Fleas

[Varga]

So as some of you may know. I'm moving to the US soon (to Buffalo, NY) There are lots of things I'll have to get used to and unfortunately one of those things is something not very good, namely: fleas!
I've never ever had to treat any of my animals for fleas and neither has anyone I know because, as far as I know, they simply do not live here (in the Faroe Islands that is) Neither do ticks for that matter.

Ticks, however, I understand how to deal with. But I'm a bit more confused about fleas. I've been trying to research online but it's difficult to find anything useful since most of what I find just assumes that your pet already has fleas or that you've at least dealt with it before....

Of course that's important too and I know how to detect fleas and that there are several products you can use to kill them off and then you gotta deal with blankets, rugs etc. etc.

What I keep on wondering though is if pet owners give anything to their pets to prevent fleas in the first place?

And also, what are your personal experiences with fleas (what product would you reccomend/not reccomend and so on)
From what I understand, the occurrence of fleas varies a lot from region to region... so can anyone tell me what I can expect living in Buffalo?

Thanks to anyone who replies!

[Freedom]

I use Frontline Plus and have been very happy with it. I also give my dogs a 1/4 teaspoon of minced garlic daily.

The Frontline Plus is a topical treatment, it comes in a small tube. You open the tube and put the liquid on the dog's skin. Part the hair on the back up near the base of the neck and apply it that. Up there, the dog can't reach and lick it. You do NOT want them to ingest it!

Frontline Plus, and other flea treatments, kill adult fleas when they bite the dog. Some treatments, and Frontline Plus is one of them, also interrupts the larvae cycle to help stop them developing.

So I use the garlic, as the dog secretes this through the skin and it acts as a repellant.

You can buy Frontline Plus at your vet, or in many pet stores. I buy it on line as it is cheaper, even with the shipping. (I have 4 dogs and now 5 with the foster pup here).

You apply this once per month.

There are some oral flea treatments (pills) but those are relatively new on the market and I don't know much good about them, lol.

There are also flea collars, I did not have good luck with those.

Whatever you do, please do NOT buy Hartz flea products, they use a pesticide which almost half of dos have a bed reaction to. A vet visit becomes critical and many dogs die from using that brand.

You will also need to use a heart worm medicine! There are 2 primary ones: Interceptor, which I use, and Heartgard. This you must get from the vet as it is a prescription medicine. There are a few online pet pharmacies which carry it, but you still need to get the prescription from your vet. These are a pill form, and you give it once per month.

I like Interceptor as it also controls hook worm, tape worm, and . . . a 3rd one, so no need to deworm in addition. Those are intestinal tract worms. The heartworm is transferred to the dog by a mosquito bite, and the worm develops in the heart.

[Freedom]

Here is a chart on the various flea products:
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_flea_product_comparison.html

You will want one which includes a flea sterilizing ingredient (Table 1).

A similar chart, easier to read, not as many issues addressed:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=281

[Freedom]

Comparison chart for heartworm products:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=281

Hope this helps!

Ask questions i you have any.

[MonicanHonda]

Here is what I use (taking a more natural approach because I've heard of lots of reactions to the applicator medicines... and have heard that in certain places the fleas are actually becoming immune to certain applications):

-A nice spray down of Cedarcide before going to where I KNOW there will be fleas. This stuff is killer. It is a cedar oil that suffocates the fleas (or other bugs for that matter... good to have around in case there is a spider LoL)
-Neem oil mix (you can use straight neem oil, lemon, and water and mix that) to spray over her to make her smell good/add a little preventative.
-I used to use Bug Off Garlic (I would recommend the pills) but I had the powder and it just smelled too bad after awhile. Lol So the pills smell less.

And the most important, I think, is a good diet. Delta has never had a drop of flea preventative except for what is above and she's never had a flea.

There are a few different applications such as Revolution (which includes a heartworm preventative), Advantage, Advantix, Frontline, Frontline Plus

Buffalo, I believe, has bad deer ticks which carry lyme disease... but I don't know about fleas. I would research lyme disease and look at pictures of a typical 'bullseye' that appears where they were bit by a deer tick with lyme disease.

[Karen]

The good thing about Buffalo is you don't have to worry about bugs during the winter months - they're all frozen until spring. And ask the landlor about any previous pets in the place and if they've checked for fleas, they can infest carpets if a pet brings them in. But yes, topical flea treatments are usually all you need, and for ticks, a thorough brushing and check after any romp in tall grass or the woods is best, just to check. And check inside ears, too, an easy spot to forget about, especially with flop-eared dogs.

When will you move?

[Varga]

Thanks so much guys! I really appreciate it. Especially all the info you linked me to Freedom. Thanks! :)

So using those topical treatments once a month should cover it? Or am I still missing something?


I didn't think about asking if the apartment has been treated for infestation, so that's very good advice. Thanks! I'll have to look into that first thing tomorrow.

And same about the heart worm. I hadn't even thought about heart worm!
Oi vey, there is so much I have to get used to. Getting the dogs overseas is really only half the battle.


I was thinking though, that as soon as we're settled, I'll either call or schedule and appointment with a vet in the area and explain him/her my situation and let him/her help me with making sure everything is in order and I'm not missing something that other dog owners there have in check.



I'm leaving the Faroes on October 12th but making a stop in Denmark, so I won't be in the US until the 17th.



...Oh and I just thought about something else. Do all dogs in the US have a tag that says they are vaccinated against rabies? I've seen that before somewhere but I don't know if that's like a law or whatever. Do you think I should get my dogs one of those? They've already been vaccinated recently, so hopefully just showing the document stating that should be enough.

[Freedom]

Rabies: when you get the shot here, at the vet, THEY are the ones who issue the tag. So you can't just "get" one when you are here.

The certificate will be sufficient until your dogs need another vaccine. It is the law here, they need to be current on a rabies shot. Since they just got their first one, that will be good for ONE YEAR. You must get the dog in to the vet prior to the one year for the next shot. The next one is good for THREE years.

I LOVE your idea to go to a local vet and get the scoop!

If the apartment never HAD a flea problem, they won't have needed to treat it. So no worries if they tell you they didn't do it.

Yes the topical treatment once per month should do it for the fleas. And the once per month heart worm pill will cover you on that bit.

[Varga]

Yeah, I was thinking of trying to get a tag by showing a vet the documents. But if it's not a law that they carry that tag, I guess it doesn't matter. As long as they ARE up to date on their rabies shots, of course. :)
The vaccine they have now expires three years from now however (the vet wrote that in their passports when he did the vaccine. Maybe it's a different kind of vaccine?... I dunno. I'm going to trust him on that though) so I won't have to think about re-vaccinating anytime soon.

[Freedom]

Three years, GREAT!

Take this with you when you make that initial vet appointment. They will photocopy it and place the copy in the dogs' files.

You KEEP THE ORIGINAL.

[IRescue452]

I live in WI. I haven't given my dogs regular flea protection for two years. They've picked up a few (about a dozen) fleas last year which I easily got rid of with a bath and flea comb.