Fleas

[pandorasmom]

We are getting ate alive with fleas this year on the dogs and the cats. They won't go away no matter what we do. We gave the dogs flea baths then put topical flea meds on them and it's killed some but not completely. I turned one of the dogs over the other day and saw about 75-100 fleas, going in every direction. We've put the flea meds on them, etc.
Does anyone have any good suggestions whatsoever? Anything that's proven (or that you've seen) work??

Thanks,
Sharon

[WashingtonBay]

Among the topicals you've used, have you used Advantage? Advantage is the only topical I've known to actually work. But it's a little spendy!

[pandorasmom]

Nope, not used Advantage yet. But I'm willing to try about anything. I'm so sick of seeing them and feel so bad for the dogs scratching and looking so miserable. If nothing else I wouldn't want a gazillion fleas crawling on me, so I don't want them on my dogs either. We've used Frontline, one called Seregant's (sp ?), and even natural stuff like Vinegar and Garlic that's suppose to work and has for us in years past isn't. The fleas are so bad this year, that it's not even working. We have used one called De-Flea (it's a spray on) and it works really good, but you have to spray everyday and pretty soon the dogs get to where they hate seeing you coming within a mile of them with a spray bottle. I don't want to torture them anymore then they already are by the fleas.

[WashingtonBay]

Try Advantage on all the animals for now... I bet that will do it. no baths, no other sprays, unless you want to also bomb the house, that wouldn't hurt.

Once the population is under control, you may be able to treat just one of them regularly to keep them down.

[lovesfortune]

well, if you have the dogs in the house, the fleas are probably laying tons and tons of eggs and then even if you get them off the dogs they are just hatching and getting back on.

when we brought home our puppy, he had fleas and we called the vet - he was just old enough for a dose of frontline, so we did that, then kept him in the garage for two days (as it takes a few days for the fleas to die off)... while he and our older dog were in the garage we bombed the house, cleaned everything and vacuumed everything up.

it was a HUGE pain, but we never saw another flea again. hope your problem clears up soon!!

[Clarzoo]

Frontline has become ineffective throughout most of the US. The fleas are just immune to it. Advantage still works in some areas. Many people are having good luck with a new product called Comfortis. It is a pill.

Some people have success with using garlic to keep fleas away, but with as high a flea load as you have- I don't think it would be effective enough. I am having a tough time with fleas this year. I am picking up some Comfortis on Friday- we'll see how it goes.

Also, if your dogs have fleas, they most likely have tapeworms, as well. The two go hand-in-hand. If you go to the vet for the flea stuff, ask for tapeworm meds, too.

[pandorasmom]

We have one inside dog, the rest are outside. The one inside dog gets a couple fleas on her, but the ones that have the ones I mentioned above are outside. We have several outside dogs that are allowed to roam in our fenced in property. They go to the barn, the pasture, and anywheres else around here. I know the barn probably has a good bit. We've been wetter here this year weather wise so I think that's where they are coming from. Thanks for the heads up on the tapeworms. We are fixing to order meds for tapeworms and are gonna worm for them again.We worm regularly for it and it's time to worm again. We typically try to worm halfway thru flea season and then again at the end of our heaviest and worst times.

I didn't realize how ineffective frontline had become, but it is. I'll check out the comfortis too. I just want something that'll give relief to them. I feel so bad!

[pasolover]

Last year I used the comfortis too......it worked fine but for fleas only. I have had really good luck with advantage for fleas......I haven't used either this year because we are seeing only ticks, but the summer is young here.

[pandorasmom]

The ticks actually aren't as bad here as they used to be. Knock on wood. They used to be awful, and now I'll see a few but not near as bad as they used to be or as bad as the fleas.
They do seem a little more evident this year then last, but nothing major.

[lisakaye]

What about the spray used on the horses? Would that work?

[zoel_222]

Bug bomb the house. It's the only way to kill what's in there. Advantage and Frontline are the only things that work. If there is a certain area outside you notice the fleas more than others, spray it with an insecticide. Like if the dogs have a special place outside they like to sleep or something, spray it. Even if you don't think there's any more fleas there. Just spray it. Seriously. When we moved in the idiots who rented our house bred basset hounds outside and kept them locked in a little run 24/7 and they were infested with fleas. Even after they'd been gone the fleas were AWFUL. You'd just walk by, or even RUN by and you'd get like 100-200 fleas right on your leg. We bomb the house once or twice a year for fleas and flea eggs. We also treat all of our cats and dogs with Frontline every 30-60 days depending on how bad it is. First we give them a flea bath with the Zodiac stuff, wait 24 hours, give them Capstar, a pill to instantly kill all the fleas on them, then a half hour later we do the Frontline. It works for us. :)

[JetLagaside]

I used to use Advantage on the dog and as for the house Zodiac is just AWSOME it kills all crepy crawly things! Can you tell I love that stuff - no more spiders in my house and it's safe for the cats :)

[mrs1885]

I agree on switching. When I moved from Florida it was Advantage that wasn't working. The vet put ours on Frontline and gave me the breakdown to save us some money. But over the last few years it's not working here either. I had someone suggest Advantix. I'm giving it a try. I've also had people say they switch theirs off, using first one product and then another for the next month to keep the fleas from building up that immunity.

Also, treat the yard. Either with a spray or dust. I can't do mine because of the tortoises and I know that's why I have so many problems. Grrr!! I've had people tell me that sprinkling Borax along the baseboards helps too.

[Ryle]

1. Be sure that you are putting the topical products on correctly. If they label says to apply to the skin, you have to seperate the hair coat and apply them directly to the skin otherwise they will not be highly effective.

2. Consider the lifecycle of a flea. A single female las thousands of eggs a day, so if you've had a flea problem for a while you have got a HUGE number of eggs, pupa and larval stages in the environment. Treating the dog/cat will not kill this immature stages. In fact, there is one stage of their lifecycle is pretty much impregnable and can survive despite environmental treatments like sprays and bombs. This immature stage can survive in the environment for days to MONTHS. This means that no single treatment is going to get rid of a flea problem. You have to treat the environment repeatedly or maintain constant flea control on pets to prevent further egg laying in the environment and ride out the cycle of the immature stages in the environment growing to a stage that can be killed.

I would highly recommend that you put your pets on comfortis (bought through your vet). It's a pill, so no worries about improper application and kills 100% of fleas on your pet within 4 hours of the first dosing. Continuing to use this product for 2-3 months will lead to clearing up your flea problem because it is so effective at killing fleas prior to them being able to lay more eggs in the environment.

Besides effective flea control products for your pets since you have such a high environmental contamination problem you should probably go ahead and bomb your house. This will knock down environmental contamination immediately. Then for the next few weeks vaccuum regularly to stimulate the pupa (impregnable stage) to hatch out and they will get sucked up by the vaccuum. Be sure to take the bag out of the vaccuum daily and put it in a sealed plastic bag to dispose of it. Any pupa that don't get sucked up will get on your pets looking for that blood meal that is necessary as soon as they hatch out of the pupa stage and be killed by the flea products you have used on your pets.

[vicklynn]

Ive heard the complaints about Frontline, but are you using Frontline Plus? There is a difference. I use the Frontline Plus and it works for all my dogs. Tex gets Frontline spray until its gone, then he will get Frontline Plus also.

[Clarzoo]

It is both Frontline and Frontline Plus that aren't working around here.


I took Bernie to the vet to get the Comfortis on Friday and gave him the pill with dinner. He went and took a nap on his dog bed and when he got up (about 2 hours later, lol!) there were 20 or so dead fleas laying on his bed! Ick! But boy, I guess it works! We'll see if it lasts the whole month. It was nice for him (and therefore me) to be able to sleep soundly without waking up to itch at fleas in the middle of the night.

[APPYT]

I got hit with a flea infestation last fall. Used Frontline plus to no avail. I did Blue Dawn baths, flea shampoo's, spray ons, and Capstar as well! Finally I switched to Advantix9 and that did the trick. I assume the fleas were not responding to the agent in the Frontline. Capstar(pill) helps with a quick kill of what is on the dogs. I vacummed and shot bug killer along baseboards and under furniture religiously and finally with the Advantix9 I won. It kills ticks too. That is a requirement due to the woody/wet areas we have.

[pandorasmom]

Thanks for all the suggestions, keep them coming!

We use Frontline Plus, sorry for not mentioning that, my bad. :) We also part the hair and apply directly to the skin in the places the package says.

Dad sprays around the house for all types of bugs and pests, etc. but I know we have them in the house. They come in on us, jump to the dog and multiply from there. They are completely infested in the house yet, as far as horrible everytime you come inside and sit down,etc., but they are in the house. Where would you get the bomb from? And just go by the instructions on the back right? Problem is we can't leave or be out of the house for long, we're in and out all the time.

Clarzoo keep me posted on the Comfortis please, I'm curious to see how long it'll last.

We are trying to battle this best we can, as it's very frustrating and I know most all of you know that.

[APPYT]

I forgot to mention that I never bombed my house as I really do not like that crap all over everything and we have the same problem of being out of the house(dogs that is) for an extended period. Thus the bug spray and flea killer treatments to the house and very frequent vacumming. Good luck.. It seemed to take forever then bam, they were gone.

[Ryle]

Comfortis lasts for 30 days. It's a great product for fleas because it doesn't require you to be able to get to the skin (hard on some dogs) and it kills 100% of fleas on the pet by 4 hours after application.

[vicklynn]

Also use some stuff on your yard. It is important to kill all the bugs there also.

[cyb]

Advantage definately works on the fleas, if you have them in your house you will need to vacuum daily and change your vacuum cleaner bag often to get rid of indoor fleas.