Flea treatment for 3 dogs inc. Greyhound

Three dogs all scratching at once is a real infestation, not just bad luck — and with a Greyhound in the mix that's worth paying close attention to, because sighthounds can have sensitivities to certain flea treatments that are fine for other breeds. The key thing to know upfront: roughly 95% of fleas are living in your home — in carpets, bedding, and sofas — not on the dogs themselves. Treating all three dogs is essential, but if you skip the house you'll be going round in circles within weeks. Can you tell me the approximate weights of all three dogs, and have you used any flea products on them before? Also — have you treated the home at all yet?

That explains a lot — Frontline spray has seen significant resistance in the UK flea population over the last decade, so it genuinely doesn't work as well as it used to in many areas. You need something stronger and more modern for the dogs. Before I give you specifics though — is the Greyhound a rescue or have they been on any prescription medication recently? Some spot-on and oral treatments are fine for Greyhounds but it's worth just double-checking, as they metabolise certain chemicals differently to other breeds.

Perfect, that makes things straightforward. For all three dogs I'd recommend NexGard (afoxolaner) chewables — it's an oral treatment, so no worries about them getting wet or grooming each other, and it kills fleas within hours rather than days. Crucially, it's well-tolerated by Greyhounds and is dosed by weight, so you'd get the 25–50kg pack for your Greyhound, the 10–25kg pack for the Staffie, and the 4–10kg pack for the Beagle. It's a monthly chew and it works by killing fleas before they can lay eggs. You'll need one box per dog per month — buying a three-month supply upfront usually saves money. For the house, you need a household flea spray with an IGR — an insect growth regulator — to break the egg and larvae cycle. Indorex Defence Household Flea Spray is the best widely available option and one 500ml can treats an average home. Do the house spray the same day you give the dogs their first NexGard dose.

The treatment that Greyhound owners need to be cautious about is anything containing ivermectin or certain macrocyclic lactones — those can cause serious neurological problems in sighthounds due to a gene mutation called MDR1. NexGard doesn't contain any of those compounds. It's an isoxazoline-class drug and is used routinely in Greyhounds without issue. The scary stories you've likely seen online are mostly about a different class of product, or about very rare adverse reactions that can technically occur in any breed. Your vet can confirm this too, but NexGard is a well-established, widely recommended choice for Greyhounds specifically.

That's the core of it. A few practical things to make it work properly: wash all dog bedding on the hottest setting it allows before you spray the house, and vacuum thoroughly first — especially along skirting boards and under sofas — then spray and leave the house for a couple of hours with windows closed. Don't vacuum again for at least four days after spraying so the IGR residue has time to work. Keep all three dogs on NexGard monthly for at least three months — that's how long it takes to fully break the flea lifecycle in the environment. If you have cats or any other pets, let me know as the house spray and some products aren't safe around them until dry.