Flea stuff for dog (and cats)

[adventure_woman]

We are getting our puppy in a little over a month. I haven't spoken to our vet yet (obviously) - just wanted to get a budgeters opinions!

What flea stuff do you guys recommend: Frontline? Trifexis? Others?

I probably won't give it year round - because we live in MI and have cold/snow 5-6 mths of the year. So, would Trifexis be out then (I read it also covers heartworm and to give all year round)?

Where is the best place to get it? Is 1-800-petmeds okay? I also noticed that the local grocery store now sells Frontline?

Also - we have 2 indoor cats. Last year I just gave them the cheaper stuff from the grocery store because they weren't ever exposed to any other animals going in and out that might carry fleas in with them. NOW with a puppy coming in, I'm thinking maybe I should go for the good stuff? (I DON'T want fleas!)

TIA

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We use Advantage and Advantix (I think I have the names right)- one is for cats the other for dogs. Imporant thing to note is the one for dogs is poisonous for cats while it's wet so if your cats groom your dog (which mine don't) they need to be kept apart until it dries on the dog.

We used Frontline for years and then got fleas one summer. Our vet said that some types of flea are now immune to Frontline and so we switched to the Advantage type line and haven't had any problems.

 

[pixiewings71]

We use Advantage for the cats, we get the large dog size from our vet and we have a syringe (with no needle) that we use to measure and apply it to them, works great! We give the dog Trifexis, we aren't worried about ticks, we just worry about fleas and heartworm. Our dog loves Trifexis, it's beef flavored so she eats it up with no problems. We dose her year round, we also dose the cats year round.

 

[squirrel]

I learned the hard way that indoor cats can get fleas.

I came back from my trip to WDW and my poor cat was infested with them. She had so many mats in her long hair too! Rushed her to the vets to get a flea shot. I even opted to give her some $5 pills for over a month (once a week) to kill the adult fleas. You can only use those pills with Program.

Just got a postcard in the mail for her to go back for another dose.

 

[Candace]

I use the Comfortis once a month pills for my dog. Same for heartworms. He has had no problems with either. When its time for me to purchase more, I may go with the Trifexis (sp?) since that would be one pill instead of two.

 

[BNM]

Your dog should be on a flea and tick preventative from march through nov. get advantix, frontline, or similar. I would use what your vet recommends, you may get a free dose with the first puppy visit. As far as where to buy it....get it from your vet. You will need to get the dogs heart worm preventative there anyway. I wouldn't bother with petmeds, in the long run you will probably not save any money. Most of the veterinary offices have comparable prices, check and see!

From petmeds or the grocery store, frontline is almost always diverted product. It came from overseas or more likely, was sold to a distributor by a vet who needed some extra cash. Maybe it was stored correctly through all that transport, maybe not. The company will not stand by a product that was not sold through a licensed veterinarian. So if your dog or cat has a reaction, you are on your own. Same goes for vaccines, etc. that you can buy online. The minimal cost savings is not worth the risk IMO.

Stay away from grocery store flea products for the cats. Some cats are sensitive to them. They can develop severe reactions which are expensive to treat, and can be fatal. Even when used according to the label. For the cats I would get revolution, to protect them from fleas and any parasites the pup may bring in. If they are indoor only you probably only need to treat them a couple of times.

Congrats and have fun with your new pup!

 

[marie1203]

So wait you don't give your cats heart worm prevention ? We use advantage multi for our cats but you need a prescription for it just like you would for any heart worm medicine. Heartworm needs to be given year around regardless if it is cold or not. We use K9 advatix for the dogs because we have ticks and interceptor we recently had to switch from interceptor because of the pause in manufactured so we are given them heart guard now.
I get all my products for 1800petmeds they do the same guarantee as the vet in case if anything happens their products come from the same place the vets does and they are much cheaper. They price match which is great. We have been using them for years and I never had an issue all our pets have been negative for heart worn and never had a problem with fleas since we got them over 5 years ago. For example I just order 12 months of k9 advatix for dogs over 50 lb and heart guard same weight for $158 for a year supply.

 

[Friendly Frog]

I have been using Revolution ( year round) for both of my dogs since they were pups. ( Kills flea's ticks and heartworms..and other stuff.)

I once tried separate heartworm and flea meds for a couple of months, but neither Frontline or Advantix seemed to control flea's as well as the Revolution did.

 

[AnnaS]

Heartworm and flea medication prices are according to weight.

We use Heartguard from our Vet - reasonably priced and I have been buying Frontline Plus from drugstore.com. I wait for free shipping and sale. I also use both from April/November.

 

[tink2dw]

TALK TO YOUR VET!! I thought puppies needed their own dosages different from even a one year old puppy. And certainly differently then a mature dog. Heartworm is all year round all the time!!

Our Vet gave our indoor cat,who kept getting fleas over and over a 1 dose pill that she was give then it started killing the instantly fleas of all sizes and it killed the eggs as well and for hours. We kept her in a cardboard carrier for 3 hour. We cleaned her very well. Then applied her back of the neck flea stuff.

 

[Cinderella's slipper]

We use K9Advantix all year round for fleas. Our winter was not as harsh as they have been in the past, and I want to be sure our dog is fully protected. For heartworm and other parasites we use Interceptor. Agree with others that you should check with your vet.

 

[CatNipRules]

We just started using Trifexis and I'm not sure if we are going to continue with it. It's more expensive than just getting the heartworm and fela medication. It's not the cost that bothers me however. My dog has a very tempermental stomach sometimes. You have to give him food at least 20 minutes before hand. Then give him the medicine. Then, if he gets sick, throws up, before an hour has passed you have to give them another one.

So far, he hasn't gotten sick the same day. However, both times that we've given it to him he's gotten sick the following day. Once, he got sick the entire day and anytime he ate or drank something. I'm just not sure if it's worth having to clean the carpets every time he gets sick. Not to mention the toll getting sick takes on my poor dog. I might end up going back to the old stuff afterwards.....

 

[ilovebassets]

we get everything from 1800petmeds and have never had any problems.

we use frontline plus--more in summer, less in winter.

we use interceptor for heartworm every month, year round. you need a prescription for heartworm meds unlike flea meds.

 

[Sandy61]

I learned the hard way that indoor cats can get fleas.

I came back from my trip to WDW and my poor cat was infested with them. She had so many mats in her long hair too! Rushed her to the vets to get a flea shot. I even opted to give her some $5 pills for over a month (once a week) to kill the adult fleas. You can only use those pills with Program.

Just got a postcard in the mail for her to go back for another dose.

Yes! Years ago my indoor cat got fleas. She either got them by standing next to the screen door or we brought them in on our pants. This was when we lived in town at that time.

 

[Maggie Lizer]

I mostly get my dog meds from Drs. Foster and Smith on-line. We use Interceptor for heartworm prevention and generic Frontline for fleas & ticks. I know 1800PetMeds had a problem a couple of years ago with sending out meds that were close to or past the expiry date, so if you go the 1800 PetMeds route, just be sure you check what you get. I ordered from them a couple of times and never had a problem.

 

[Friendly Frog]

We just started using Trifexis and I'm not sure if we are going to continue with it. It's more expensive than just getting the heartworm and fela medication. It's not the cost that bothers me however. My dog has a very tempermental stomach sometimes. You have to give him food at least 20 minutes before hand. Then give him the medicine. Then, if he gets sick, throws up, before an hour has passed you have to give them another one.

So far, he hasn't gotten sick the same day. However, both times that we've given it to him he's gotten sick the following day. Once, he got sick the entire day and anytime he ate or drank something. I'm just not sure if it's worth having to clean the carpets every time he gets sick. Not to mention the toll getting sick takes on my poor dog. I might end up going back to the old stuff afterwards.....

My vet suggested Trifexis but I won't use it because one of my dogs has tummy issues. Plus with two dogs I can't afford for one to throw up her pill and then the other one eat it and get a double dose! This is really the main reason I use the topical Revolution.