Fleas and hard times

[susiestar]

Our cats, once again, have fleas. It has been awhile since they last had them. Five or six months. When they don't go out and no one comes to play it is easy for the fleas to die off.

Alas, my bro stopped by a while ago. Jake, his border collie, was with him. So we have fleas.

For a long time I bought the large dog size Advantage and divided it up for my cat and my parents 3 cats. That let us treat all the cats for 2 months for about $10.

The price has gone up. It will now be $15.

Advantage is the same for dogs and cats. The original Advantage, not the newer one. I spoke to the vet and found that SHE had been doing this and selling it for the regular retail price to all her clients! Her tech told me this - she was rather unhappy at telling clients that it "came that way" to vets, not in the retail packaging you see online.

Frontline is different in dogs and cats. The cat frontline has more of one ingredient than the dog one does. You can also divide frontline. I have done this also.

You need a small bottle that holds 10ml and 2-3 needleless syringes that measure up to 1.0 ml. Empty the medicine into the bottle then draw out the amount for cats.

If you have dogs it is easy to buy the largest size (for the biggest dog) and then divide it for your smaller dogs.

I don't know how those of you with more than one animal survives the cost of flea medicines if you don't already do this.

Just thought I would post it for those of us who have more animals than we used to or are in tighter budgets than we used to.

Here is a site that talks about advantage: http://www.lisaviolet.com/cathouse/advantage.html

 

[GoingNorth]

I found many years ago, even when I lived down South in TN, that what I fed my animals made a big difference in whether or not they picked up fleas or ticks.

Feeding the animal an optimum, meat based diet that is high in healthy fatty acids and the like, makes the animals smell less attractive to fleas.

I am very sensitive to flea bites and I swear they go for me before they go for the critters. Durng my vegetarian years I was much less likely to get bitten.

If you see one flea on your pet, you have hundreds of them and their offspring in your house. Not just carpet and upholstery, but places like the gaps between floorboards and the like.

Ideally, you should bomb the house and arrange to have the pets dipped at the vet's or groomer's.

Time it so that you vacuum before you pick up the pets. Use a vacuum with a bag and toss in part of a flea collar or a good handful of flea powder in the bag before use.

Remove the bag and it's contents outside of the house.

IME, treating the animals is useless unless you also treat the house.

 

[Fran]

Susie, I just got 6 months for 3 extra large dogs and almost dropped my jaw at the price. I wasn't happy.
I'm crazy about critters on the long hair dogs that may get in my house as well as tics.
I have been fortunate with no fleas until I took Cowboy to the beach in Galveston. He came home with sand fleas. Yuck. He got a flea dip type bath and we have been flea free.
So far the monthly treatments are working. They do eat pretty good food so maybe that has helped also.

 

[Mattsmom277]

Argh! Sorry you are dealing with this. I have a strict policy that nobody, i mean nobody, brings a pet with them to visit. I've even been known to ask S/O's sister to not come visit while she is treating fleas at her house so that she doesnt' bring them in on her. Knock on wood here, but so far so good. I've yet to have a flea infestation. Years ago when I adopted 2 kittens, they were so infested that I was livid with rage at the family who had them. I've never seen such infested animals until then, not even on those animal rescue shows. They should have been charged with animal cruelty as it was obvious the infestation was a LONG one and not treated in any way. Can you imagine a persons home with a out of control infestation? I put the poor kitties in a closed box in the bathtub and rushed out for flea treatment stuff. Got myself good and clawed up as the poor kitties desperatly tried to escape the water but also the fleas that flocked to their eyes, mouth and ears as I tried to get them all. I was devestated for the poor kitties. By end of that day, they were flea free and thus started my no pet visitors policy. I also have refused since to ever have outdoor cats. With our current cat, I occassionaly in summer use a cat leash and harness and bring him out to our yard. I give him frontline treatment before I begin outdoor excursions.

Good luck! That stinks.

 

[witzend]

I don't know if it works for dogs, but what I do works for anything that bites me, and believe me, I got half dollar sized welts when anything bit me, and apparently I was a feast because I never got fewer that 30 bites at a time.

I started taking garlic tablet supplements once a day about 10 years ago. I have not even once been bitten by a flea or a mosquito in all of that time. So far, I am still able to give the dogs the frontline. I don't notice any fleas, even though I go with the three month treatment. We don't have ticks in our area, so it works for us. I shop online at the 1800petmeds and other type shops and get them cheap and delivered for free. It helps an awful lot.

 

[klmno]

I've heard garlic works too- although I've never asked a vet if it is safe for dogs. My dogs got fleas for a short while last year after I was late giving them their frontline plus- I had forgotten it. The dog me chantix (or something like that) to use for a few months to make sure the fleas hadn't gotten immune to the frontline. It worked, now I've gone back to frontline plus to get the bennie of tick protection. What gets me on price the most is the heartguard- it's expensive!

Fran- if you check this thread again- are you flying your dogs? If so, any recommendations? I used to fly two other dogs I had but that was years ago. They weren't flown in extreme weather conditions and I made sure any change of flight had ample time between flights and I never had a single problem even though one was diabetic.

 

[Hound dog]

I stopped buying the expensive brands when I discovered that hartz Ultraguard works as well and is LOTS cheaper. And especially when Bruce didn't have a reaction to it.

I get 3 doses for the price of one of the expensive brands. And it works the same way.

With it and the tar soap I just picked up for Molly........our Petland just opened.......she's gonna be good to go. Her skin ought to start clearing up and begin to heal.