# flea medicine?



## faerie (Mar 27, 2010)

frontline quit working here too. i tried comfortis w/ good success on my bigger dogs, but i'm not 100% sure i want to do internal meds again. i was a bit worried about side effects.

it is time to start pondering this as flea season is starting up ...


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## Sookster (Apr 11, 2011)

I love Comfortis! Here in Georgia, Frontline is pretty much useless and a waste of money. For fleas, I think Comfortis is about the best product on the market. It is unfortunate that it doesn't protect against ticks as well. The vet claims that Comfortis and a product such as Frontline or Advantix can be used together, but that is a lot of chemicals for me and I don't know that I would do that. It could also get very expensive. I have also heard to use Comfortis along with a tick collar that the vet had called PrevenTic but I have never used it so I can't vouch for its safety or efficacy. Good luck! Fleas are a constant headache where I live, we generally only get 2-3 months out of the year that we don't have to use flea preventative, so I understand the headache!


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## caboodles (Jan 7, 2011)

Where I'm from, the vets are all about the Revolution flee, tick and heartworm prevention. It's a monthly topical treatment that you apply in between their shoulder blades/neck onto their skin.

I used it last year, and never had any problems with it.. so it could be something to consider if it's available where you are?


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## Searcher (Aug 7, 2009)

We don't have heartworm medicine here (at least not yet).


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## EmilyK (Mar 26, 2011)

My vet recommended either Frontline Plus (this is also what the breeder recommended - I sure hope it works!) or Advantage. Have you tried Advantage? Your vet might have an idea of how much you need to worry about ticks. My dad is in upstate NY and they never have any issues with them. But I asked my vet (we're in SW PA) and he said he pulls handfuls of ticks off of pets every day. I suspect your vet would know how much you need to worry about them where you are!


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

Frontline does not work on my whippet. I have no idea why not. Advantage works very well on him and lasts over a month. We don't have heart worms here. Prevention treatment that combines fleas and heart worms is available, but no one bothers to do it. 

Frontline did work on my last standard, but she always felt lousy for the first day after having it squirted on her. 

The most successful flea treatment I have used is to completely spray our yard with flea killer (keeping the dogs in for several hours until it dries) and putting Advantage on them. One flea treatment to the yard a year, done in the March, along with advantage once a month from March through October does the trick - NO fleas.


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## Liafast (Apr 9, 2011)

Be rewal careful with the new flea/tick collars from the vet. If you have more than 1 dog and it gets pulled off and another ingests it can make your dog very sick if not kill it. I was at the vet last year and someone put them on their dogs and they were eaten by both dogs....the dogs survived with over a week of hosptialization.


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## Searcher (Aug 7, 2009)

Realized I should have said that we do not have heartworm here yet. So do not need heartworm medicine. Also, Advantage doesn't seem to be effective up in this area. I have heard that both Advantage & Frontline are coming out with new products.

We are in an apartment so no yard. Out in the woods, trails & dog parks all the time.
Still looking for options.


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## Chagall's mom (Jan 9, 2010)

I've used Frontline successfully for years here in New Jersey, but we're being overwhelmed with ticks this year. My vet now recommends Vectra 3D. I'm just starting to research it and have no experience with it yet. I think I'll cross post to see if someone does.


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## kris6332 (May 14, 2011)

Comfortis is the only thing I have found to work here in Arkansas. We are surrounded by woods on all sides so we have to be very diligent. It does NOT work on ticks. We have used various tick collars from the vet that I would put on Buster in the daytime if we were out and then take off when we came inside. I hated to think I was overloading him on chemicals plus I didn't like the kids petting him and rubbing against the collar. I may have unfounded fears. Frontline completely stopped working here several years back. Revolution seemed to half way work. We have to treat our yard or we get covered up with ticks and fleas. Never had a flea infestations inside and don't want one. Have known many folks around here, dogs included, that have come down with different tick diseases. My uncle almost died from Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Disease and still suffers ill effects from it years later so I do not play around with ticks and I ain't having fleas!!! Don't know about where you live, but Comfortis is very cheap here dompared to Frontline and Revolution!


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## CT Girl (Nov 17, 2010)

Chagall's mom said:


> I've used Frontline successfully for years here in New Jersey, but we're being overwhelmed with ticks this year. My vet now recommends Vectra 3D. I'm just starting to research it and have no experience with it yet. I think I'll cross post to see if someone does.


This is the worst tick year I have seen - probably a result of the very wet spring we have had. I have tried Frontline and Advantax and I am still picking ticks off Swizzle at an alarming rate (not to mention me). I would be most interested in reading about what you discover.


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## Searcher (Aug 7, 2009)

We live in Bellingham, WA and we also have had a very wet winter & spring so anticipate that ticks might also become a problem this year. So far our ticks aren't as much of a problem as elsewhere inthe country. 

I haven't heard of Vector 3D so will look into that too.


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## EmilyK (Mar 26, 2011)

I just heard on the radio this morning that they're expecting a bad tick year in PA as well. My vet gave us Advantix for our spoo and we just treated him for the first time a couple of days ago. We're going camping in the southern tier of NY this weekend so I guess we will have to just be very diligent in checking him whenever we're doing stuff like that!


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## schnauzerpoodle (Apr 21, 2010)

I have been using Frontline and Frontline Plus. When Nickel was suffering from a flea-bite allergy, our holistic vet suggested Comfortis every 3 weeks for the first 3 months and then once a month for 3 months. The itchiness caused by the flea bite was gone within hours. Then the holistic vet said we could go back to Frontline Plus and use Comfortis during the flea season so that's what we are doing now.

Make sure you give Comfortis with food. I gave Nickel the pill without food once and he threw up.


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## Ennui (Apr 10, 2011)

Searcher, I am in western WA too and I have already seen more tick activity then I have before. (I have facebook friends posting pic's of what they have found on their kids!) 

We get our puppy in a week and a half so I will be interested to see what you find works. I never put anything on my Toy, she only had fleas once in her life and picked them up in Florida. I assumed a bigger dog, more outside time, more needed flea and tick prevention. 

It is nice to know Heartworm isn't here. I didn't know that!


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## fracturedcircle (Aug 19, 2010)

we use a topical spray from Dr Karen Becker and we live downtown Chicago, so we don't see that many insects.


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