Frontline Not Working

[sallyandtex]

Hi there,

We use Frontline spray as we have ticks. works well, but there are still fleas on her!

Have used Revolution with some success, but seems to only work 2 weeks (VERY expensive too).

Anyone (with the problem please) use anything more effective, and with coverage for Heartworm as well?

P.S.

We also have 2 cats

[bedazzledx2]

Have you tried Advantage? (or Advantix if you have ticks in your area) I have found the Frontline spot on to become ineffective and have had lots of people verify this with their own pets. Changing to another spot on seems to fix the problem. One thing to be very aware of is to know your dogs (and cats) weight and go by that rather than the small medium and large breeds listed on the pack.

Sorry just re-read and saw you mentioned ticks! I prefer monthly heartworm rather than potentially overloading with a do all product.

Hi there,

We use Frontline spray as we have ticks. works well, but there are still fleas on her!

Have used Revolution with some success, but seems to only work 2 weeks (VERY expensive too).

Anyone (with the problem please) use anything more effective, and with coverage for Heartworm as well?

P.S.

We also have 2 cats

Edited December 5, 2010 by bedazzledx2

[jamieson]

Hi there,

We use Frontline spray as we have ticks. works well, but there are still fleas on her!

Have used Revolution with some success, but seems to only work 2 weeks (VERY expensive too).

Anyone (with the problem please) use anything more effective, and with coverage for Heartworm as well?

P.S.

We also have 2 cats

I use advantix every 2 weeks and it kills all fleas and seems to keep paralysis ticks away as well. My dogs are in the water a lot so I make sure they stay out of water for 48 hrs after the advantix is applied. I live in one of the worst tick areas on the nth coast of nsw and I have not found a tick in 2 years!!! I have 4 dogs. It is expensive but a site called priceless pets sells advantix online much much cheaper than other suppliers. I have 2 long haired cats and use advantage on them monthly and the fleas are nowhere to be seen. I did have a bad flea problem before I started using the advantx and advantage like clockwork.

Word of warning though; the advantix is deadly to cats , so dont let the dogs near them for the first day after application then it seems to be ok.

Heartworm I use the yearly shot as my dogs come due and on the others the heartquard chews. Hope this helps.

[darlingdog]

We just moved house and the new place is CRAWLING with fleas. I advantixed my dogs 4 days before moving and it did NOTHING. They were full of fleas within a few hours. After tearing my hair out for 2 days I was told of COMFORTIS which is a monthly flea tablet. BRILLIANT, within 3 hours they did not have a flea on them. That was 2 weeks ago and still is working well. Does not do ticks though.

[sallyandtex]

Hi there,

We use Frontline spray as we have ticks. works well, but there are still fleas on her!

Have used Revolution with some success, but seems to only work 2 weeks (VERY expensive too).

Anyone (with the problem please) use anything more effective, and with coverage for Heartworm as well?

P.S.

We also have 2 cats

I use advantix every 2 weeks and it kills all fleas and seems to keep paralysis ticks away as well. My dogs are in the water a lot so I make sure they stay out of water for 48 hrs after the advantix is applied. I live in one of the worst tick areas on the nth coast of nsw and I have not found a tick in 2 years!!! I have 4 dogs. It is expensive but a site called priceless pets sells advantix online much much cheaper than other suppliers. I have 2 long haired cats and use advantage on them monthly and the fleas are nowhere to be seen. I did have a bad flea problem before I started using the advantx and advantage like clockwork.

Word of warning though; the advantix is deadly to cats , so dont let the dogs near them for the first day after application then it seems to be ok.

Heartworm I use the yearly shot as my dogs come due and on the others the heartquard chews. Hope this helps.

Thanks all for your advice.

Will check out that website.

[sallyandtex]

We just moved house and the new place is CRAWLING with fleas. I advantixed my dogs 4 days before moving and it did NOTHING. They were full of fleas within a few hours. After tearing my hair out for 2 days I was told of COMFORTIS which is a monthly flea tablet. BRILLIANT, within 3 hours they did not have a flea on them. That was 2 weeks ago and still is working well. Does not do ticks though.

Is that available online?

[jamieson]

We just moved house and the new place is CRAWLING with fleas. I advantixed my dogs 4 days before moving and it did NOTHING. They were full of fleas within a few hours. After tearing my hair out for 2 days I was told of COMFORTIS which is a monthly flea tablet. BRILLIANT, within 3 hours they did not have a flea on them. That was 2 weeks ago and still is working well. Does not do ticks though.

Is that available online?

Sounds good. though if I dont use the advantix or advantage reguarly as directed on packet for fleas ( montly) and ticks ( fortnightly) it does nto work so well. Fleas have cycles and you have to break the egg and flea cycle with regular treatment then there are no more eggs to hatch and no more fleas. Cats are big flea carriers , so very impt to get the cat fleas under control, this helped me shen I was able to do this. If I use advantix as a one off it is not so good and must be used reguarly for fleas. It works for ticks very well though and this is my biggest worry due to where I live. The comfortis sounds good too pity it does not do ticks.

[Dog_Horse_Girl]

I use the frontline top-spot rather than the spray.

I will not use an all-in-one for fear of being unable to separate the chemicals/dosage and therefore potentially increase the load on the dog's immune system. I use Interceptor for heartworm/intestinals and frontline spot-on for fleas and ticks.

I use one large dog frontline vial split between my three dogs and it works well in combination with checking for ticks and using a flea comb when needed.

I have also just moved and this yard is full of fleas - likely to be courtesy of the next door neighbours' apparently newly acquired pups and kitten.

[stormie]

Advantix is toxic to cats while it's on the dogs, not just immediately after application. So if your cats sleep up close to your dogs or groom them, I wouldn't use Advantix, or any flea collars etc.

Having cats, I would use the Frontline Spray for the ticks and maybe look at using Comfortis for the fleas. It's a bit of a double up, but if your cats are in the picture, then you don't have a lot of choice, unfortunately.

[Tralee]

Hi sallyandtex

On the North Coast, the local folklore claims that the fleas here are immune to Frontline.

Advantix not only worked for us but also turned our ticks to shriveled, withered pips.

[sallyandtex]

Hi sallyandtex

On the North Coast, the local folklore claims that the fleas here are immune to Frontline.

Advantix not only worked for us but also turned our ticks to shriveled, withered pips.

thanks again to you all,

Yes I have used Frontline spot-on for fleas and it didn't work this year, but did a few years ago. |We are near Newcastle and a few others have complained.

The cats seem to be Ok with the ticks, its Pup I fear for. But currently the frontline spray seems to knock 'em!

One of the cats rubs upto pup so I might play it safe and try the other one, or go back to the Revolution, even tho it seems to loose it's effect. Might be the everyday swims can't keep Her out of the water!!

[mita]

Me, too. Used to use Frontline spot for ages. Then it seemed not to work, for fleas. Changed to Advantix spot, & all's been well.

Edited December 5, 2010 by mita

[Crazy Daisy]

I use comfortis after many, many months with a flea problem. It took about two months to work and I have never seen a flea on my dogs since. It has been brilliant

[poochmad]

We've tried frontline and hated it - so much stuff and it makes a mess. We have gone back to Revolution and today at the vet were told that Frontline is useless. I don't know why they sell it if that's the case.

ETA - if we go to tick area we always use Advantix but I don't know what to do because you have cats (we don't).

Edited December 5, 2010 by poochmad

[Dju]

I'd say Advantix is a good option, but in my opinion you don't really need a heartwormer for every month, it's just more chemicals added to your doggy's system, and most people don't know how long it actually takes heartworm to grow into an adult stage--the stage in which they can do damage! We go by every three months instead.

It takes about three months for microfilaria (baby worms) to grow inside your dog to a larval stage, and even longer for these larva to mature into adult heartworms.

[Guest bigdogg]

Go to bunnings and get the concentrated confidor in a tube..

Google the rates for your size dog..

Cheap and effective.. Same active constituent as one of the leading brands..

[Souff]

There are some great natural treatments too ...... essential oils, or borax, or flea traps, or death to fleas by drowning!

e.g.

Basic flea control shampoo for pets with fleas.

12 ounces water

1 tablespoons of castile soap

2 drops of peppermint essential oil

2 drops of eucalyptus essential oil

2 drops of lavender essential oil

2 drops of rosemary essential oil

Or whatever ones you have of these essential oils.combine ingredients in a jar. Shake well. Dampen your pet. add enough shampoo to make a lather and work. Rinse off well.

I think it is going to be a doozy of a flea season. Here are some natural sites to check out:

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/01/010305a.cfm

http://lacetoleather.com/safefleacure.html

http://eartheasy.com/live_natural_flea_control.html

[Kaleb]

No matter which flea/tick control you choose, you need to use it every month (or fortnight for ticks). This is because of the flea life cycle. Not sure if you are aware that the fleas you are seeing make up less than 5% of the total flea population? 95% of the problem is the immature stages in the environment.

None of the topicals or systemics are capable of jumping off the back of your dog and killing immature stages.

Unfortunately, if you have not been treating year round, it can take up to 6 months to get on top of the problem (the little buggers can pupate for up to 6 months)

The only way to kill a flea is to get it to jump onto the pet and die from whichever chemical you have chosen to use, this is why you see fleas every day for a while - they are the new ones hatching!

There is no resistence to any of the modern treatments, what we have is a lot of people using them as a silver bullet - eg put it on once when you see fleas and expect the problem to be gone immediately. Unfortunately, they do all need to be used each month, year round, as fleas are about all year round.

Comfortis worries me I have heard some reports of reactions - it is a systemic drug, one that goes into the dog's blood - the others are just on the skin. Spinosad (comfortis) was previously used as a lice pour on for sheep... not something I want in my dog.

I know that the fleas are bad - especially if you are on acres, we have a rabbit plague and the increase in fleas has been staggering, rabbits carry fleas too! currently working on trying to create a bunny free zone for the dogs to run in!

Edited December 5, 2010 by Kaleb

[darlingdog]

We just moved house and the new place is CRAWLING with fleas. I advantixed my dogs 4 days before moving and it did NOTHING. They were full of fleas within a few hours. After tearing my hair out for 2 days I was told of COMFORTIS which is a monthly flea tablet. BRILLIANT, within 3 hours they did not have a flea on them. That was 2 weeks ago and still is working well. Does not do ticks though.

Is that available online?

Not sure... I just went down and bought it at the local vet. Sure I paid too much but the situation was desperate LOL!!

[corvus]

We had the same problem a while ago, but none of the other flea treatments were working, either. Even tried flea bombing and it only knocked them down for a week. I was just about ready to pack up and leave. Then Comfortis was released and we were flea-free in 3 months. It is at the moment 100% effective. It is a bit hard on their tummies to begin with, but IMO worth it to say goodbye to fleas. It works so fast. I get it from the Vet Shed.

We use preventic collars for ticks.