Flea meds

[marthachick]

Put down a bowl of brewer's yeast or at least mix it in his food and it will get rid of the flea's with no other products.

"Use about a teaspoon of unprocessed brewer's (or nutritional) yeast daily for cats and small dogs, and a tablespoon for a 50-pound dog. Some animals are yeast intolerant and will react with a skin allergy. Discontinue use if this occurs.

Other natural repellents include vitamin B1 (thiamine) and unpasteurized apple cider vinegar. (See your veterinarian for the correct amount of a vitamin B1 supplement for your pet.) The dosage of apple cider vinegar is about one teaspoon daily in the pet's drinking water. Apple cider vinegar helps strengthen the immune system."

This is great to know. Anytime we get shots, give her meds or anything, our poor kitty gets so sick. It doesn't matter what it is, she just gets sick. We'll try this. Cool! My mom will be happy to see it to b/c she hates using chemicals for anything. Thanks!!!

 

[malibuconlee]

We can't shake the fleas from my Yorkie. Frontline is super expensive junk as far as I'm concerned. Any suggestions? I'm willing to pay the money if it actually works.

I would call a couple of local vets and ask what they are prescribing. I know when we moved here the vet we used was prescribing another brand because Frontline wasn't working as well here as in other areas of the country.

 

[semo233]

My dog has reactions to those chemicals and I reluctantly tried Earth Animal's Digestive Powder. It is all natural and I just add it to her food....I've started giving her about 1/3 of a can of wet food with her kibble.
It protects against fleas and ticks. This powder can be used for cats also.
Part of our property is a hay field and I found ONE tick and ONE flea on our dog this year...and the tick wasn't attached. I have been thuroughly impressed with it.
If you don't trust it completely, it can be used as a double layer of protection in addition to your topical meds.

 

[horseshowmom]

My dog has reactions to those chemicals and I reluctantly tried Earth Animal's Digestive Powder. It is all natural and I just add it to her food....I've started giving her about 1/3 of a can of wet food with her kibble.
It protects against fleas and ticks. This powder can be used for cats also.
Part of our property is a hay field and I found ONE tick and ONE flea on our dog this year...and the tick wasn't attached. I have been thuroughly impressed with it.
If you don't trust it completely, it can be used as a double layer of protection in addition to your topical meds.

It might be worth trying. I actually give my horses a supplement that contains diatomaceous earth to repel flies, and it works well. It's all natural. I tried it after getting frustrated with expensive sprays that worked with limited results.

 

[joeyrose]

frontline plus works great for my five under 20 pound house dogs. we go for a walk in the woods almost every day. they have a small fenced back yard too. no problems with ticks or fleas. have seen a tick or two but dead.

i buy on ebay, a kit with three vials for large dogs and a syringe thingee and little bottle. one vial is enough measured out for all my dogs and then i throw the remainder down my own back. i have not found a tick on myself this year either. this kit on ebay is dramatically cheaper than individual doses for small dogs.

 

[disneychrista]

The only thing that worked for us was Advantage (not Advantix, not Frontline, not Adams)

 

[phorsenuf]

My cat gets very bad reactions to flea bites. We couldn't find anything to work on him. He was just raw all over. The vet would give him some steroids to try to help with the itching and such but even that didn't help much.

So she decided to give him comfortis. It's made for dogs but some vets will use it off label if every other method has been tried. It was a virtual miracle cure. He stopped itching, his sores healed and his fur grew back. He is one very happy kitty now.

I know you have a dog but I'm telling you, best stuff ever (at least for us it is).

 

[SUSIEQ]

The only thing that worked for us was Advan tage (not Advantix, not Frontline, not Adams)

Same here.


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[Shagley]

It might be worth trying. I actually give my horses a supplement that contains diatomaceous earth to repel flies, and it works well. It's all natural. I tried it after getting frustrated with expensive sprays that worked with limited results.

Last weekend I found a mother cat and 4 kittens and brought them home. Of course they were covered in fleas! The kittens were 4 weeks old, so too young for any type of chemicals. We bathed them with dawn dish soap and then used a flea comb on them a few times a day (not easy to do on squirmy, squealing kittens). We weren't able to completly get rid of the fleas, so I went to our local Tractor Supply and bought a container of diatomaceous earth - food grade. It is a powder and we rubbed a very small bit on each kitten, plus we rubbed it into the rug that they played on. We washed their bedding and washable toys in hot water every day, and within 3 days all the fleas were totally gone. The diatomaceous earth also says it can be sprinkled around the house, or even the outside of the house to cut down on fleas and other pests. Plus it is safe for children and animals. It cost me about $8 for a 5# container, and I think it might have been around $15 for a 20 pound bag.

http://www.richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp

 

[horseshowmom]

My cat gets very bad reactions to flea bites. We couldn't find anything to work on him. He was just raw all over. The vet would give him some steroids to try to help with the itching and such but even that didn't help much.

So she decided to give him comfortis. It's made for dogs but some vets will use it off label if every other method has been tried. It was a virtual miracle cure. He stopped itching, his sores healed and his fur grew back. He is one very happy kitty now.

I know you have a dog but I'm telling you, best stuff ever (at least for us it is).

That's interesting to hear. We have a 13 year old cat who has a brain tumor. Something about the fleas and scratching seems to set off his seizures. The prednisone worked from last Nov/Dec until the last month or so, and then the seizures started again. Each of the ones I saw started with his scratching.

We recently added phenobarbitol to try to get them under control, but I'm going to check with our vet about possibly adding the comfortis if the Advantage I started today doesn't work (hoping it does though - much cheaper since I buy the large containers and split it up).

Last weekend I found a mother cat and 4 kittens and brought them home. Of course they were covered in fleas! The kittens were 4 weeks old, so too young for any type of chemicals. We bathed them with dawn dish soap and then used a flea comb on them a few times a day (not easy to do on squirmy, squealing kittens). We weren't able to completly get rid of the fleas, so I went to our local Tractor Supply and bought a container of diatomaceous earth - food grade. It is a powder and we rubbed a very small bit on each kitten, plus we rubbed it into the rug that they played on. We washed their bedding and washable toys in hot water every day, and within 3 days all the fleas were totally gone. The diatomaceous earth also says it can be sprinkled around the house, or even the outside of the house to cut down on fleas and other pests. Plus it is safe for children and animals. It cost me about $8 for a 5# container, and I think it might have been around $15 for a 20 pound bag.

http://www.richsoil.com/diatomaceous-earth.jsp

I didn't realize they had DE at TSC. I foster for a rescue and hate to use chemical spray on the dog yard since I almost always have puppies. Of course, I keep them out until it's dry as the directions say to do, but I would rather give the DE a shot. I'll take a look the next time I'm in TSC.

 

[lttlmc3]

Just gonna add another tip....if your animal has fleas, then they are also in your house. If the animal is treated, then they will just jump off and live in your furniture, carpet, etc. A great tip is to buy a flea collar. Don't put it on your animal, but put it in your vaccum or vaccum bag. When you use the vaccum and get those little suckers, it kills them. Otherwise, they will just jump right out of the vaccum again.

 

[usnuzuloose]

I have used Capstar to kill live fleas, it works great. We use Advantage on the cats and Revolution or Trifexis for the dog. We normally use Revolution with great results.

I like the triflexis also, one of them is really allergic, He is on the med, I changed his food to a one carb and one protien. Plus I give him benadryl 3 times a day. He has improved greatly. the triflexis is costly but worth it.

 

[Friendly Frog]

Just bumping this to add. In addition ot home, yard and animal treatment...

If your pup is really sensitive to the bites, I have found that a little nesporin ( withOUT pain releif stuff in it) works wonders! Just apply a tiny bit on the bites, rub in gently and don't let them lick for a little while.

 

[navyblue8]

I think the fleas LIKE Fontline. We have had better luck with Capstar and Advantage. They are horrible this year. You have to treat the whole house and yard too.

 

[boltfan]

I want to thank everyone who recommended Comfortis. I purchased it online without a prescription (company from Australia and didn't require it) and within about an hour of giving it to my dog, I could only find flea corpses on him. It was amazing. He's been infested for about 5 months and nothing would work. Thanks to all who recommended this!

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Get plain Advantage or Fruntline and get the size for the biggest dog possible. (It's the same stuff no matter if it's labeled for dogs or cats or what size - the difference is only in how much is in the package!)

Also get a needless syringe (you can often get an unsterile one at drugstores for free) or get a good set of measuring spoons -the kind that go down to 1/8th of a teaspoon and have measuring marks on the inside for ml's.

Open the little bottle of advantage and pull out the right amount for your pet by following this chart

For Advantage:
Cats up to 9 pounds - 0.4ml
Cats 10+ pounds - 0.8ml
Dogs 11-20 pounds - 1.0ml
Dogs 21-55 pounds - 2.5ml
Dogs 55+ pounds - 4.0ml


To further break down the Advantage dosage by weight alone:

0.4ml = 0-10#
0.8ml = 11-20#
1.2ml = 21-30#
1.6ml = 31-40#
2.0ml = 41-50#
2.4ml = 51-60#
2.8ml = 61-70#
3.2ml = 71-80#

For Frontline:

Cats 0.5ml
Dogs 11-22 pounds - 0.67ml
Dogs 23-44 pounds - 1.34ml
Dogs 45-88 pounds - 2.68ml
Dogs 89-132 pounds - 4.0ml

I get the Advantage mail order from Amazon and save quite a bit that way, then I buy the Mastiff size package and just pull out what I need when I need it.

 

[lilmrsellis]

Thanks for all the tips. We have had a terribly busy week and been unable to attend to much of anything. I finally got around to calling the vet and the are giving us Comfortis. They said they have had LOTS of patients calling with the same story. I think it is the warm winter from last year made for some hardy fleas!

 

[elfbo]

We switched to comfortis after frontline did not work. Ended up buying enough for my mom and sister's dogs also, and did a yard spray and house bombing weekend. That was back in early june, and no fleas since!

 

[nicole0992]

I want to thank everyone who recommended Comfortis. I purchased it online without a prescription (company from Australia and didn't require it) and within about an hour of giving it to my dog, I could only find flea corpses on him. It was amazing. He's been infested for about 5 months and nothing would work. Thanks to all who recommended this!

Could you please share what company you ordered it from? I need to do this asap. I have 3 dogs and having the same problem as everyone else this summer. Frontline is just not working. Thanks!

 

[CatNipRules]

Neither Frontline nor any of the generic versions work for me anymore. Used to be great but no more. Waste of money.

Comfortis absolutely works. I used Trifexis which is Comfortis with Heartgard added. I've never seen anything that works as well - almost amazing. That said, my poodle is one of the few that can't take it - makes him vomit.

My dog can't take Trifexis either. In fact, he refused to take it after the first two doses made him sick for the rest of the day. He's smart and figured out that it was that pill we were giving him that made him sick.

So, we've switched back to heartguard and First shield. Luckily he's an indoor dog and only goes outside to do his business.