I need puppy training advice

[Hound dog]

I would be very leery of getting flea medications some place other than the vets office, or the ones that you can buy in the store that say they have the "same ingredients" as the ones from the vet. My friend has two gorgeous big Airedales and they bought some off-brand flea medications at Walmart. The nest day they noticed that one of their dogs had big red patches all down his back and shoulders where they had applied the stuff to his skin. Better to get it from the vet where you know what you're getting.

I've had better luck with a flea collar than some of those off brand flea drops. Might be cheaper, but if they did anything..........I sure didn't notice.

I've never had a tick issue until husband let the back yard turn into a jungle..........and deer started coming in to graze. Now why on earth they want to come in and graze in my FENCED in yard is beyond me.....but they've been at it for months. Now, we have to check for ticks all the time. Travis brought two in with him in a single day. ugh

 

[donna723]

A long time ago we used to use flea collars on our dogs andif the vet saw them, he would cut them off and throw them in the trash can! He said that the chemicals in them get in to the dogs' body and their kidneys try to filter the poisons out. It can cause kidney failure in some cases. I never used flea collars again after that!

From what they've said, the fleas can build up an immunity to the active ingredients in the topical flea medications and they have to slightly alter the formulas every few years for it to be effective. Supposedly they didn't do that with Frontline a couple of years ago and it didn't work well at all! It had always worked well for us before and two years ago I spent big bucks dosing my four up with Frontline as usual. It never did get rid of all of them and within two weeks they had more than they did in the beginning. Then I had to wait another two weeks before I could put something else on them! I don't know if the Comfortis works the same way but so far, I really like it!

 

[DammitJanet]

My problem is I am pretty much blacklisted at the vets here because of the koi with the shooting of my two dogs. I refused to pay that vet because they told me they were going to charge my neighbor with a crime and make him pay so they kept one dog alive longer AND they did a necropsy on the other to get the bullet out to take it to court. All this ended up on the bill. Then they didnt take him to court. Refused to and wanted to make me pay the bill. I might have been willing to pay for just Maggie but no way the whole necropsy stuff. That was almost 2 grand. Yeah they took me to court and I have a lien out against me. Oh well. Get blood out of me. I dont work. The only reason they didnt charge the guy is because he is the brother of one of our local judges. They didnt know that at the vets office. I thought the guys last name was a different last name.

I wonder if they sell that pill online without a rx? Like at petmeds.

 

[donna723]

http://pet-supplies.drsfostersmith....vision=pharmacy&w=comfortis&searchdivision=-1


This is from the doctors.Foster &Smith website

 

[DammitJanet]

Oh good heavens! I went to 1800petmeds and if you look at everything there and read all the reviews on all the products...omgosh. Honestly I wish I could get that revolution stuff Lisa was talking about but it is also a RX product. I dont think I can just walk into any vets office and just ask for it over the counter can I? If so, I will go to one and do that in a heartbeat.

I think this is going to be an extremely bad tick and flea year. People who have used Advantix II for years are already complaining that something has changed in the product and it isnt working anymore. No, we just didnt have a winter to kill the bugs. Especially down south.

Lisa....when you go to your vet to get your puppy its shots, will you ask when the second round of shots should be? We gave the first round at about 6 weeks. We wormed and gave the shots about 4 days apart because you cant worm them and give the shots on the same day. You also cant have them inside when you worm them. That is an icky mess you really dont want...lol. We are going to worm the girls again this weekend. This weekend they will be exactly two and a half months old...well on Sunday they will be 2 and a half months old. I need to know when the next round is. I think its soon.

 

[donna723]

Janet, I don't know if the vets offices around you work the same way as ours does. But during flea season, all kinds of people come in to the office - without their dogs - and just buy the flea medications. I was there with Katy last week and with Trace last Saturday and while we were there, there must have been a dozen people come in just to buy flea medications! They don't need to see the dog and you're not charged for an office visit. Usually they just ask how much the dog weighs so you can get the correct dosage. There may be others too but the only one you probably couldn't get that way is the Advantage Multi. It also is a heartworm preventative and the dog has to be tested before taking it to make sure they don't already have heartworms. But everything else you should be able to just buy over the counter at the vets office.

 

[DammitJanet]

Oh whew! That makes me feel better.

I can go tomorrow then and pick up some revolution. That is what I think I have decided to go with I think. I read a lot of good reviews on it...I think...lord my brain is fried right now from reading. I would just do the pill but we have fairly bad ticks here. Just the other day Tony found two fully grown ones lying in the middle of the family room floor and we dont know if they came off of Buddy or one of us. Most likely would have been Tony or Billy, though it could have been me or Cory when Cory stopped by or even Buck from when he was here. They were right in the floor by his place on the couch. The only time I have ever got a tick is when one crawls off either a dog or Tony.

 

[donna723]

You might ask at the vets office which brand has been the most effective this year. The formulas vary from year to year so the fleas don't build up an immunity to it and sometimes one brand works better than others during the same time period. And not all kinds work for getting rid of ticks either. Of course, none of them will really prevent a tick from hitchhiking into the house on a dog, the same way they get on people's clothing, but they will prevent the tick from biting the dog or kill it if it does bite. Gawd, I HATE ticks!

 

[Hound dog]

Donna is right. I rarely take the dogs in for a visit for flea medications. I just walk in and buy them. And I actually get them at my vet because it's cheaper than anywhere else, including online. I've checked. And my dogs don't see a vet after spaying/neutering unless they're sick. I do my shots. So really, no reason for them too.

I'll ask about when to give the 2nd and 3rd rounds of puppy shots. (I think it's 3 total, not sure......it's been six years LOL ) Because I'll need to know too, I'll be giving them to Maggie after this first time.

Can't say I've ever had any messes after the wormer though, even with pups that were infested to the point of vomiting them. *knocks on wood cuz now I've probably cursed myself*

Maggie is perking up as she's getting used to being here. Now she "misses" me when I'm not home. She'll play with Travis and she likes him well enough, but he's not Mommy.........and she wants Mommy. The eating thing is resolving itself. She prefers the puppy food dry and ate a ton tonight. But she'd MUCH rather have Molly's kibble......which I took away. So I dunno wth the previous owner was feeding the pups. Irks me that she goes bonkers over people food too. My dogs get people food, for sure. But never at this age.....only at a much older age once they've learned manners. So someone's slipped some pups some table scraps.

Playing has taken on a new dimension too now that she's getting used to being here. She's determined to "catch" my flip flops as I walk across the yard with her and she "attacks" my legs cuz she can't get to the flip flops on my feet. lol I forgot how sharp puppy teeth are, ouch!

And lucky me, she CRIES when she needs to potty!! What a glorious bonus!

 

[DammitJanet]

My babies learned what broccoli was tonite. LOL We had Chinese food tonight and they always put three pieces of it in with our food and it isnt really mushy enough for us to eat is so normally we just toss it but tonight we fed it to them. They liked it!

 

[Hound dog]

LOL

Initial stages of house training I try to avoid anything that might give them the trots. I'm having issues with the food change to begin with.........Maggie's bowels are loose.......is not keeping her from whining to go out........it's just keeping me running. ugh

 

[DammitJanet]

Are you gonna buy your wormer at the vet? If not I can tell you what we get our dogs. We get Nemex 2. They do sell some pills at walmart but I dont know whats in them. We have been using this stuff for years for both dogs and chickens. It tastes like butterscotch so they like it and will eat it right up. Tony says to give it to them on an empty stomach and then not feed them for at least overnight but the package says you dont have to do that. I just go along with what he says. It seems to work very well with all the animals.

 

[Hound dog]

Yeah, I pick it up at the vet because it's cheaper and liquid. I just squirt it into her mouth, but they like the taste.........and I can give it to Molly and Rowdy (bigger dose) and since she's been here a few days, I'll do that in case she has them.

Wormer at the vet costs me maybe 2 bucks. Our vet does her best to make medications and such as cheap as possible and sells them just above cost. It's her way of encouraging folks in this low income community to do preventative care. Her offices visits are dirt cheap too, as are her spay/neutering fees. Once I had to take Molly to the other vet in town (this is where she got her phobia for vets) because she was sick and my vet was out of town. The office visit fee alone nearly made me faint clean away......then the medications, omg! At my vet she'd have had the visit AND the medication and it wouldn't have added up to just what the office visit alone was at the alternate vet. I've never been back to him either. He was fine, he had a staff member who traumatized Molly by yelling at her and yanking her around when she was still under a year old. I complained major, but that staff member turned out to be his wife, so of course he wasn't going to fire her.