for killing fleas.

If you do bathe the dog before the flea medication, wait 2 days to put it on after the bath. Or put on the flea prevention and then do a bath 2 days later.

Also, I saw some people suggesting comfortis- the two largest sizes have been on backorder and we are out of those. The largest size we have for a dog is 40 pounds. Plus it is about $25-30 a pill for that so it is much more expensive than frontline. Unless you have a huge flea problem I don't see a reason to use it.

That is my $0.02.

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No offense taken. I know what you are saying. It is super frustrating, though...When we went to the dog beach in October, Maggie, who is 4 was running laps around Abby, who is 2. Abby spent most of the day whining and sitting in the shade while Maggie spent the day swimming and chasing toys down the beach. It should be the other way around...the younger dog should be out running the older dog.

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