Flea Treatments - cash cow, or necessity? - Page 1

If you take your dog to a vet in the Toronto area for its annual shots, you will most often be given a package of one of the brand name spot-on flea treatments. Usually, there's enough for a full year, even though fleas aren't much of a problem in Canada during the winter.  Some of the flea treatments will also kill other parasites. All of them are quite pricey, and add a hefty amount to the vet bill.

How many of you use these treatments? My take on this is why should I expose my dogs to chemicals if it doesn't have fleas, and has tested negative for other parasites?

I use flea treatments ONLY when my dogs show the typical signs of infestation. I will also immediately wash their bedding and do a thorough vaccuming of the house as soon as I see signs of an infestation.

I know fleas are a much greater problem in warmer areas than they are here, but I'm just curious to know how many of you use them monthly, and have your dogs ever had bad reactions to them?

Another reason I don't like to use them is that insects have a remarkable ability to adapt to poisons and chemicals, and the more you use them the faster they adapt. Although the main ingredient in these treatments is a hormone that prevents the flea larvae from maturing, I've already heard that in some areas, fleas have developed resistance to the treatments. This is just simply evolution in action: the treatment kills off all the vulnerable fleas, leaving only those that have some immunity to it to reproduce!

The veterinary profession should be looking at these treatments the way doctors look at antibiotics: presecribing them when they are not needed means they will become useless more quickly, as the bacterial population develops resistance to them.

That's my opinion, anyway! 

Necessity.

Life is so much better for my dogs since these products came out.  Some places I've lived there didn't seem to be a flea problem, but there is where I am now, not necessarily in my backyard, but we spend a lot of time in the fields and woods.  I also spend a lot of time in Virginia, and the ticks are terrible there.  I use Advantix and would not have my dogs be without it.

I do use them monthly, roughly March - November, and no, never once (knock on wood) have I had a problem with any sort of reaction at all.  Over the years I've used them on breeds besides GSDs - no problems with any one.  I also treat the cats with appropriate products (of course never using a dog product on a cat) and again, never had any problems whatsoever.

I agree sun.

Necessity.
I remember all the hot spots and fighting the fleas, I had one girl that was going to the dermatoligist in the 80's, $1,000. Giving her sulfur baths every week and I was PG at the time. What a mess, we had to give her the sulfur bath in the tub, then we made another tub out of a trunk and lined it with plastic to rinse her, then spead plastic all over the house, could not use a dryer on her. The was no easy job, she was a Chow with all of that undercoat and being prego I was so off balance. Oh, I can still remember the smell, YUCK. I only use it a few months out of the year. My dogs have not had hot spots in years!

Necessity in most of CA. The high deserts are exempt, no heartworms there either, but in the valley fleas are brutal!

Necessity.
Although there are no fleas  in Las Vegas, (and even if they are brought in on a pet from another state they don't live long) right before I move back to Texas every dog and puppy will have a spot on flea and tick treatment and my yard will be sprayed for me a few days before I get there.  I do not use any flea products in the winter months.
I also used Fly-Off cream or Bronco fly spray for their ears when we lived near a cow and horse pasture because they were really heavy one summer.
Stacy

I have always been lucky I guess and haven't had flee problems with my dogs.They have had a few ticks when i lived in Kentucky as they are ALL over the place. I don't like chemical control as I have seen too many bad things happen to animals.(frontline and advantage) I try to go for things that are more natural. So far it has worked. I do however give them Ivemectin for heartworm.

The other week i noticed a Tick on Gorans face just below his eye, I took it off then dabbed both dogs with Advantage i think it is spelt right, This is the time of the year for ticks so i check the Dogs every day but they get mostly get them on the face i guess he picked it up when we tracked him the day before i saw it
Expensive it is but i think needed but i try and stretch one Dab for every two months not for the Cost but because i do not like using the stuff on the Dogs every month,
Steve1

I live in south Florida outside of Ft. Lauderdale and I guess I am lucky, based on what I am reading. I treat our two acres once a year with beneficial nematodes. They only time I had to treat the dogs with Advantage in the past year was the two times they went to dog park - we no longer take them there for more than one reason. Haven't seen a tick for many years.

I guess I should add that I feed my dogs a raw diet and vaccinate only when the titers indicate there is a need. Does it make a difference as to whether or not fleas are attracted to them? I don't know.