Fleas, Frontline and ?'s

[sbcvulcan]

I am using the product Frontline Plus for fleas and ticks. It seems effective on ticks as i find them dead in the house. I think my dog Scoop may have gotten a few fleas somewhere as he is itching and i saw som kind of long flat like brown bug on my shirt after he was laying on me last night.

Question do you think Frontline will be effective in killing them and preventing larvae? can i use any other product in conjucntion with this? any suggestions to prevent an outbreak?

 

[yanya]

About six months ago, Kairi had Fleas really bad. I bought a supply of Advantage from PetsMart and the Fleas didn't make it through the night. After the Advantage ran out, some Fleas came back so I picked up some FrontLine at the Vet's office. It didn't work quite as fast as Advantage, took a couple of days before I noticed all her Fleas were gone. I think that it will take care of your little pests, just give it a bit of time.

 

[SaveCody]

I've tried advantex with good results. My vet swears by it. I have not tried other brands, so I can't compare.

 

[yanya]

Forget the positive remarks I gave Frontline...

...just noticed today that Kairi has Fleas. I just applied her Frontline on the third. She should not have Fleas eight days later! Switching back to Advantage as soon as my Frontline runs out, bottom line I don't like it very much.

 

[oriondw]

I think you may be applying Frontline wrong. We've been using it for a while and have no ticks or fleas since we started. Our neighbors use it as well and have similar results.

It takes a while for it to start working because it is carried by dogs oils all over its skin. Depending on how big the dog is, it may take a day or two.

 

[Renee750il]

I've used both the Frontline and the Advantage. The Frontline works well for us; the Advantage does absolutely nothing - the fleas think we've thrown them an open house party

I think the different products each work better on different dogs for some reason, or it may even have something to do with the area you live in.

You can put down diatomaceous earth to kill off fleas in your environment. It works well and isn't toxic at all.

 

[yanya]

Kairi is a little Pembroke Welsh Corgi. (...and I do mean little! I've seen a few other Corgis around, Kairi took the whole dwarf dog thing to far.) She doesn't have a whole lot of body to cover. You apply to the skin between the shoulder blades right?

 

[Renee750il]

Yep, that's where you put it.

 

[Sugar42517]

If you call the 800 number on the frontline box, they'll explain to you that it can take a couple of months for all of the fleas to die. It was about a year ago that I had a problem and thought after a month they should be gone, but if you call, they'll explain.

 

[juliefurry]

I use frontline so I can't really compare products. Frontline is ok for me, I've noticed them itch a little bit but not much, and I don't see any bugs on them so I don't think it's fleas. Is flea and tick shampoo a waste of money for dogs? My nieghbors buy that and use that on their yorkie dog, instead of frontline or advantage, and they say they have no problems. How good is the shampoo compared to the frontline or similar products? I was just curious so that I could let them know, they were curious as well.

 

[showpug]

The only reason I am commenting on this is because I worked in a vet clinic for 5 years, sat through endless advantage and frontline seminars, and sold both products to customers. The two work differently and have different active ingredients. Advantage sits in the lipid layer of the skin which is described as the fatty layer that covers skin. Frontline on the other had sits in the hair follicle and I feel does not spread as throughly nor work as effectiveley as Advantage. I trust Advantage over Frontline because it is safe for puppies as young as 7 weeks but with Frontline you have to wait until they are 12 weeks. They both claim to be water proof, but we learned in our seminars that they do fade some after bathing or swimming. Advantage kills 99.9% of fleas within 12 hours and has the fastes kill rate!! I prefer advantage, but have used both. Side note* If your dog is over 50 lbs you need to apply one tube of either product between the shoulder blades, center of the back, and near the base of the tail. If you don't, it won't spread properly. I think the boxes say one spot, but more than one spot works best. You must also remember that just because your dogs have flea preventative on them does not mean that fleas can't and won't jump on your dog...the flea meds will kill the fleas and stop them from biting, but they will still jump on until they are killed in the environment. PLUS...you have to use the stuff every month in order to break the life cycle of the flea which is a whole other post!!!!!. Hope this helps

 

[Renee750il]

That's the way I apply, Pugs. You're right, the boxes don't usually tell you to do that, although the Frontline box for the largest vials may say something about applying at the base of the tail - but I really don't remember.

Since the Advantage sits in the lipid layer you would think it would work well on dogs like German Shepherds that have rather active lipid layers, wouldn't you? I wonder why I never had any luck with it on mine . . . Strange . . .

 

[showpug]

Renee..who knows? I think it may very from dog to dog and situation to situation. Did you bathe your dogs a lot? Did they swim a lot, or groom each other? Some people believe that Frontline is more waterproof, but there is not a ton of evidence to back it up. We did find in the clinic that our clients that would have problems with one product usually found luck with the other...probably the same for you Either way, I miss working in the clinic where Advantage and Frontline were free for employees!!!!

 

[Renee750il]

Bathe! Our crew! Surely you jest! They do get in their wading pool though. Shiva is an enthusiastic grrrroomer too . . . much to Bimmer and Kharma's dismay,lol!

 

[candy722]

I think advantage doesn't even last that long. IT suppose to last 1 months but I can tell that it starts to worn off after the second bath.

 

[SaveCody]

ShowPug,
Have you ever tried Advantex? Is it comaprable to advantage? It was reccommended by my Vet.

 

[candy722]

I tried advantage and advantix and they are pretty similar.

 

[showpug]

I have tried advantix and it is the same as Advantage only with an added ingredient for ticks and misquitos....the only things is, is if you have cats in your home I would NEVER use it. Advantage is totally safe, but Advantix can kill cats because they metabolise chemicals differently and the added ingredient in Advantix is very bad for them. If your dog and cat are NEVER around each other, then it is probably ok to sill use it on your dog. Either way, it is still a good product for dogs and comparable to regular Advantage, it just kills more buggers!!