Is something actually wrong with your pet? Grooming is not the right answer to a medical problem. If your pet has a wound, a hot spot, an ear that smells or is painful, a lump, a limp, a rash that is spreading, is scratching itself raw, or is in any distress, see a veterinarian first and come to us afterwards. We will happily groom around a healing problem once a vet has seen it, and we will tell you honestly when we think something needs a veterinarian rather than a bath.
A flea and tick bath is a thorough wash with a shampoo built to loosen fleas, ticks and the dirt they leave behind, and rinse all of it off your dog's coat on the day of the appointment. It costs $35 and is added to a full groom or booked with a bath and brush. It is not, and cannot be, a treatment for a flea or tick infestation: it washes off what is currently on the coat, and it does nothing to the eggs and larvae already living in your home, or to the actual parasite problem on your dog, which is a veterinarian's job.
If we find fleas or ticks on a dog that was booked in for something else entirely, we stop what we are doing, tell you before we carry on, and move straight to this bath rather than finish the groom as planned. The station is disinfected afterwards, and the tools that touched that dog are cleaned before they touch another animal. We will also not walk a flea-carrying dog through the main salon floor without warning the other owners who are sitting there with their own animals, because that is their decision to make, not ours to make for them.
Say it as plainly as it can be said: a flea and tick bath is a wash, not a cure. Breaking a flea's life cycle means treating the whole home as well as the animal, on a veterinarian's advice and often with a prescribed product used exactly as directed, and that work happens with your veterinarian, not at a grooming table. What we offer is a clean coat on the day, done properly, with the station left the way we would want to find it ourselves. See /safety-and-handling.html for how we handle a flea finding beyond this one bath, and /pricing.html for how it sits alongside a full groom.
What a flea and tick bath actually does
A wash for today's coat, not a plan for the parasite.
The shampoo and the wash
We use a shampoo built specifically to loosen fleas and ticks from the coat and rinse them away, worked in thoroughly and left in contact for the time the product needs before it is rinsed clean. It is a mechanical and chemical clean of the coat as it is right now, nothing more, and we will tell you plainly that it is not a pest-control product for your home or a treatment plan for your dog.
Ticks are pointed out, not treated
A bath does not remove a tick that is already attached; only lifting it out correctly does that, and mouthparts left behind can cause their own problem. Before and during the bath we run our hands over the coat looking for one, and if we find an attached tick we stop, show you exactly where it is, and leave the removal to you or to a veterinarian rather than do it ourselves, since a tick taken out badly is worse than one left for a few more minutes.
What the bath does not do
It does not treat an infestation on your dog, and it does not do anything at all to fleas and eggs already living in carpet, bedding or furniture at home — a bath only ever reaches the animal in the tub. If your dog has fleas, the coat is one part of a bigger problem, and the rest of it is a conversation with a veterinarian about your whole home, not another bath booked here next week.
Why we still recommend it
Even though it is not a cure, washing a visibly flea- or tick-carrying coat clean is still worth doing: it is more comfortable for your dog immediately, it stops fleas being carried through the salon and your car, and it gives you and your veterinarian a clean, easy-to-examine coat to work from rather than a dirty one. We are honest about its limits precisely because we think it is still worth booking within them.
Priced the same as any bath
At $35 it is priced close to a small bath and brush rather than as a premium service, because the extra time is mostly in the thoroughness of the rinse and the disinfecting afterwards rather than anything exotic in the bottle. It is added to a full groom or booked with a bath and brush, and we will tell you the total before your dog goes anywhere near the tub.
What happens if we find fleas mid-groom
We stop, we tell you, and the plan changes on the spot.
We stop and tell you first
If fleas turn up on a dog booked in for a haircut, a de-shed or anything else, we stop that appointment immediately rather than carry on and mention it at pickup. You are called or told in person before anything else happens, because what your dog actually needs next — this bath instead of the groom you booked — is your decision to approve, not ours to make quietly on your behalf.
We bathe before we do anything else
Once you have agreed, the flea and tick bath happens before any haircut, brush-out or de-matting, because working a comb or clippers through a flea-carrying coat spreads fleas around the salon rather than keeping them contained to the tub. The rest of the original appointment can usually still happen afterwards, on the same visit or booked again once the coat is clean.
The station is disinfected before the next dog
Every surface, tool and towel that touched that dog is cleaned or replaced before the station is used again, and the tub itself is washed down between that dog and the next one regardless of what the next appointment is for. This is not an optional extra step taken only when somebody notices — it happens every single time, because a station is either clean or it is not.
We tell the salon floor, not just you
We will not walk a dog that is currently carrying fleas through the main salon floor without saying something, because there are other people's animals sitting there too, and that is a decision that affects them as much as it affects you. In practice that usually means going straight to the tub through the shortest route, and being upfront with anyone nearby about why.
What this means for your next visit
A flea finding gets written in your dog's file, not because it changes how we treat your dog, but because a pattern across visits is useful information for you to take to a veterinarian, and useful for us in deciding whether prevention should be part of the conversation at your next booking too. We will bring it up ourselves rather than wait for you to ask.
The actual parasite problem, and who solves it
A clean coat today is not the same thing as fleas and ticks handled.
Why a bath cannot break the life cycle
Fleas spend most of their lives as eggs, larvae and pupae in carpet, bedding and soft furnishings rather than as adults on your dog, which is exactly why washing the animal, however thoroughly, leaves the bulk of an infestation completely untouched. Breaking that cycle needs the home treated as well as the animal, on a schedule, which is a veterinarian's plan to make, not a groomer's.
What we would tell a friend to do
Call a veterinarian, describe what you are seeing, and ask about a prescribed flea and tick prevention plan suited to your dog's actual weight and lifestyle rather than a product picked off a shelf by the picture on the box. Bring your dog to us for a clean coat alongside that plan, not instead of it, and tell us if prevention is already underway so we know what we are looking at.
Ticks and the diseases they can carry
We are not the right people to tell you whether a specific tick was attached long enough to matter, or whether a bite needs anything beyond watching — that assessment belongs to a veterinarian, and it is worth making the call rather than waiting to see if a problem shows up later. We will tell you honestly when we think a bite is worth that call.
If fleas keep coming back
A dog who needs this bath repeatedly despite prevention at home is telling you the current plan is not working, and the answer is very rarely a different bath — it is a different conversation with a veterinarian about the product, the dose or the environment. We will say so directly rather than quietly keep bathing the same problem every few weeks.
Booking it honestly
Tell us on the phone if you already know or suspect your dog has fleas or ticks, so we can book the right length of appointment and have the station ready, rather than discover it mid-groom and have to stop and rearrange the day. See /pricing.html for the cost alongside a full groom, and /safety-and-handling.html for how we handle it if we find something you did not know about.
Flea & tick bath in western Queens
A $35 bath that washes fleas and ticks off your dog's coat today. It is not a treatment for an infestation — that is a veterinarian's job, on your dog and in your home.
It starts the same way whatever you have booked: both hands over the whole animal before anything is switched on, so we find what is under the top layer rather than discover it halfway through. Then you are told the price and the finish time out loud, before you leave the building. If the coat turns out to be worse than it looked, we stop and call you, and you decide what happens next rather than finding out at collection.
Grooming is not veterinary care. Grooming is grooming, not veterinary care. This page describes a service we offer. It is general information, and it is not a diagnosis, a treatment or veterinary advice for any particular animal. We are groomers, not veterinarians — we do not diagnose, we do not prescribe and we do not treat medical conditions. If your pet has a wound, a lump, an ear or skin problem, a limp or anything that worries you, speak to a licensed veterinarian who can actually examine it.
How we handle your animal. We do not sedate animals and we never will — sedation is a veterinary decision made by a veterinarian, not a grooming shortcut. We use no heated cage dryers of any kind, and no animal is ever left alone with a dryer running. Every pet is hand-dried by the person grooming it. If your animal tells us clearly that it has had enough, we stop, and you get an honest conversation instead of a finished haircut.
Questions
Flea & tick bath — the questions we are asked most
Will a flea and tick bath get rid of my dog's fleas?
No, and we want to be completely clear about that before you book. It washes off the fleas and ticks that are on the coat on the day, which is genuinely useful, but it does not treat an infestation, and it does nothing to the eggs and larvae in your home. The actual parasite problem, on your dog and in your house, is a veterinarian's job — we can give you a clean coat to start from, not a cure.
What happens if you find fleas on my dog during a different appointment?
We stop what we are doing, call or tell you before we carry on, and move to a flea and tick bath instead of finishing the original groom, because working clippers or a comb through a flea-carrying coat spreads fleas around the salon. The station is disinfected afterwards, and we will not walk your dog through the main floor without telling anyone else who is there with their own animal.
Is it safe to bring a flea-infested dog into the salon at all?
Yes, tell us in advance and we will plan for it rather than be surprised by it — book the flea and tick bath directly, and mention it on the phone so we can have the right slot and station ready. We will not turn your dog away for having fleas, and we would rather know beforehand than find out partway through a different appointment.
How much does a flea and tick bath cost?
$35, whether it is booked from the start or added because we found fleas partway through a different appointment. It can be added to a full groom or a bath and brush, or booked on its own, and the price is the same either way. See /pricing.html for how it compares with everything else we offer.
Can you tell me what flea product to use at home?
No — that is a prescribing decision for a veterinarian, who can weigh your dog, ask about other pets and medications, and prescribe a plan suited to your dog's actual situation rather than a product picked off a shelf. What we can tell you is what we saw on the coat during the bath, which is useful information to bring to that appointment.
My dog has a tick attached. Can you remove it?
If we find an attached tick during a bath, we stop, show you exactly where it is, and leave the removal to you or to a veterinarian rather than take it out ourselves, because a tick removed badly can leave part of it behind in the skin. We would rather point it out clearly than risk doing that.
Why do you disinfect the station after a flea and tick bath?
Because fleas that come off one dog do not disappear on their own, and a station used for the next appointment needs to be genuinely clean, not just tidy. Every surface, tool and towel that touched a flea-carrying dog is cleaned or replaced before anyone else's animal goes near that spot, every single time, regardless of what the next appointment is booked for.
Should I still use prevention at home if I get this bath regularly?
Yes — this bath and a prescribed prevention plan do two different jobs, and one is not a substitute for the other. If you find yourself booking this bath often despite using prevention at home, that is worth mentioning to your veterinarian directly, since it usually means the current plan needs adjusting rather than that your dog simply needs more baths.
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Book an appointment
Call the salon with your pet's breed, weight and roughly when it was last groomed, and we will give you the price and the honest timing on the phone. Nails, ears and sanitary tidies are walk-in whenever we are quiet, and Saturday morning is a dedicated walk-in nail clinic.