Whenever I go to the vet, I get sticker shock at how much their “Drops on the back” solutions are. I don’t know if they’re better than what I can find online or at Petco. So I’m curious, what do you use?
Most of the drops on the back stuff is useless any more–the dogs get monthly, year round Sentinel Spectrum treats and they work great. The cats are indoor only but as backup/just in case they get Advantix topical during the summer months. I really like the Sentinel because the dogs live with cats and occasionally go for a kitty roca treat so the included wormer once a month is just a good little insurance policy.
No help here. We use Revolution, which we buy at the vet’s office. It’s like $100 for six doses, each of which lasts about six weeks. And she really hates it, Precious. If she gets a whiff of it, then the fight begins.
I use Nexguard chewables for my dog (and dogs in the past). I never found that any of the drops-on-back-of-neck were remotely effective. These are. YMMV.
We’ve been using Soresto collars for years. They last about 8 months and we’ve never had any bugs.
Same here. It’s far more effective than the drops ever were - we’re in a flea-and-tick-filled area, but she’s never brought in a flea, and the rare tick is easy to find and remove. Our cats are strictly indoor critters, so we don’t give them any flea treatment, and we’ve never had an issue with them either.
It’s pricey, but it’s way better than a house full of fleas!
Also pricey, but 410% effective: Trifexis beef-flavored (sorta) tabs; kills fleas/ticks DEAD. You can see them drop right off.
We give our dogs Bravecto, it’s a prescription pill given once every 3 months.
We did a thread recently about flea control, and the consensus seemed to be that fleas have developed regional resistance to certain medications. In some areas, for example, Frontline works great; in other areas, Frontline may be useless now but Advantage still kills 'em off.
So ask a local vet what works well in your neck of the woods. (Then see if it’s cheaper on Amazon.)
I also do the Nexgard chewables. They’re so easy to administer, I prefer them to the drops.
My vet will price-match anything I find online from a reputable source (so, like, 1800petmeds.com or chewy.com, not something off-the-wall). Also, if I buy a year’s worth plus a year’s worth plus a year’s worth of heartworm, the manufacturer has a $50 rebate.
Still expensive as heck. But, two dogs that hang out in a suburban yard, a big dog park and the woods, and no fleas or ticks yet!
I don’t think we have fleas or ticks here. 
That doesn’t seem right, though. I think I’ve seen sick Jackrabbits infested with big, nasty ticks on their ears.
At any rate, they tend to scour themselves while digging in the sand and dirt. That probably keeps them away. And the music in the Jeep.
Fleas wouldn’t dare bother the killer elite!
Concur. My dog always got Sentinel tabs which is a combination flea preventative and anti-heartworm treatment. IIRC it was only during summer flea season, and he always had to have a heartworm test before starting on it each spring. He was a great big thick-furred Bernese Mountain Dog and fleas were never a problem. It would have been a nightmare if he had ever got them!
I used to use flea stuff only in spring and summer but what with the weather being all weird we get these super mild winters with basically NO freezing temps and the bugs never die off at all–it’s freaking scary to be getting mosquitos in December, but skeeters means the risk of heartworm and after having one dog contract it thirty years ago I won’t risk it again. That shit is nasty and if you start with the flea/heartworm protection without doing the heartworm test and the dog is positive you basically kill your dog to save a few bucks. Cheaper in the long run to just order the Sentinel yearly, mark the calendar to give it to them the same day every month and call it good.
I use this, but my dogs hate the taste. I have to get creative to get it into their maws.
Here in the Bay Area, our two suburban basenjis get veeery occasional fleas. I just pick 'em off. I’m not worried about Lyme or heartworm around here. When we hiked a lot, I’d give them the systemic insecticide recommended by the vet, but they’re too old now. And, since basenjis lick themselves and each other, (it’s a pack bonding grooming thing,) topical pesticides aren’t recommended.
In the Bay Area the problem isn’t so much fleas, it’s the mosquitos that carry heartworm. Most of California is ground zero for heartworm–up to now it’s been rare in Oregon but it’s on the rise and is now considered to be a measurable risk in every month of the year.
The drops-on-the-back have always worked for us. Currently we’re using Pet Armor Plus, which is a sort-of generic Frontline, and never see a flea.
NE Minnesota - We really don’t have a flea issue here but lots of ticks. I use the cheap version of Frontline that Sam’s Club sells. 4 months for under $30. It seems to work - and we’re in the woods every day. If I do see a tick it’s because it decides to crawl off one of the dogs and creep around the car or house! I don’t like putting the solution on the dogs, it bothers me. I don’t think it’s good for them, but after dealing with Lyme’s disease with a dog we had in the past (he got it even though he had the Lyme’s vaccine) and with anaplasmosis that Romeo got when he was just a puppy it’s the lesser of the evils I guess.
Dog #2 wolfs it (or anything, really*) down on sight. Dog #1 has to be fooled into partaking: we crush it up and mix it into a large bolus of wet food. Into the bowl, down the hatch, bowl gets licked clean, every molecule is consumed. For now.
*I swear, that K9 would snarf a lit M-80 if I held it in front of her schnoz. Don’t get ideas!