Flea Meds That Work

i use flea collars, replace them regularly ..generally 6 to 8 months, and haven't had a flea since

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Brenda Groth
http://restfultrailsfoodforestgarden.blogspot.com/

Frontline and Advantage are not systemics, they are nonabsorbable topical pesticides. Actually, they ARE a systemic poison TO FLEAS, if you want to split hairs.

FWIW, there are no controlled studies showing any development of resistance to these two products by fleas. It has been shown that all cases of purported resistance that have been studied thoroughly have been shown to be due to inadequate/inconsistent use of the products, usually superimposed upon a heavy ENVIRONMENTAL infestation.

Untreated stray animals and/or wildlife coming into a pet's environment can be the weak link. In order to really work, these products need to be used religiously, EVERY MONTH as long as any fleas might be alive in the environment, which is 12 months out of the year in a lot of the US.

Revolution is an excellent flea control in cats, but I quit using it in my patients because it kills fleas a bit slower than Advantage, and this was making for occasional flea allergy dermatitis problems and/or live fleas sometimes seen on my patients, and it wasn't worth having to constantly explain all this to clients and deal with the dissatisfaction. But if the cats aren't allergic to flea saliva, and the environment doesn't have a heavy flea burden, Revolution can be a great product.

Flea collars contain dangerous, potentially carcinogenic compounds that do a poor job of controlling fleas but a great job of causing skin problems in dogs and cats. They were obsolete when I got out of vet school 30 years ago.

I can't tell you how common it used to be to see pets with a flea collar on, horrible dermatitis underneath it that took months to heal, and hundreds of fleas scurrying around in their fur. So glad those days are over. It's a rare client that shows up now with a flea collar on their cat, THANK GOD.

insocal- Can you comment on my method? Specifically, the shampoo with dandruff shampoo (leaving on for five minutes)?
the reason I chose the Adams flea drops is my experience with the Adams horse fly spray- amazing stuff!

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" It's better to ride even if you get thrown, than to wind up just wishin' ya had."

Chris Ledoux

Our dog growing up loved spagetti and ate it once a week. We used fresh galic, tyme, oregano. He never had fleas or ticks. I cant get my dogs to eat spagetti. SO we use a flea tick shampoo. Id say garlic is the best bet if you can get them to eat it.

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I'm so done here.

Going through this right now myself. We have two rescue boxers that never had problems until the DW got a yorkie puppy for her birthday. The puppy came with fleas, and now they are everywhere.

Regular bathing helps, and the flea comb comes out when they are dry to catch the ones that got away, so to speak. We have to use conditioner on the boxers because they really should not be bathed more frequently than once per month, but the fleas necessitate weekly bathing. Hopefully it will keep any skin issues to a minimum.

We tried biospot. It did not work
We tried Sentry, it did not work
we talked to the folks at petsmart, and they universally said that advantage, advantix, and Frontline are what work. The only problem is that we have 3 dogs of three different weights, and dropping 200 bucks on flea meds at once is not really doable right now.

We talked to the vet, and he gave us a single dose of Triforce for each of them. We are in the process of seeing if this will work or not, and will continue to pick up single does of that, or gradually switching to Frontline. As far as the greasy back goes, I imagine that the person who used it did not get it right up onto the animal's skin, but any topical will do the same if not properly applied. The jury is still out on whether it works or not.

How do you introduce copper to their diet ? Cats too ?
I have been feeding my dog garlic for quite awhile (cause I saw that here), but cat won't eat it & I suspect it's actually her who has fleas again ?

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R. F. in Western Mtns. of Maine
Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then !

That could change ? We never had fleas or ticks where I live in ME, but we do now - climate change.

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R. F. in Western Mtns. of Maine
Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then !

Yes, mine were terribly greasy and it didn't do a thing for the fleas. But worse than that, my English Shepherd had a terrible reaction to it the second time that I used it. Scared the carp out of me! I threw the rest of it in the trash!!!!

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S-J Farms
http://s-jfarms.com

Jury is still out for me on the triforce stuff. One day after using it on flea-bathed and flea-combed dogs (that nevertheless still did not get all of the fleas) I inspected all three dogs last evening. I did not find any live fleas on either boxer. On the yorkie, I found one live and one dead flea. Considering the scores (literally) that we killed during bathing and combing, it's looking like a win so far.

None of the dogs have had reactions. The greasiness has subsided on the boxers (very short haired dogs) and is still noticeable on the Yorkshire terrier, but not as bad as when it was first applied.

Like I said, the jury is still out, but my hopes are up, at any rate.

The best defense against fleas is a healthy dog. Species appropriate raw diets work well to fend of fleas. Fleas are parasites and they are more attracted to weak or unhealthy dogs on poor, grain based diets.

Most raw feeders have very few parasite issues. I have no need for flea products on my pack, due to their diet.

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"For if you start dancing on tables, fanning yourself, feeling sleepy when you pick up a book... making love whenever you feel like it, then you know. The south has got you.”

I'm still waiting to see how you get enough copper into your animals?????

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"I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw some things back..." Maya Angelou

I've used Sentinel for years, year round. NO fleas. The cats get Program injectable - which does the same thing, but lasts 6 months. Yes, they can pick up a flea or two here and there - give them a bath or a capstar to get rid of those. But you never get the infestation in your home.

Any pets that come to visit me get a Capstar or Comfortis (for dogs only) and have to wait outside for 10 minutes before comign in the house.

Flea collars cause more problems for the pet than they're worth. Flea baths cause more problems for the pet than they're worth.

The ones that work on fleas: Revolution, Advantage, Advantix (also does ticks, mosquitoes, chewing lice, biting flies and is waterproof), Comfortis (chewable tablet that only kills adult fleas), Vectra or Vectra 3D (the cat only does fleas, the dog one does fleas, ticks and mosquitoes), Sentinel (flea inhibitor, heartworm preventative and gets round worms, hook worms and whipworms).

ALL of them should be used *every single month* year round to be effective. They all work best as a preventative. If you already have fleas, do not expect one treatment to do the trick. It can take several months to fully get on top of the flea infestation. Every adult female flea can lay up to 50 eggs PER DAY and they don't stick to the pet - they roll off and are in the environment. So if you're not treating the environment, you're possibly fighting a losing battle.

Even with the treatments used diligently, the possibility remains that fleas could be seen. But when used properly, those fleas will not last long, nor cause too many problems.

The biggest key is don't give up! Keep going. Vacuum every day, wash bedding, use the good products as they are meant to be used (I've never heard of the Sergeants, Hartz, or Biospot actually doing the job in the area where I live, but opinions vary).

Working at a vet clinic for the last many years I've seen just about everything. "I don't have fleas" and then we find several on the pet to show them, etc. "I use it every month without fail and only get it from you" (but our records show you skipped two months in the middle of summer).

I really hate fleas. A lot. Be tougher and more stubborn than they are and the battle can be won!!!

This is a joke, right?

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SugarMtnFarm.com -- Pastured Pigs, Poultry, Sheep, Dogs and Kids

Nope. No joke. Each INDIVIDUAL female adult flea can lay up to 50 eggs a day. So if you've got three or four, you're looking at a couple hundred flea eggs that need to be vacuumed up. Obviously people can only do what they can, but the *recommendation* is vacuum every day. Get those eggs OUT of the house (means empty that bag or canister OUTSIDE immediately) before they have a chance to hatch.

So true, i have a Dalmation cross who has had a flea problem since a puppie unitl I changed her food, I do not feed her raw other than meaty bones but i did change her dry food to a meat based-corn free food. Her dry flaky itchy skin problems have clear up and we have been flea free for a year now. She also gets bathed with a teatree oil shampoo once a month, same as the cat. Some say teatree is bad for them buti have not had any problems with either.

Here here!!

Our dogs strictly LGDs.

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Bob and Nancy Dickey
Laughing Stock Boer Goats
"Seriously Great Bloodlines"
and the meat goes on....
Near Seattle

Buy the largest size, and use a syringe to measure it for each animal:

Frontline-for dogs and cats 8 weeks and older. Give once monthly.
Cats (all sizes): 0.5cc
Dogs 0-22#: 0.67cc
Dogs 23-44#: 1.34cc
Dogs 45-88#: 2.68cc
Dogs >89#: 4.02cc

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ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

I go with the "garlic tabs" way. We have cold winters, so it may not work as well for a warmer climate, but works awesome here. I avoid chemicals as much as possible.

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