Fleas And Ticks

**areias** · 02-25-2007, 10:58 AM

Any quick flea and tick tips??

I always kind of prided myself on being "parasite" free. And then...I was clipping nails last night...notice a little critter in between a toe. And another one. All the dogs had ticks in between their toes!! Plus while checking them over I noticed the occasional flea-ick! I can't stand the critters. We have spectracide to treat the yard and house, borax for the carpets, frontline, and Dawn.

About to attack this aggressively. Any more tried and true tips?

**Canis-Lupess** · 02-25-2007, 11:05 AM

I use frontline on my dogs. They were usually flea free but I knew if they'd get them because they both suffered allergies to them so I'd get them treated quick before they chewed their back ends to pieces. Living outdoors, such things weren't a problem in winter and, because they didn't really have contact with other dogs due to not liking them, it was rare they contracted fleas anyway.
They have never had ticks but thats because I never really walked them in areas where ticks are more likely such as where there are sheep etc....

Frontline is the stuff you have to get from the vets and it goes on the backs of their necks and protects for like 2 months. It works against fleas and ticks. I wouldn't bother with stuff from petshops, it's useless.

I don't know whether they do frontline in the States. It is good though, always rid my dogs of any fleas they might get.

I read up that the most common flea to attack dogs is the cat flea because they are less discriminative and will live on anything and also more easily spread due to the roaming nature of cats and with cats being less likely to be treated too, I find.
Dog fleas have become quite rare because they will only live on dogs and routine flea treatment in dogs has taken it's toll on them.

**Catlady711** · 02-25-2007, 02:06 PM

Yes we do use Frontline in the states, the best one is Frontline Plus. There is also Advantix. Both work great on fleas and ticks. Being that this person lives in Fla, I'd recommend using one of them every month year round to make sure that the problem doesn't return.

They are available from the vet, although some pet stores and online pet supply places carry them. Where I live it's cheaper to buy them from the vet than other places, but I don't know that it's always that way in every city.

**Freedom** · 02-25-2007, 05:02 PM

Using Frontline, year round here. You may recall, just got Sugar a few months back, and took her in to the vet for a check up. The vet said to use Frontline, all year round in this climate. So I am thinking in FL it should be year round too.

**freckledimple** · 02-25-2007, 05:45 PM

Monthly treatments are the best way to keep pests under control. We would have "break outs" until we started using revolution monthly. Heartworms are a problem here in Texas.

**borzoimom** · 02-25-2007, 07:00 PM

Originally Posted by areias

Any quick flea and tick tips??

I always kind of prided myself on being "parasite" free. And then...I was clipping nails last night...notice a little critter in between a toe. And another one. All the dogs had ticks in between their toes!! Plus while checking them over I noticed the occasional flea-ick! I can't stand the critters. We have spectracide to treat the yard and house, borax for the carpets, frontline, and Dawn.

About to attack this aggressively. Any more tried and true tips?

We do not have fleas- but Zubin and Galina were going to shows, I use frontline. I also vac the carpets daily.. ( but I do that anyway.. lol..)

**CathyBogart** · 02-25-2007, 08:57 PM

My parents use Advantage. It works quickly and effectively. Frontline is good too.

Steer clear of products from Hartz. So many people have seen serious, or even fatal side effects in their animals, it's awful.

**Marianne** · 03-01-2007, 10:05 PM

We just moved to Ohio from Florida and I can relate - the fleas and ticks down there are AWEFUL! If you have water in your backyard (lake, river, etc), you can almost guarantee you'll have ticks. We have a lake and a swimming pool at our house there (unfortunately it's still for sale!) and we constantly were battling ticks. I'm sure the pool with all it's clorine was not the cause but the lake did not help! Be sure to trim all your trees and bushes up from the ground - especially where the dogs hang out. We used Frontline year round and it didn't help much - we sprayed the house and yard constantly until we were glowing - it's a bad FL thing. Goodluck!
Marianne (new here)