# Fleas!!!!!



## Porphyria (Jul 13, 2011)

Today I noticed several fleas on Zephyr! This is the first time I've ever had a dog have fleas, so I'm not sure what to do. He is on Frontline to prevent them, but I'm not sure it's working now! it probably has been about a month, maybe a little more, since his last dose, so it is possible that it had worn off. Because he was due for another application anyway, as soon as I saw the fleas I gave him this month's dose of Frontline; hopefully it will kill them. If not, does anyone have any recommendations for products to kill fleas (and preferrably their eggs)? I got a flea comb and some shampoo with neem, so tomorrow after the Frontline application has dried, I am going to give him a bath with that. I am sure I should probably spray the yard as well. Is there a recommended product for doing that? What about carpets, couches, bedding, etc.? Any suggestions on how to make sure they are all flea-free? I'd prefer not to use anything like "flea bombs," as I have fish tanks and can't imagine that would be good for them. Thanks in advance for any suggestions guys!


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## RCTRIPLEFRESH5 (Feb 11, 2010)

Porphyria said:


> Today I noticed several fleas on Zephyr! This is the first time I've ever had a dog have fleas, so I'm not sure what to do. He is on Frontline to prevent them, but I'm not sure it's working now! it probably has been about a month, maybe a little more, since his last dose, so it is possible that it had worn off. Because he was due for another application anyway, as soon as I saw the fleas I gave him this month's dose of Frontline; hopefully it will kill them. If not, does anyone have any recommendations for products to kill fleas (and preferrably their eggs)? I got a flea comb and some shampoo with neem, so tomorrow after the Frontline application has dried, I am going to give him a bath with that. I am sure I should probably spray the yard as well. Is there a recommended product for doing that? What about carpets, couches, bedding, etc.? Any suggestions on how to make sure they are all flea-free? I'd prefer not to use anything like "flea bombs," as I have fish tanks and can't imagine that would be good for them. Thanks in advance for any suggestions guys!


well we used vectra with Shane..although with winston, the rescue gave us frontline which we had intended to use before being advised by this forum to be frugal with flea treatments. now we are going to only give when fleas are visible on winston.

but frontline should work, if not they are lying about their product lol.


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## swolek (Mar 31, 2011)

Frontline stopped working in my area. The vets kept pushing it anyway and the company claimed we must have fleas in our yard (uh, what? shouldn't it kill them anyway?). We switched to K9 Advantix and haven't had a problem since . Since at that point the dogs were infested (not enough that fleas were jumping on us or clearly visible but the dogs were scratching and had bites) we sprayed the house (can't remember the name of the spray, it was from the vet office) and also gave each dog a Capstar pill. One of the rabbits got a flea (I only found the one but was nervous she had more) and so I treated all of them with Advantage (which I'd totally recommend for dogs if ticks aren't an issue).

We have carpeting so I also vacuumed every day while this was going on. It was horrible but we beat them. I wish we had tried the Advantix earlier but the vet techs were acting like we must be applying the Frontline incorrectly and we kept trying, ugh.

Oh, and I have an open-top saltwater reef aquarium. I simply covered it with towels while spraying and didn't spray directly at it. Everyone was fine . The other aquariums were also covered but they have lids, too. If my open-top tank was OK, yours should be too.

I think the roaming neighborhood cats brought the fleas . Or our neighbor's loose dogs. I'm glad to say that the Advantix does a great job and we never even see ticks on them now (they used to get occasional ticks on Frontline...resulting in one dog getting Lyme disease).


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## Porphyria (Jul 13, 2011)

I've heard accounts of Frontline no longer working in some animals, that the fleas are becoming resistant to it. Which sucks because I just bought six months worth! It still seems to be working for my mom's dogs, so maybe I'll sell it to her to use on her sheltie and try Advantix. I'll definitely vaccum the carpeted areas he's been on, and look around for yard/home sprays to use. 

I'm not really worried about the fish when it comes to spraying, it's those "bombs" that I worry about. I know they're supposed to be the best way (short of hiring an exterminator) to get rid of an infestation, but since you have to evacuate the house to use it, I'm very nervous about using it anywhere near my fish. So I'd prefer to find a good spray I can use and only try a flea bomb as an absolute next-to-last (right before exterminator!) resort. Maybe I'll call the vet and ask about flea sprays I can use.

Has anyone here used anything from the Natural Chemistry brand? Their flea shampoos for dogs got some pretty good reviews, and they make a spray that's safe to use on pet bedding, so I assume it would be good to use on couches and possibly carpet. I wonder if it works.


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## malluver1005 (Nov 15, 2009)

I used to use Frontline Plus on Aspen, but then it quit working. Now he is on Comfortis. It works great for fleas and their eggs, but not ticks. Unless ticks are a problem in your area, Comfortis is a great product. I only use flea topicals in the summer here.


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## Donna Little (May 31, 2011)

I've heard good things about comfortis but haven't tried it yet. Frontline does nothing at my house either so I also switched to Advantix and it's done the trick. If you are going to use Frontline though I don't know if I'd bathe either right before or after. I think they say you need to wait several days between using it or it isn't as useful. I had my yard treated last yr and so far no fleas have been seen this summer. Keeping my fingers crossed....


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

I use DE for my cats, dogs, house and out side!:smile:

I havent seen any fleas at all since starting...and last year was BAD even though everyone(including at the time an indoor/outdoor cat) was given Advantage!:wink:


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

I also have fish tanks and when I lived in New Zealand we had to use flea bombs as they were TERRIBLE there! I just covered them with towels as well and they were fine. I had frogs in one and they are very sensitive as they breathe through their skin and also had a reef tank with corals and they were all fine, too.


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

Caty M said:


> I also have fish tanks and when I lived in New Zealand we had to use flea bombs as they were TERRIBLE there! I just covered them with towels as well and they were fine. I had frogs in one and they are very sensitive as they breathe through their skin and also had a reef tank with corals and they were all fine, too.


Yep, that is EXACTLY how I cover all of my fish tanks and husband's frog tank(some times Ill put a garbage bag over the tanks as well, depending on if husband wants Mr. K covered better or not!!:wink


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## DoglovingSenior (Jun 26, 2011)

The same thing happened to me with the Frontline-it stopped working. I tried Comfortis-which became major battle time. I am now on Advantix and am considering Revolution. I wil fight fleas-as I remember the old days with the "dips" which bothered me more than the topicals do & the constant smell of Adams flea spray I cannot stand the thought of fleas in my house!


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## Tobi (Mar 18, 2011)

Donna Little said:


> I've heard good things about comfortis but haven't tried it yet. Frontline does nothing at my house either so I also switched to Advantix and it's done the trick. If you are going to use Frontline though I don't know if I'd bathe either right before or after. I think they say you need to wait several days between using it or it isn't as useful. I had my yard treated last yr and so far no fleas have been seen this summer. Keeping my fingers crossed....


we used Comfortis before going to raw, since being on raw we've not seen but 2 fleas! :lol:

About comfortis, highly recommended as there are "fewer side effects" per vet and digging that i've done about it. we were giving a 560 dose every month and it was working perfect.
As i understand the ingredient Spinosad in it is much safer than many of the others, they also use it on humans for head lice cream or something iirc.


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## Porphyria (Jul 13, 2011)

Thanks for the suggestions guys! I've never had a dog have fleas, so I've kind of been freaking out. He goes under the house a lot, and I suspect that's where he got them. They love dark, damp places like that. The Frontline website says it's ok to bathe the dog as soon as the application spot dries--about 24 hrs. I bathed him more than 24 hrs. after applying and it was dry; I used a shampoo without detergents or soap, so I'm not concerned about it washing off. I genuinely think it didn't work anyway though, so I wouldn't mind if it washed off. Last month I applied it the day I bought a new pack; I just checked the receipt and found that it was actually a bit _less_ than a month ago. Plus I still saw live fleas more than 24 hrs. after his most recent application (it's supposed to kill them in twelve hrs. or less). So I'm pretty confident the Frontline wasn't working.

I washed him with the Neem shampoo and found a few more fleas with the flea comb. Then I went out and bought an arsenal lol. I bought Advantix II and will call his vet tomorrow to ask when it will be safe to apply (since I just applied Frontline the other day). In the meantime I have given him a dose of Capstar. I got the Nature's Chemistry De Flea for bedding, and I'll use that on his crate and the couches. I also got their carpet powder to use upstairs. I'm washing all of the dog beds and blankets, all of the collars, and all of the stuffed toys (that stuff was probably due to be washed anyway). I also sprayed outside, but I'm not sure it will work as the spray was meant to be used indoors. I figured the worst that would happen was that it would kill the grass, and that's already dead from the heat anyway. So far I haven't seen fleas on anything but the dog, but I really want to stop this before it becomes an infestation. If I find fleas in a few weeks' time (when any eggs laid by these fleas hatch) I'll probably call an exterminator.

I guess my biggest concern regarding my fish is that I have bettas, which breathe air. I'd just be paranoid that they're breathing in chemicals. But I'm not too worried about sprays since I have more control with sprays. If I need to have an exterminator, I'll deal with that issue when it comes. 

Thanks again!


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## monikawilson (Aug 8, 2011)

where do you live? The only thing which controls our flees 100% is frontline PLUS. I am absolutly happy with it. It will kill adults and eggs. You can also give cap star (pills) but they will only kill the adults and not the eggs. However that works also 100%. For the surrounding - that is hard. Wash the blanket or wherever your dog lays down with bleach and then you can buy flee spray for your funitures in pet stores. They help too but it is a lot of spraying.


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