Tiny Red and Black Specks Stuck to a Dog's Skin
by Sylvia
I bathed the dog with tick and flea shampoo and cleaned the brownish soft spots that seem to accumulate in certain areas and rubbed them off. I've been going at this for 4 weeks now, bathing her every week. I don't see any fleas. Her hair on the neck is turning pinkish now! What are these specks and flecks! Can't even make out an insect with the magnifier? They seem to stick into the skin, because I've tried to take one dot out!
Tiny dark specks in the coat are very often flea dirt, which is flea droppings made of digested blood. You can check at home: comb or brush some of the specks onto a damp white paper towel. If they spread into reddish-brown smears, it's flea dirt, which means fleas are or were there, even if you never see one. Fleas are fast and hard to spot, and dogs often groom them off.
If the specks don't turn red, they may be scabs or crusts from irritated skin. Specks that are firmly attached could also be very young ticks, which can be as small as a poppy seed, or reddish-orange chigger mites. All of these are worth a vet visit. The pink color on her neck and specks that seem stuck in the skin suggest her skin is inflamed. Some dogs are allergic to flea bites, and that, mites or a skin infection can all look like this.
Flea shampoos usually kill only the fleas on the dog at the time of the bath, and new fleas keep hatching from eggs and pupae in your home and yard for weeks. That's why ongoing flea control from your vet, used on every dog and cat in the household, works far better than baths, along with washing her bedding and vacuuming often. Please see your vet about the pink, irritated skin, as it may need its own treatment.
See fleas on dogs.
This is general information, not a diagnosis. Please follow your own vet's advice.
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