flea treatment?

moving_home

i worm my dog every 3 months religiously but haven't bothered with flea treatment the last few months. Just wondering does everyone use flea treatment every 3 months without fail?

Millem

I use to deflea religiously Every 4 weeks and my dogs have never had fleas however alot of people (apart from vets) will tell you to only deflea if you find fleas not as a preventative measure! I know any foster dogs I have had I always deflead them on the way to my house (at my expense) as the rescue only deflea if there dog had fleas! To be honest I'm beginning to think it is just a money making scheme , my dogs dont live in the country, and live indoors only go outside to go to loo or when we go for a walk, and have never met any farm animals etc! The probability of them catching anything is quite slim and yet a vet will recommend me to deflea them every 4 weeks at up to €20 per dog per month! So now I only do it every 3 months as I am too chicken not too!!

moving_home

Yip i was thinking it's a money racket aswell. I kinda just forgot to do it the last 6 months and remembered today! She's not had fleas yet anyways!

lorebringer

We deflea and keep it up to date, with multiple dogs I cannot risk any of them getting fleas or ticks. We had an incident with one bringing them home - defleaing an entire house is such a pain in the ass and not an experience I want to repeat so I keep up to date with it. We did foster dogs for a charity for quite a few years and made sure to keep those dogs up to date also (at our expense). We use a deflea treatment that lasts two months (as far as I know, there are others that last longer) and buy it either online or in a specific veterinary pharmacy so it doesn't cost us a fortune.

Vince32

I haven't ever seen a flea or know what one looks like if I'm honest. When a new dog comes into my home I use flea treatments for 3 months to irradiate any possible hangers on (fleas, larvae or pupae), then only as needed, if the dog is itching like crazy I do another 3 months if needed.

I've heard people say that flea treatments become less effective if used all the time, and I don't know what sort of truth there is to that, but if it ain't broke don't fix it. I'm getting the last month of treatment done next week although I can't say she really needs it at the moment. I won't treat for fleas again until she develops symptoms, and I know there are treatments that kill all fleas within 12 hours. So if we ever do come across an infestation it will be sorted in 1/2 a day.

Personally I think it's a waste of money treating every month, It's like painting your house every year whether is needs it or not. imo wait until it's needed.

There is a simple test you can do to see if you dog has fleas, if you stand it on a piece of light card or paper, and rub the coat vigorously, some black (dots) will fall, if they hop away lol you have fleas, if they don't squish them with a wet tissue, if the streak is red or light brown (dark brown muddy colour, is probably just dried mud matted into the fur), your treatment has killed the fleas, but they may of laid already so if they hatch the cycle begins again. The second treatment will kill any that hatch, and the third will kill any of their progeny (if they have any) ending the cycle.

That's about all I know about flea's.

old_aussie

Hi,

I"m in Australia and use chewable tablet (Insert name of product here) for flea control on dogs.

Starts killing fleas (on my dog Daisy) within 20 mins of taking the tablet.
All fleas dead within 1 Hr. Lasts 30 days. A month later I give her a second tablet.

I only use when I see fleas or flea bites, although on the box it says "monthly administration"

Daisy is 8 months old today(1/02/2012) and has only needed (Insert name of product here) one tablet a month for 2 months, when not long after getting her I noticed small black fleas on her front legs.

Used treatment on previous dog Sally who lived for 15 years, only gave tablets when I saw fleas.

cyco

Only in the summer or coming into the summer months....never had fleas

Millem

I started a thread recently about flea treatments as i use to regliously treat them and i was wondering which ones are the best, and after the advice I got on it, it got me thinking....I am a teacher so am in contact with children 5 days a week would I treat my head for head lice every month regardless of whether or not I had them, or would I use those preventative spray every single day on my hair....not a chance! However I would check my hair regularly and if I ever caught them I would treat them! The same would apply if I had kids! Now I know it is much handier to treat a dog than human but still I am sure all those chemicals can't be good!

Themadhouse

8 cats and 1 dog get spot ons twice a yr. one doesnt as he is allergic to them.
We have never had an issue. The hens the same, they get done twice a yr.

Any new pet, be it cat,dog or hen, short term or longterm, all get a dose on arrival along with wormer.

Zapperzy

I only treat at the beginning of the summer too and that's if I remember to. In 3 and a half years I'v never seen a flea on him. He gets a few ticks throughout the summer so that's really the only reason for using a spot on during the summer, I just pull them anyways as soon as I see them.