Flea Treatment? Already Used Frontline+

[SteveO]

Dog is miserable - we treat all our dogs and cats (5 pets) with Frontline Plus and it works great. Wife thinks maybe she didn't squeeze it all out from the applicator last week. Suggestions on dog-safe, non-chemical remedies that won't interact with whatever amount of insecticide is currently on the dog? She has a very thick coat; hard to get to fleas to get them out but with a flea comb they (and droppings) are evident. Thanks.

[Racer X]

diatomaceous earth. tiny tiny sharp silica particles. Gets in the articulated carapace of the fleas, and cuts them up and they die. Can be used as a carpet treatment as well. Harmless to dogs and cats, and us.

You can also bump up treatment frequency to 3 weeks for the Frontline if you have a bad infestation. And vacuum frequently!

[evilrobot]

very good results with Capstar (tablets) on our cats. they got a bad infestation last year. after dosing them, fleas were dying/falling off within a half an hour.

after that, we did the topical / Frontline and treated the house.

[Robert M]

Steve,

Am I correct in assuming you've treated your home as well as the pooch? If your pets have fleas and are indoors, then I can guarantee, their in your home, too. That means, treating the animal beds, carpeting/rugs, furniture like couches, etc. If you've treated the animals but not the rest fo the home, then you've only done part of the job.

If your vacuum is a model that uses bags, vacuum and then seal and toss the bag. Don't reuse it. Vacuum again. Toss the bag. It's all a part of the process.



Robert

[Ombligo]

Sounds like the dog has fleas and your trying to stop them before things get ot of hand. A dip may be the easiest and quickest remedy, but treat the house too

[wurm]

I can't speak to its effectiveness on fleas, but we bought one of these suckers a few months ago and haven't seen a tick on the mutt since. And we used to spend a fair amount of time picking ticks off her after our daily walk. Not cheap, but it's some of the best money we've spent on her.

[GuyGene]

Here's what to do: get, just GET a Seresto® collar. You are done.

[Microman]

Son has a St bernard, / Golden Retriever mix, and dog was going crazy, loosing hair, etc... Finally took to the dr, and they recognized immediately that it was allerg to fleas.. Gave a prescription pill, once a month. The dog is like its old self. And my son says the pills are available online.....

Hair was falling out, and dog was spending all the time itching, scratching...

Now looks to be a dog again, running and jumping....

[Pam]

Seresto collar - Used this for years. My dog is just now showing a skin reaction so we're switching back to nexgard.

Nexgard - once a month

Brevecto - every 3 months. Lots of search and rescue dogs on it with good results.

Simparica - vets seem to like this. Once a month.

[SteveO]

GuyGene wrote:
Here's what to do: get, just GET a Seresto® collar. You are done.

LOL on the Seresto rec - I wrote some of the sell copy for this product and Bayer's line of flea/tick remedies about 18 months ago for them (or I should say for their ad agency). Laughing because it has come full-circle for me now, ha ha ha.

I have used Bayer stuff and found it works well. Dog is already dosed up on insecticides right now, though...I'm looking for a non-insecticide, natural treatment. (good idea on the diatomaceous earth, Racer X). I will also try the google. Thanks all. I forgot to mention, my dogs killed a possum early this week so Greta likely picked up a few extra fleas from that poor fella.

And yes, with 5 pets we vac very frequently, empty the canister (Dyson) and are well educated on the infestation thing. (Luckily we do not have an infestation, doh.) I flea-brushed Greta this pm and found 3 live fleas (killed 2 of 'em, one varmint jumped away) and a dead'un. Wife just pulled another dead'un off G, and she wasn't scratching so much this pm so I think whatever FL+ made it onto her is now working. Will keep brushing daily; this actually works pretty well if you can be fast enough to kill the little suckers when you have them trapped in some hair on the comb.

Finding headless squirrels in the yard is also a frequent occurrence. My cats work for the Russian Mafia! ::o