Flea Treatment

KxMx

Most drops now routinely prevent against one of the worm types (forgive me can't remember which), ticks mites etc. So well worth doing every month especially for dogs, who walk amongst long grasses etc and can pick these things up easily.

devildog

I only used flea treatment on my dog for the first few months of his life. Every since then I have not bothered and simply add garlic capsules to his food(never seen a flea/flea dirt on him and he is now well into old age)
As suggested by another poster if you want to continue with flea treatments look at sourcing them online-Vetuk supply 3 packs of advocate for £17.61 and although you will need to pay for a prescription from your vet it should still work out quite a bit cheaper.
My dog is now on medication and by doing it this way I save just over £30 per month(after paying for prescription, p& p etc)

CFC

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

Adult fleas usually die within 24hrs of biting your cat/dog after treatment with Frontline. But, what some people are unaware of is that the fleas actually live in the environment and not on the animal so when they spot a flea on their cat/dog several days/weeks later they assume the treatment hasn't worked. It has, but you also need to treat the environment in which the animal lives.

There's no way of telling whether these fleas have hitched a ride back from the farm and are now happily breeding in your home, or whether they were already there so my advice would be to treat your home as well which will also give added protection against them returning for up to a year. This time of year people start noticing outbreaks of fleas as they switch on their central heating and adults fleas start emerging from the pupae, where they've lain dormant for many months. They will then jump on any passing warm-blooded animal (including you!) for a meal!

Thanks Chameleon, couple of questions if you could help me further about treating my home with the spray insecticides:
I have pet fishies in a tank, is that an issue?
Small dog, very low to the ground, breathing in the insecticide in the carpet, is this a risk?
Human who reacts to air fresheners etc (cough cough cough), is this a risk?

And finally, are Frontline/advocate etc all pretty much the same, I notice some need a prescription but frontline doesnt?

CFC

For anyone in this situation who is concerned about powerful pesticides in the home- I avoided the chemical sprays as I didn't really feel I wanted to use them, and we have fish. If I could find a Precor only spray I would use it but have not managed to do so as yet.

I bought Skoosh which is not wonderful but it is not an insecticide. I found a pill called Capstar which I gave the dog to kill the adult fleas, and then started him on Program. Both of these the vet OK'd to use while he was still treated with Frontline.