What do you use for flea control?
Fortunately, pet owners now have all kinds of anti-flea products available to them that make fleas a much smaller problem than they once were.
I've been around long enough to remember those smelly aerosol sprays for flea control. It took
two people, one holding the pet down and turning him over, to apply the treatments. And the people often wound up with just as much stinky spray on them as the pet did. Good riddance to that mess.And before that, there were those entirely ineffective flea collars.
Thankfully, the science of keeping pets parasite-free has come a long way in the past couple decades.
Once keeping pets and their owners happy was seen as a potential profit-making venture, laboratories began working hard to develop more effective products. And they've succeeded. Program, Advantage, Frontline and a host of other products have made pet-owning households much happier places in the past 15 years.
There are concerns about some of the topical treatments -- some pets have adverse reactions to the products. You have to be careful not to use a formula designed for dogs on a cat, for example.
But here's my personal dilemma: I've been using Frontline top spot (not the Plus formula) on my two dogs for several years. I don't think I'd even seen a flea in most of that time.
Recently, though, I've noticed fleas returning before month's end. Cowboy's especially sensitive to fleas but both he and Tess are biting and scratching within three weeks after I've put the Frontline on them. Upon closer inspection, I see adult fleas on both dogs. A single dose of Frontline used to last us a good 6-8 weeks. And I often never had to treat them at all through the winter months, even here in California.
I'm wondering if adding an indoor-outdoor cat to the mix about a year ago could be part of the issue (I use Frontline for cats on Annie). But I also spotted a website that indicated some concerns back in 2007 that Frontline may have been losing its effectiveness.
On the advice of a friend in Idaho (who prefers natural remedies), I've recently started supplementing our flea-fighting strategy with food-grade diatomaceous earth sprinkled on bedding and in pets' coats. It's too early to tell if that's helping, but I'll most likely be consulting with my veterinarian soon to see what he recommends.
In doing a little research, I was amazed at the selection of products that are now available to consumers.
What's your experience been with flea control? What have you found to be the most effective & safest treatments to use?
I like Frontline because it treats ticks as well. But can pets develop a resistance to some of these formulas over time?
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About the Bloggers
Daily Breeze reporter Donna Littlejohn has shared her homes with a succession of wonderful, funny, and occasionally difficult canines -- Muffin, Fritz, Ellie, Mercy, Pilgrim and now Cowboy, an Australian shepherd-border collie, and Tess, a border collie. From strong-willed terriers to weirdly obsessed Australian shepherds, they've invaded her world with boundless energy, wet noses, muddy paws and soggy tennis balls. But they've really brought so much more than that -- like laughter and joy, some unexpected life lessons, and more than a few tears along the way.
E-mail Donna at donna.littlejohn@dailybreeze.com.
Josh Grossberg grew up with the usual array of animals: goldfish, dogs, hamsters, parakeets and turtles. He now owns the loudest dog in the South Bay(Video: Rocket the Dog) and is the least popular person on his block. He spends his free time in dog parks, pet shops and always has an extra plastic bag in his pocket just in case. He also has a cat.
E-mail Josh at josh.grossberg@dailybreeze.com.
There's that garlic again. :-)
2Dogs4Now, yes, you're right -- it would be the fleas that are building up a resistance. Super Fleas are scary to contemplate. Thanks for the suggestions, regular physical "checks" for ticks are especially important for long-haired dogs. Ticks are uniquely disgusting.
Yep, Fleabusters are still around:
http://www.fleabuster.com/
Donna:
Fleabusters? I used them years ago and would like to get the new carpets treated. But I can't find them anywhere. Are they still around?
And, BTW, we've always used Advantage. Seems to do the trick for us. Well, except for Fred at a hefty 22 lbs. He gets it in 3-week intervals when it's flea season.
when I was a kid, my mom always crushed 1 garlic and put it in our dogs food, and we never had fleas,
I thought that the fleas were developing immunities against the toxins in these products, not that the pets develop increased resistance to the ingredients? Like we're actually creating Super Flea species that will be much more difficult to control in the future!
Just be very careful when using chemical products on senior or convalescing pets, many of the horror stories "trend" and I can't help but deduce that the products are not 100% completely safe for every pet at every stage of it's lifespan.
So it's dietary for my house, with lots of grooming that the girls never complain of. Healthy coats and clean beds do not make good "hosts" for fleas.
Ticks? I abhor them, and there are lots of them in the creek behind us. The chemicals simply made the buggers jump off and that usually occurred in our HOUSE!!
I hate ticks so much that I find myself giving doggy massages in order to check for them daily...and the girls don't mind one bit.
I LOVED Fleabusters when I was renting a house with carpet. Now I have all hard floors, but I do use throw rugs during the winter to protect against muddy paw prints. I'm wondering about the yard treatments, I'll check out the Beneficial Nematodes that you mentioned. Thanks.
Because we have carpeting in the house, we use the stuff that "Flea Busters" uses, but we do it ourselves. You can buy the powder at many pet supply stores. In addition, in the backyard, we spray Beneficial Nematodes which you can get at a yard store. We do the carpets once a year and the backyard maybe twice a year in the spring and later in the summer. This has worked GREAT for us and our critters.
More and more people seem to be telling me they use Advantage. Depending on my vet's advice, I'll probably opt to stick with some kind of lab-created product, but the garlic idea sounds intriguing. I'll do some reading up on that. Thanks!
I have always used Advantage. As my cats are indoor models, I use it only twice a year. However, I have friends who swear by using garlic mixed in their indoor/outdoor dog's food. Not enough for the dog to stink...just enough so that the fleas can smell it and be repulsed.