I use Advantage on the cats and dogs every spring.
They don’t go into the bloodstream, they’re absorbed into the follicles or oil glands in the skin.
I do agree it’s probably not a good idea to use them more frequently than recommened, though.
Switch to Advantage. It’s the difference between prescription vs. over the counter stuff.
Most of these products can be used more frequently than once a month. This should be done, just in case, with the vet’s consent. But prescribed anti-flea drugs have a higher margin of safety that makes it possible to apply more frequently and also last a bit longer than what the usual label reads, especially if it has been given continuously for months/years.
Also, IIRC, yes, Advantage does have the disadvantage of being able to be washed off. If they were able to go systemic, most of them would also be able to deal with intestinal parasites.
Neither Advantage nor Frontline can go systemic, they treat cutaneous parasites. For systemic control, you may be thinking more about other products.
Merneith, Frontline was one of the first prescribed anti-flea products. The thing is, many of them are now at the stage they can go generic and be found OTC. Frontline is one of them. Don’t knock put it anywhere near the same category as Hartz and other products.
Agreed- Frontline stopped working for my gang, but Advantage still kicks the fleas’ asses. My vet said he no longer recommends Frontline.
When I use spot-ons on Stella, she has an oily spot on her back for a couple of weeks and fleas on her belly. They don’t work on her the same way they have on my other dogs. Systemic meds (capstar and comfortis) do work on her. My interpretation of that is that it’s something different about her outside not her inside. Plus, the spot ons are not systemic.
Glad to see it’s not just me having this problem. My dog brought fleas in from the outside, which gave the cats fleas, and then got them in the carpet where they started biting my wife and I. We still use the Frontline because we bought a boatload of it at Costco at the time, but like you, it seems not to work. I assume this was because the carpet was serving as a base for them to constantly re-attack the dog and cat. I took the dog and cat to Petco to have them get a professional flea bath and sprayed all the carpet and furniture with Zodiac, which seems to have solved the problem for the moment. A spray can that covers 2000 square feet was $19.95 and you didn’t have to vacuum it up.
I called Terminex and some of their competitors. Their ‘service’ was a minimum of $200, and it basically consisted of them having you:
- Move all your furniture away from the walls
- Move everything off the floors (clothes, shoes, etc.)
- Wash all bedding in hot water
- Vacuum every day for 21 days when they would come back and apply their powder a second time, at which point you had to vacuum every day again
Since I would be doing 99% of the work in this service situation, I naturally told them to jump in a lake and at that point I could do 100% of it and just buy the spray/powder myself. I’m not sure how many of their customer actually agree to their ridiculous non-service given how much work the customer does. And by the way, if the powder/spray is non-toxic to dogs/cats, and it is what kills the fleas by drying them out, don’t I NOT want to vacuum it up?
I may have been wrong to suggest that their primary method of action is by entering the bloodstream, but they do enter the bloodstream to some extent.
Regardless, my point stands that they are absorbed into the hair follicles, skin and fat, and that it can be dangerous and unnecessary to casually reapply these known neurotoxins every time your dog is bathed or goes swimming.
I ordered Advantage II from pet meds.
I looked at K9 Advantix II. But even their information says it stings the dogs skin for a day or two. I didn’t want to use this stuff unless nothing else works.
My dog is short haired and almost never gets wet. Advantage II should be fine. At least its a different chemical from Frontline. Time for the fleas to die!!!
I have. It’s not woo - DE messes up an insect’s exoskeleton, so they die via dehydration. It kills any hard-bodied insect: roaches, ants, fleas, beetles, etc. (For the same reason, it kills beneficials like ladybugs.) It’s not a fast-acting solution, more of a long-term preventative. Shake it over your pet’s bedding, into the carpet, around the edges of their main room, etc. I like to shake some outside around doors (our house isn’t well-sealed) and windows.
If Poochie is bringing in fleas from your backyard, you can buy beneficial nematodes at some garden centers - they help control fleas in the grass that come from squirrels, possums, raccoons, etc.
Nuke them from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
I was incorrect - Revolution does enter the bloodstream. Frontline (fipronil) stays in the follicles and oil glands.
I absolutely agree that applying these products willy-nilly is not a great idea…I can go several years without fleas being a problem (Michigan) and then have a horrendous year. I only use flea meds if I see a single flea - not automatically or prophylactically.
I think DE would be a safe addition to flea-killing arsenal around the house and yard…because I don’t live in a terrible area for fleas and take action right away if I see any, I’ve never had to resort to a big systemic attack on the little buggers.
Frequent, thorough vacuuming (and bag disposal) is a key element in any flea eradication effort.
Buy your DE at Wally World, it’s with the pool supplies. You can buy enough that will last you ten years. It’s great for gardens, too. Won’t hurt your hands, but try not to breathe the dust.
Vacuum DAILY, and dispose of the bag or empty the container outside.
You can also try giving your pet brewer’s yeast. Some animals love the taste of it, some are picky and you have to stir it well into wet food.
For flea bites on you that are driving you crazy, try LANACANE.
~VOW
Quote: VOW (Guest)l “Buy your DE at Wally World, it’s with the pool supplies.” – sorry, but nonononono!!! Never registered to post on these things before but . . . I’m a recent convert to DE (Diatomaceous Earth) FOOD GRADE ONLY (NOT the pool filter variant). DE is utterly harmless, used by the food industry bevause its microscopic glass-like nature gets between exoskelton joints and slices bugs up so effectively so it keeps bugs out of our food but as a result is probably present IN our food, and I even hear from those that add it to their pets’ food. Utterly harmless, but not ideal of course to breath in clouds of it, especially if asthmatica! Used not carelessly there should be no issue as it has a very flour-like consistency. Some rub it on their pets - but the insect (flea, in the case) has to crawl into/through it for it to get into its joints, and getting the stuff through the fur onto the skin might prove tricky - and you may lose your face in the attempt if you’re dealing with a cat!!! DE (FOOD GRADE) is harmless, non-toxic, astonishingly effective in a ‘physical/mechanical’ manner, and crazy cheap. I went to a feed/ranch store, “Sorry, we only have small bags left…” . . . it was 10pounds for maybe $15. A little canister of eg Sergeant is about 12 OUNCES for about half that price, and laughably useless.
Right. You can’t just treat the animals. The fleas lay eggs, the eggs fall off the animal onto the floor, carpet, bedding, wherever the animal goes, so even if you manage to eliminate the little bastards on the dog, their progeny are just going to hop back on when the dog walks past and you’ll have to start all over.
However, I’m not sure how effective any of these techniques will be on zombie fleas…
To the OP: you need a nit comb, some white vinegar, a bowl wide enough to dip the comb’s teeth in, a bowl of water, a towel, and a lot of patience. Basically, the idea is that you run the nit comb through your pet’s fur, remove any combings (which you drop in the vinegar bowl) before running it through the coat again. Periodically, you will also have to dip the comb in the vinegar, and then rinse in water, followed by a quick drying. It can be tedious, but my short-haired cats love this “grooming” session, so I actually prefer this to any chemical deflea-ers.
Forgive my typos - my cellphone keypad is a little finicky. Personal experience: reading up on DE (FOOD GRADE) before deciding if I should try it, since I’d never heard of it and who wants to hurt their pets (?!!) I read of a guy who conducted an experiment - I decided to, too. We all know fleas can jump as much as six FEET, right? I put a couple spoons of DE (food grade - got to stress that) in a 2qt glass mixing jug, and each time one of the buggers jumped my leg while I was dealing with the bad area I plucked it off, threw it in the jug, and covered it over with a clear glass plate. The effect led me to spread/dust (pretty good dusting) a zone on the wood floor. Six FEET? ONCE I have seen ONE jump one and a half INCHES!! It blew my mind to watch. You drop them in it, they immediately act like they’re floundering in quicksand, and when they manage to jump, it’s barely an INCH. Time now for me to dust the floor so they get into it themselves instead of me having to throw the blighters in. Am I cruel to enjoy so much watching them struggle so hard? 
I hate hate HATE those things. PS every morning whatever I added to the jug that orevious evening is dead. Yes, it disables but then also kills them. Slices their little bodies to crap. It’s so good against ANYTHING exoskeletal that they warn to NOT use it out in the yard because there are so many good bugs around that combat many of the bad ones - the entire ecosystem would be thrown out of whack. *** DE (FOOD GRADE) – BUY IT !!! ***
Nah. When I would catch one I liked to drop them in a glass of water and watch them drown. Fuck 'em; they deserve a painful death.