What My Vet Said About Fleas

[louloud]

I've noticed people are looking for a treatment that does fleas and ticks. I've had feedback here in NZ that frontline plus isn't working as well as it used to. There is a new flea and tick treatment called Practic which as i know was tested in Aussie so must be available over there. It's a once a month topical treatment like Frontline but they have studies to prove it is more effective than frontline

[xsy]

Hi,

I have no flea problems with my dogs, but... previously owned a Rottie which was a flea magnet - had 2 Jack Russels as well, never had a flea problem with them - and being white fleas show up on them very easily. So you need to consider that some dogs attract fleas more than others, same as some people will be covered by mozzie bites when the person next to them gets none! Also, I use a tea tree soap which is a natural insect repellant. Its also very good for doggy dandruff & odours. As my dogs are German Spitz, with long thick coats, they are thoroughly groomed with a scalp massager at least 3 times a week - as a kid I LOVED brushing my stuffed toys!!

anyway, seems to keep all fleas, ticks etc at bay. For the rottie I used a powder, it seemed most effective.

cheers

Kris

[royalla]

i have a dog that was bitten by a brown snake a couple of years ago now i can not use any poisons on her so i just treat all my dogs now the same way and i don't have a flea problem i wash my dogs or spray them with a mix of wintergreen oil and water 1/4 teaspoon wintergreen to a bucket of water you just wash your dog with your shampoo first non flea rinse then slop the wintergreen all over the dog apart from their eyes of course with a rag one bucket can do up to three to four dogs depending on size of course and if i have run out of wintergreen i make up a mint and rosemary wash 2 tablespoons dried mint / 1 tablespoon of dried rosemary add to 2 litres of water bring to the boil then let cool strain and add 1 more litter of water wash dog with shampoo non flea then get a rag and slop mint rinse on do not rinse this one or the wintergreen of they kill and repel fleas you can use both of these to spray your carpets and lounge, beds now the wintergreen will keep killing fleas and their eggs for up to 3 months but the mint will only kill for about two weeks i just spray my hole house out at the start of each season and i also spray the dog pens and yard twice a year it's a lot cheaper then frontline and works a hell of a lot better.

Edited September 20, 2008 by royalla

[Amika]

All the chemicals in the world sprayed,poured on your animals are not that effective if you have an area which is flea infested. You must treat your garden/yard if you want anything to work effectively. I'm lucky....no fleas on my dogs as we obviously dont have any fleas in the ground. It's nice to be chemical free, but if you do have a problem, don't just douse your animal in chemicals...treat the real problem.....like someone already mentioned....they live in the dirt/sand....dogs are just a ride and a feed.

[violetmay]

Was good reading this thread as I picked up some other products to try. Advantage is supposed to last a month, but only lasts 2 weeks on my maltese. When I find fleas I just give him a bath in his regular shampoo and because he is white and small it is easy to pick the fleas off one by one. I think because maltese have different fur to regular dogs it makes the flea finding process easy compared to other dogs. Then the next morning I reapply the advantage. I will try one of the other brands recommended next time though. Not really happy with advantage.

[Odin-Genie]

I use Advantix every fortnight throughout the year. Never had any fleas. So I'll recommend that. I also brush and comb them almost everyday.

[ChristinaCline]

Thanks for all the advice everyone, i just got over a really big flea invasion and used advantage, and some stuff i pick up at the pet store for the house. Hopefull thats the end of it until next year or never would be nice

[dee lee]

Ok, just put some advocate on Evie today. Took me 2 weeks to get some.

Lets see if this works better than Revolution- hope so, I have 6 months worth oh well at least she is heartworm protected.

Really hoping I'm not going to have to buy anymore Capstar.

So far the environmental sprays aren't working either. My next step will have to be professional pest control. Crossing fingers.

[ruthless]

Have you tried Permoxin?

[dee lee]

Have you tried Permoxin?

I couldnt find it last time I looked for it at the pet store and the hardware store. They were all sold out of a lot of flea control products.

(... and then i forgot about it - I actually have a list with that on it still in my bag! :rolleyes: )

Ive been using a flea control spray and fleapowder with Capstar in the meantime. Will have to look for the Permoxin again next time.

Edited November 12, 2008 by ✽deelee

[Goodwill]

I am use advocate on saxon for flees and have never had a problem.

Soon i will be moving to a high tick area and i have the preventic collar but the only problem i have is that when i am at work saxon will be in the yard, and i worry that if it rains and he does love running around in it, i will have to constantly change them.

Does anyone know if you can use advocate and proban together. Atleast then i know he is being protected when i give him the tablets.

I'm using advocate and proban on my Golden Retriever (and advocate only on my siamese/burmese cat). Vet assured me this was fine. No fleas, no ticks, no side effects noticed, just happy animals and people.

[mita]

I was given a tip by a man who runs a produce/pets supply store, which has stocks of all the usual anti-flea stuff.

He told me he'd always owned blue heelers & took them for a swim in the salt water at a beach, every few days. His dogs never had a flea on them. And he never had to use any products.

As I don't live near a beach, I've never been able to try this out.

In the meantime, I use Capstar....then the regular Advantix. But it's tough trying to stay ahead of the flea invasion.

[dee lee]

OK, day ONE and Evie doesnt have any fleas after applying the Advocate yesterday.

I am tentatively optimistic since I havent put any Capstar on her for about 4 days now and usually by now I will start to notice some fleas (she has a white strip down her throat and tummy so they are easy to spot). I am wishing SOOOOO hard for this product to work.

Unfortunately I just think that all dogs/environments are different. I have NEVER had as much trouble with fleas as I have in this house with this dog. Its been driving me crazy.

Edited November 12, 2008 by ✽deelee

[ruthless]

VetnPet Direct sell it. If you don't want to buy online I can get you some from my local pet shop, from memory it's about $8 more expensive than buying online though

Just get some and a spray bottle, mix up a solution and spray the garden and Evie. It's cheap and effective. If it doesn't fix your problem I'll buy you a bottle of woine

[aj88]

I would guess that up until 100 years ago, all dogs had fleas.

They are not fatal, though they may cause some nasty skin problems.

Your vet may or may not be right . . . but it's a case where you can afford to experiment if you don't like the vet solution. Some vets err strongly on the side of caution . . . or perhaps the meds companies have been very good in teaching people to sell their products . . . or perhaps some people are so upset about the slightest flea problem that vets feel a need to use overkill every time.

actually they can be fatal - if you have a really bad problem with fleas on your young dog/cat they can die due to blood loss. Obviously they have to be really bad but i had a kitten in work once who had such a horrible flea problem that its pcv(red blood cell volume) was 3% - a normal pcv is like 35-40. it died on arrival

Flea shampoos dont work - what i do to control my fleas. is start with the capstar tabs to kill the fleas and then use a spot on treatment - advantage, frontline or revolution. I use revolution because it controls most intestinal worms to! If you are consistant with your flea treatment you dont even have to spend all those hours controlling the environment. Get it under control on your dog and you wont see another flea. I have three dogs and not one of them has a flea anymore and i have never washed their beds. Flea pupae (the stage between larvae and adult flea) and very resiliant, they have a little protective cocoon which is almost impossible to penetrate)

The malaseb, sebazole, pyohex are not flea shampoos - they are medicated shampoos for dogs/cats with skin problems, they wont kill fleas. The best form of treatment is a monthly spot on treatment.

[aj88]

I am using sentinal spectrum monthly,i am capstarring almost fortnightly,and spray the yard and dogs with permoxin...still we have fleas!!!

Hmmm the fleas have become a problem since the neighbours got a cat,...wonder if this might be the cause?

My vet has put me onto a product that I will be using over the weekend .. its called K-O by Bayer..

Will let you know if i have any success

ETA didnt read Sherees post.. I am even keener now to see how this works out

sentinel only sterelizes the flea egss, does not kill them and capstar will only kill the fleas that are on your dog at that time, it isnt a prevention. so all the little nasty buggers that are in the environment just crawl back on. you need to get onto a monthly prevention. use capstar first to kill them then put revolution, advantage or frontline on MONTHLY to control. it takes awhile, keep at it! it took me 4 months to control the fleas on my girls. but i kept at their treatment and havent seen a flea first as i said above, you dont need to control the environment. you will not kill the pupae. control your dog and you will never see one.

[dee lee]

VetnPet Direct sell it. If you don't want to buy online I can get you some from my local pet shop, from memory it's about $8 more expensive than buying online though

Just get some and a spray bottle, mix up a solution and spray the garden and Evie. It's cheap and effective. If it doesn't fix your problem I'll buy you a bottle of woine

God you're a nag!!!

BUT... one week after applying the Advocate and... *drum roll*... NO FLEAS!!!!!!!

Shame about the woine though.

(will still get the permoxin to dose the place though... promise. ;) )

ETA: one month on and STILL no fleas! Thank goodness. that reminds me, time to reapply!

Edited December 4, 2008 by ✽deelee

[persephone]

I love permoxin!!!

As we have the little stickfast fleas here, and never the big jumping "dog fleas" we are continually finding them on teh dogs

A spray on ears, feet and belly, and a wipe above the eyes once a week or maybe every 5 days or so is all it takes to keep them off

permoxin has a wetting agent in..is almost odourless, and 1 small trigger spray bottle of mixed solution does several dogs!

The dogs don't mind it either..as there is no nasty smell, and they aren't WET ..like with a bath.

[MissMolly]

I went to buy permoxin a while ago to treat my girls with it, (as a spray) and the guy at pet barn said it was dangerous to use on smaller breeds so i didn't get it.

Is this true?

[Kangaroo dog]

you can buy concentrated confidor or a product called spectrum 200, its the same chemical as what is in advantage but twice as strong so you only need half as much(eg it has 200gm/l)

you can mix it up and spray the yard with it and it will obliterate fleas pretty good

costs about $160-190 for a litre and should last you quite a few years... saves you a lot of $ compared to the petshop type treatments which are the same thing(well advantage, you can get the other chemicals for advantix and advocate too if you want to make that up)