jbbb Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 (edited) Okay, so we used Advantix on Flame about a year ago and she came up in hives and was itchy for days, so there is no way I am going to use that stuff again. Edited to Add that I am not putting down Advantix - I know it works for most dogs, just that Flame is allergic to this particular product. I'm just looking for someone with the same experience. Since then we havent had any issues, but I have now spotted a couple of fleas on her. Poor baby! :D We want to annihilate the fleas, so the plan is: - Clean all her bedding in hot hot water - Give her a good bath - Apply some sort of anti-flea treatment - Possibly flea-bomb the house ? So, my questions are: 1. What sort of flea-treatment can you use on a dog that has allergies to Advantix? I would really like to hear from people who have this issue - the vet said that about 10% of dogs have this sort of reaction to Advantix, so I'm hoping someone on here will have direct experience. 2. Is using a flea-bomb going to cause issues? I realise that they're poison, and dont really want to use one, but I am worried that there are fleas in the carpet.... any other suggestions on how to get rid of them? Thanks!! Edited January 2, 2007 by jbbb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goldielover Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 (edited) Hi jbbb, Fleas are such a bugger! I guess all you can do is find out the ingredients in Advantix and choose a product that doesn't contain that ingredient or similar. Flea bombs will kill the fleas in the carpet, but it's more than likely you also have fleas outside as well. Since i've been in Melbourne the dogs have never had fleas, but living in Qld, the only thing that worked was a spot-on. I avoided them like the plague at first and sprayed the carpet and outside god knows how many times, but nothing worked. Hopefully someone can come up with more suggestions! Adit: I think Advantix is made by Bayer. If so, they are fabulous with advice and can probably help: 1800 678 368 or their website is www.bayeranimal.com.au Edited January 2, 2007 by goldielover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schnauzer Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 (edited) Hi jbbb, Years ago, one of my schnauzers had a severe allergic reaction to Frontline, breaking out in the lumps and welts all over his body. He received immediate vet treatment, but due to complications and every attempt to save him at a specialist centre, he died. :D On my dogs I now use Advantage, and Sentinel Spectrum. I also routinely flea bomb my house with Mortein flea bombs. I also keep all bedding etc washed regularly. I do not have carpet in my house - so not sure about flea bombing with carpets. ETA I never see fleas on my dogs or in the house. Edited January 2, 2007 by schnauzer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgie-boy Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Advantix is imidicloprid and permethrin - I have come across one client whose dog had a reaction to Advantix. I contacted Bayer on her behalf and there is a condition known as parasthesia (sp?) which is basically a reaction to permerthroids ie. permethrin. It generally only affects smaller dogs but is not only restricted to them. That being said - I have also had clients whose animals have had reactions to various other products as well so I guess all you can do is try another product and wait and see. They all have different active ingredients. Give her a bath in a flea shampoo but be aware that flea shampoos are only designed to last about 4 days max. There is a product called Capstar whch you can get from your vet. It is a tablet and is designed to kill the adult fleas on the animal within 30mins of having been given. It will only last 7 - 8 hours and is not designed as a long term fix and only give 1 every 24 hours. They are very good - I always have a pack on hand just in case. Use this in conjunction with a monthly spot (you need to kill the larvae) on product - maybe try Frontline or Advantage. Flea bombs aren't that effective - personally I find them a waste of money cos you want the spray to be going into the carpet not up and then supposedly down into the carpet and then they only do a limited area. I would be getting a professional pest company in to spray. Fleas are a pain in the butt - hope you get them under control soon :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbbb Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 (edited) Thanks for your replies everyone. Schnauzer, I am so sorry for your loss. That must have been awful for you! :D I believe that the fleas probably came from the grass - there are at least 6 cats that wander around our street at night (and cr*p in our yard), so I'm assuming they brought the fleas in. The reason I saw the fleas is that I'd given Flame a bath and was playing with her to dry her and gave her a good belly-rub and saw a flea. I think I only saw it becuase it was half-drowned and therfore slower than normal! LOL. I will go and buy some Advantage or Frontline and keep an eye on her for the 48 hours following the medication (which means it will have to be the weekend). I will also wash her and her bedding again (it is washed regularly). I really dont want to get a pest control person in. I quite like my friendly daddy longlegs spinning their webs!! I also have quite bad allergies to cleaning products, so I'm not sure what that sort of stuff would do to me! Our carpet is old and horrible... maybe we should just rip it up and polish the floorboards like we did in the living areas. I keep thinking of how cold my toes will be on winter mornings, but hey, what are chilly toes when you have a happy dog to sit on them and warm them up? Edited January 2, 2007 by jbbb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WreckitWhippet Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 JBBB, I would contact Nicole from Bayer and have a chat to her. PM me if you would like her details. I have always found her wonderful to deal with, should I have any questions . :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbbb Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 Warley, I didnt mean to put down Bayer as a company. I just re-read my post and realised it could have come off like that, so I've added a bit to it in blue. I know that this product works brilliantly for a lot of dogs, just that Flame is allergic to it (hey, I'm allergic to almost every cleaning product on the market, plus grass, so who am I to judge someone with an allergy? :D). I mentioned the name of the product specifically to see if someone else had the same specific problem. I will PM you for Nicole's details. Maybe she'll have some useful suggestions! I never actually thought of contacting the company! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WreckitWhippet Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 I also forgot to add, that you spread lime around your lawns and gardens and this gets rid of the little suckers from your yard. I have only dealt with fleas twice in over ten years, but your action plan sounds pretty good. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbbb Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 (edited) Well I just contacted Nicole at Bayer and she has offered me a sample of Advantage or Advocate to try (my choice). You could not get better customer service than that! A huge THANKYOU to Warley for giving me Nicole's contact details, and a big THANKYOU to everyone else gave me info. Hopefully Flame will be flea-free and happier soon! ETA: Warley - do you mean lime as in the citrus fruit, or lime as in the powdery white stuff? And if it's the powdery white stuff, where do you get it? Does it kill the grass? And how much do I need to spread around? Now I just need to get rid of the wandering cats!! Edited January 2, 2007 by jbbb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgie-boy Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 :D to Bayer - they are excellent! Give the Capstar a try for some instant relief for you girl if you think the fleas are driving her (and you) nuts. Hope your plan of attack works quickly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WreckitWhippet Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 The lime is the good old fashioned stuff from the rural stores ( I don't know where else you would get it ), I just put on a rubber glove and spread handfulls over the lawn and into the garden, you can be pretty slap happy with it, except for plants that burn easlily and then just water it in. It won't kill the grass, it will make it look wonderful. If in doubt about your grass variety , ask a garden centre about your grass, none of mine has died from doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbbb Posted January 2, 2007 Author Share Posted January 2, 2007 Hmmm... wonder if they'll have it at the local hardware store? I will endeavour to hunt some down. The old guy next door will most likely know where to find some - he seems to be a bit of a lawn guru. Not much kills buffallo grass (well, except for Flame!! ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calliech Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 I do not have carpet in my house - so not sure about flea bombing with carpets. No good with carpets. I didn't have a big problem with fleas but it's the carpets that are the problem, even though I persisted with flea bombs too. So I eliminated the carpets and now there are no more fleas Yay for me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KOE Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 Oliver had a bad reaction went crazy on that stuff but the girls were fine took the other 3 things back to the vet and told him to give tham to someone else, might show him this cause he thinks I am mad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kitakins Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 my dog had a bad reaction to advantix. it took over a month to completely go away. i blame the permethrin in it as she has never had a problem with plain ole advantage. when i washed the advantix off her [she reacted 30 minutes after application], the next morning i found a pile of dead lawn beetles on the lawn surface where i washed her. powerful stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TangerineDream Posted January 2, 2007 Share Posted January 2, 2007 With fleas, I've never flea bombed a house but been able to get rid of them quite easily.. every night, lie dog on back armed with a small bowl of hot water and eucalyptus disinfectant....go over dog, picking individual fleas off and dropping into bowl...feel a sense of achievement every time you do - particularly if you get the fat juicy ones full of unlaid eggs Buy a can of "Raid Flea Killer plus eggstoppers" (purple can) and spray the house every morning as you leave if Flame doesn't stay inside....spray around the areas that she sleeps..... repeat the above processes till success... I try very hard not to use chemicals around my dogs so this method has been tried and proven over the last 20 years....I never worried about the yard because my dogs seemed to pick fleas up from being at shows and the yard never seemed to become very infested, even though one of the houses I rented had the mongrels hatching in between the floor boards from a previous inhabitant....... this way works..just takes a bit longer...but the dogs love you picking the fleas off them while they lie basking in your attention with their feet in the air...with a black Dobe, have a desk lamp next to them obliquely so that you shine through the hair...as most of them will be in the groin and around the tail, under the arms...it's not too hard... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrappynsuzie Posted January 3, 2007 Share Posted January 3, 2007 Hi, My dog also had a reaction to advantix. He is a 2 1/2 year old scottie. He went crazy with itching a had the parathesia in his front legs. A hasty trip to the vet, (after I had washed it off him) an antihistamine injection and a vow never to use advantix again. My vet contacted bayer and then I contacted them, very, very helpful, loads of freebies to try and lots of info given to me. I spoke to Cate, and she said that the incidence of allergic reaction to advantix is 0.02% of dogs. She said that the main dogs that have reactions are golden retrievers and Bichon Frise. My scottie was the first. I had used frontline and frontline plus previously with no ill effects, so I will be using frontline again. As we don't live in a tick area advantix is not really necessary, I thought we would be going to the coast for Christmas so decided to use advantix. I would not discourage other dog owners from using advantix as it is proven to be the best tick treatment on the market. Once again I will say that the Bayer team were very helpful and I would not hesitate to call them if I had a query again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbbb Posted January 3, 2007 Author Share Posted January 3, 2007 Thanks for sharing your experinece, scrappynsuzie. We do live in an area with ticks, which is why I went for Advantix over the other brands. Flame has so far not had a tick and we always check her over if we go near the bush. I imagine that the vet was probably trying to calm me down by saying that this was a farily normal reaction..... I spoke to FD last night and we will be ripping up the carpet and polishing the floorboards - yay!! I truly despise the carpet we have, so I'm rather happy about that! As soon as the package from Bayer arrives with the sample, the war on fleas will begin!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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