Once a month tick and flea treatment for dogs

[keesmom]

I have yet to find anything that keeps ticks off my fuzzy boy. Frontline did nothing, so I just search him several times a day. It's not easy finding them in a heavy coat. I'm in MA too, in a heavily tick infested area - every dog in town tests positive for lyme and finding 20 a day on my boy isn't uncommon in peak season. (The record was 192, not all deer ticks luckily.)

My vet doesn't recommend the lyme vaccine and doesn't bother to treat unless there are obvious symptoms. Unfortunately all I can suggest is checking your dog, and yourself. I found 2 on me in the past 4 days.

-Cindy in MA

 

[gypsy2621]

Quote:
The warm weather brought the little buggers back out in mass.
I took 2 off me after digging plants in the warm weather, talk about a shock, ewwww I hate ticks, of course having lyme is one good reason to hate them.

I have been using frontline on the beast and it seemed to work this year, will it next year, hard to say.
I know many people have been complaining that the once a month flea control has stopped working and the fleas and ticks are walking right through it with no effect.
maybe the trick is to use one product for the year and switch to a different one the next year, with a repeat cycle every year. I cant use DE on Thunder his under coat is so thick its even hard to get Frontline down to the skin.
I have heard good and bad about Bio Spot I used it one year for a cat and it worked fine. the next year though she developed an allergy to it and had to switch.
Hartz steer very clear from that its just not safe.

I do remember years ago through my vet I was able to pick up a spray, I cant for the life of me remember what it was , but you could spray it on the dogs, cats, bedding, rugs, and even human beds, it would turn the fleas red and you just vaccume them up.
I can no longer find it anywhere. I do miss that spray though.
One thing I also do is toss a flea collar into my vaccume cleaner ( shop vac) this way any fleas picked up get into the flea collar and dont survive, then I just toss the bag into the outside trash and be done with them. it has helped a lot doing this.
disclaimer: IF your allergic to flea preperations do not try this, the exhaust from the vaccume will put the smell into your air.

 

[Chickie'sMoma]

interesting Gypsy, i'll keep that in mind.

i haven't had any issues that i've noticed with fleas yet. but the ticks the last 2 -3 weeks have been driving us nuts!

i've pulled 5 off so far these few weeks. i've found them before they've gotten big-they look like they just started to bite. they've been in the leaf litter in my front yard since that is where i've been getting him to do his business.

i've been using the Hart's stuff on him for the summer since the stuff from the vet's has been so expensive with dh out of work this past year. it seemed to have been working or it could have been the chickens in the yard keeping them in check all summer. but now the chickens are in my garage coop for the winter and not getting to the little buggers.

i gave my dog a bath a few days ago and put the stuff on him and i haven't seen a tick since but he's been so annoyed by the feel of the oil slick on his back i'm thinking of washing it off him and trying the DE now. (i'm hoping its not fleas that aren't affected by the stuff.)

i've heard that you can give dogs a small amount of garlic in their food to help build up some toxicity in their blood that the fleas and other bugs won't tolerate. does anyone know if this is really true? i've been giving turkey meatballs that have it in them as a treat and a preventative.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Ya'll need to get some guineas too. You won't have any ticks with a flock of guineas around.

 

[keesmom]

Quote:
Frontline has never worked on Dutch. Not sure why, other than his coat and skin tends to be drier than some of the more common breeds such as labs and goldens. So I gave up. For some reason he doesn't get fleas so I don't have to worry about that.

We always get ticks in 2 batches, once in the spring from March thru June, then again from Oct thru Christmas. The second round is always all deer ticks. Spring starts out with those then the larger ticks come out around May. I get tired of being cold, but at least there's no bugs in Jan and Feb!

 

[nop169]

In our area the vets have a new one called Vectra 3D. This year has been a very wet year & we have had flea surges every 3 months or so... we used the more economical Cutter with great results for 2 years, Frontline for 3 years.... after those time frames they stopped working effectively... We also have guineas which negates the use of any other preventative for most of the year usually nor do we have to treat for the dreaded fireants due to the guineas most years - however this wet year we have had to treat both the dogs & the yard (which I hate to do as we live pretty much an organic lifestyle) so we spot treat for the ants & I only treated the grass strips in the yard for fleas & not my extensive worm filled flower & garden beds. With the guineas we normally only have to treat the dogs 2 or 3 times per year every 3 months or so.... this year it was a monthly battle from April til now & the Vectra 3D does a great job - but it is pricey & is not available except through the vet so far. With 6 dogs & Vectra costing $90.00 to treat them all one time.... we decided to try ACV in their water last month. The ACV seems to be helping a great deal & is much more economical.
Note that even though our normal routine is not to treat the dogs monthly (partly due to expense partly because I do not like using synthetic control methods) we normally do not have a flea issue. All 6 dogs live in & out of the house (YES it is alot of work keeping everyone clean!) & are in our laps daily where we check for fleas and we usually only find one or two or no fleas. This year (at times of surge after the rains) we are finding 20 or so per dog thus we used the Vectra 3D. Our floors are pine throughout with scatter rugs so the house is easy to maintain... our yard is harder due to my aversion to general kill all bug formulas. We used the Vectra 3D three times about every 3 months with great results but choose to try the ACV two weeks ago after bathing the dogs. I started off with 1 cup in 3 gallons of water for 2 days then diluted down to one ounce per gallon. Immediante improvement & have found only one flea on one dog & 2 fleas on the other dog (these two are the flea "magnets" of the crowd). We are going to continue the use of the ACV & hopefully negate the use of the Vectra except for out of control surges. I also plan on raising our number of guineas from 17 to around 30 (we have 24 acres to control!).
Also please note that if alternative control methods were not working we WOULD use the Vectra every month. I am a firm believer in that if you take an animal in you are responsible for their total care - even if it is expensive! But try the ACV - it seems to be working for us & ask your vet about the Vectra 3D. None of our dogs (chi, jr terr, cockers (2), cattle dog & aussie) reacted to the Vectra & it worked amazingly well when we used it & lasted on average about 11 weeks....

 

[~SunSetsWest~]

I use K9 Advantix, works great, never had luck with Frontline, also if the shampoo you are using is not soap/detergent free it will remove any product you use, it must say soap free. No dandruff, flea and tick or medicated shampoos.. Nothing I've found repels ticks, they must bite first. In addition, with Frontline you must use it 2-3 days before or after the bath and not right after, with K9 Advantix you may use as soon as the dog is dry. (Do not use K9 Advantix on cats!!) And for those using Sentinel for heartworms, it has a product that sterilizes the flea, it does not kill them...

 

[BarbK]

Remember to stick with what you get from the vet!!!! They are safer than the otc pesticides. The over the counter items have been KILLING animals!!!! They are also as bad or worse for humans than the stuff you get from the vet.

 

[~SunSetsWest~]

Quote:
Agreed!!

 

[NateinFL]

Frontline is a waste of money it NEVER lasts a month like it claims. Advantage I have found to be much more effective I'm gonna give the DE thing a try as well. Would be a much cheaper alternative. I learned a few years ago that if there's fleas on your pet, better get it taken care of ASAP or they will OVERRUN your house.