Puppy Pre-school Teacher Hates Sentinel Spectrum..

[Beks]

Howdy everyone!

Took Ziggy to her first puppy pre-school lesson last week. The Vet Nurse there gave us all a comb bound booklet full of information, which she started to go through with us.. Anyhoo, to get to my point, she was going through the different worming/flea treatments available and she really bagged Sentinel Spectrum! She said that the way Sentinel killed fleas was by 'sterilising' them once they'd bitten the dog. So in other words, it didn't stop fleas jumping onto the dog, or even stop fleas biting the dog. It's only once the flea has bitten the dog that some sort of chemical (?) is released into the flea which stops it biting again.

Any commments on this? I was actually all prepared to go out and buy Sentinel, after ready some good reviews on DOL, but now I'm a bit confused! The Vet Nurse also never even mentioned ticks whatsoever, which I found a little odd. I forgot to ask her about it - but we're going again this Thursday so I'll make sure to ask her then.. Maybe ticks aren't so much of a problem in Adelaide?

Bek

[poodlefan]

Howdy everyone!

Took Ziggy to her first puppy pre-school lesson last week. The Vet Nurse there gave us all a comb bound booklet full of information, which she started to go through with us.. Anyhoo, to get to my point, she was going through the different worming/flea treatments available and she really bagged Sentinel Spectrum! She said that the way Sentinel killed fleas was by 'sterilising' them once they'd bitten the dog. So in other words, it didn't stop fleas jumping onto the dog, or even stop fleas biting the dog. It's only once the flea has bitten the dog that some sort of chemical (?) is released into the flea which stops it biting again.

Any commments on this? I was actually all prepared to go out and buy Sentinel, after ready some good reviews on DOL, but now I'm a bit confused! The Vet Nurse also never even mentioned ticks whatsoever, which I found a little odd. I forgot to ask her about it - but we're going again this Thursday so I'll make sure to ask her then.. Maybe ticks aren't so much of a problem in Adelaide?

Bek

Does that vet practice not sell Sentinel Spectrum?? Unless you actually find fleas on your pup, why use any flea treatment at all?

Paralysis ticks are predominantly an Eastern Australia coastal problem. I don't think you get them in SA but it doesn't hurt to double check.

Edited December 3, 2007 by poodlefan

[tramissa]

What she says about sentinel and fleas is correct - it stops the life cycle, not the fleas themselves. If you live in a flea area, none of the intestinal wormers are going to help.

Sentinel is a wormer primarily, it just has the secondary effect of sterilising fleas. It's a great product for what it is. I used it along with a tick collar on my girl when we first moved up here. Now that we're swimming lots, the collar isn't much good.

If you live in a flea/tick area, best to use something like interceptor (does all the worms that sentinel does) plus advantix spot on - fortnightly for paralysis tick prevention, or monthly for other ticks if you're not in a paralysis area. Works for fleas too.

For major flea infestations, capstar + treating the area (bedding, carpets, under house etc) is really the only way to start.

[Beks]

Poodlefan - yeah I don't think the vet sold Sentinel - I should've guessed! It is kind of annoying that they have such a biased opinion..

Tramissa - thanks for the advice - I'll have to look up Interceptor and read up about it more.. I'll make sure when we got back this week to ask the Vet Nurse about ticks and whether they're a problem here or not.

Cheers!

[cavNrott]

The vet nurse is correct. Sentinel Spectrum is a flea contraceptive. It works well, I've been using it for years and never seen a flea on the dogs or in my house. There will be no flea population in your house if you use Sentinel. It won't kill a hitch hiker flea but the flea will never reproduce if it bites your dog. Most flea problems are caused by flea eggs in your house or yard hatching and you get thousands of fleas that feed off your dog.

I'm surprised to hear that the vet nurse was bagging Sentinel...do they sell it at that vets? My experience of puppy school was that the vet nurse pushed Eukanuba dog food ad nauseum and she had very little clue about dog training. I had paid for the full course of puppy lessons in advance but didn't bother see out all the lessons because I got sick to death of hearing about Eukanuba. I wouldn't feed that brand anyway and my pup was fed BARF.

ETA: Ooops I was a bit slow in replying.

Edited December 3, 2007 by cavNrott

[Beks]

cavNrott - The only reason I'm taking Ziggy to puppy pre-school is for the socialisation aspect - as for everything else, I can learn all I need to know from DOL! And the best thing is that with so many people on here, you get a "true" opinion on things, rather than a Vet Nurse's biased opinion!

And yeah - my vet nurse handed out little sample bags of Eukanuba as well

[cavNrott]

cavNrott - The only reason I'm taking Ziggy to puppy pre-school is for the socialisation aspect - as for everything else, I can learn all I need to know from DOL! And the best thing is that with so many people on here, you get a "true" opinion on things, rather than a Vet Nurse's biased opinion!

And yeah - my vet nurse handed out little sample bags of Eukanuba as well

Yeppers, that's why I took my pup there too. I really wanted to socialise here right from the start of her life with me. Problem was that there were two large breed pups, mine being one of them and 4 small pups. The vet nurse didn't have the confidence to allow the large breed pups off lead with the little ones so the small ones got to play together and the biggies were kept onleash. My pup was in fact the quietest pup there but because she is a Rottweiler she had to stay onlead. She already knew sit, drop and come anyway but it was awful for the two of us who had to keep our pups onlead while the others were allowed to play together. That's why I didn't bother to go back after the second session.

Geez, you got a free sample of Eukanuba. All we got was earbashed about it

[Staff'n'Toller]

Basically it works quite well if you only have one dog at home, or all dogs are being given Sentinel.

If you have a cat, they need to be on program injection (same drug) or an adulticide (frontline, advantage etc.)

It doesn't guard against hitchhiker fleas but if you read the largest study on fleas in Australia by Dermatologists, the rate of hitchhiker fleas is very very low. Ask the nurse if she's actually qualified - she should have been given the study at school!

Mel.

Edited December 3, 2007 by Staff'n'Toller

[piper]

Howdy everyone!

Took Ziggy to her first puppy pre-school lesson last week. The Vet Nurse there gave us all a comb bound booklet full of information, which she started to go through with us.. Anyhoo, to get to my point, she was going through the different worming/flea treatments available and she really bagged Sentinel Spectrum! She said that the way Sentinel killed fleas was by 'sterilising' them once they'd bitten the dog. So in other words, it didn't stop fleas jumping onto the dog, or even stop fleas biting the dog. It's only once the flea has bitten the dog that some sort of chemical (?) is released into the flea which stops it biting again.

Any commments on this? I was actually all prepared to go out and buy Sentinel, after ready some good reviews on DOL, but now I'm a bit confused! The Vet Nurse also never even mentioned ticks whatsoever, which I found a little odd. I forgot to ask her about it - but we're going again this Thursday so I'll make sure to ask her then.. Maybe ticks aren't so much of a problem in Adelaide?

Bek

Ticks are not an issue in SA.

As for what products they recommend - it seems to depend on what the clinic mostly stocks. Or is some cases (I used to run the training componenet at some puppy preschools with a vet nurse doing the health stuff) who is "sponsoring" the puppy classes. At 1 clinic we would have revolution to be included in the puppy packs and at another Advantage. So even if they prefer 1 over the other if they have been provided with free product samples for clients they are more likely to encourage that 1 over another brand.

As for what to use - use what works for you and your dog. After several years of lisening to different talks at different clinics it is what I decided is the best course of action.

From what I know though if you have a current flea infestation then sentinel would not be the best choice, once under control though it works well to break the breeding cycle.

[Pug Hugger]

cavNrott - The only reason I'm taking Ziggy to puppy pre-school is for the socialisation aspect - as for everything else, I can learn all I need to know from DOL! And the best thing is that with so many people on here, you get a "true" opinion on things, rather than a Vet Nurse's biased opinion!

And yeah - my vet nurse handed out little sample bags of Eukanuba as well

Yeppers, that's why I took my pup there too. I really wanted to socialise here right from the start of her life with me. Problem was that there were two large breed pups, mine being one of them and 4 small pups. The vet nurse didn't have the confidence to allow the large breed pups off lead with the little ones so the small ones got to play together and the biggies were kept onleash. My pup was in fact the quietest pup there but because she is a Rottweiler she had to stay onlead. She already knew sit, drop and come anyway but it was awful for the two of us who had to keep our pups onlead while the others were allowed to play together. That's why I didn't bother to go back after the second session.

Geez, you got a free sample of Eukanuba. All we got was earbashed about it

OT!!

That stinks - at our puppy pre-school we had a pug, three PP SWF's, a toy poodle, a Viszla and a Great Dane.

You have never seen anyhting as sweet as my puggy play with a great dane! The Vet Nurse allowed him of lead whenever she could so he did not get 'big dog syndrome' and while he was enormous he was as gentle as anything!