Flea and heart worm medication alternatives for dogs in Florida - Page 1

My dogs (11 years old and 8 years old) have been on Trifexis for four years.  Last week was the first time they had a bad reaction to the medication.  Explosive diarrhea, lethargy, and nausea (thankfully no seizures).  I have always given it following a full meal and have had little reaction other than the dogs are quiet for a few hours (which tells me they don't feel 100%).  Unfortunately, my vet says in this part of Florida, little else is successful in protecting against fleas and heartworm.  She has a couple of medications Metronidazole and Metoclopramide ready for Trifexis reactions (which makes me suspicious of Trifexis now).  I live in a rental home and spray for bugs every 6 months.  Can't afford to have the yard sprayed. 

I am open to suggestions since I do NOT want them to go through that kind of reaction again.
 

Fleas are annoying but generally not killers. But the mosquitoes are little death dealing machines. I've lived in florida my whole life and i know many, many cases of heart worms. Because unlike fleas the skeeters can easily fly from yard to yard, dog to dog. The can get in the house so easily and often ride in still attached to the dog or you. You never get a breakk form the skeetters. Since we don't have real winters.
I've never used Trifexis. And my vet isn't a fan of the multi-pest treating in one pill products.
Why not just go back to the regular HW meds and use something else for the fleas? Are the fleas a serious problem where your at? Because in Tampa i'm not having any trouble with them. And i don't spray, bomb or treat for fleas unless i see them on my dog.
I do keep squirrels, opossums, coons and cats out of my yard to the very best of my abilities. Those are your flea vectors. Keep those critters away and you should not have a load of fleas.
As far as i know of after working for a vet for 10 years there is NO natural heart worm repellent, or killing products available. You either use chemicales of some sort of get heartworms sooner or later down here. And cases are up since the economy is down. :(

I use ivermectin for heartworm prevention and haven't been using anything for fleas since I haven't seen one in years.  I live in the city so ticks aren't a huge issue either but if I'm tracking my dog a lot rurally, I'll use Frontline Plus those months and just give him a good once-over since I've found ticks on him even with a topical. 

I get the 1% injectible cattle ivermectin from Tractor Supply Plus and use a 1cc syringe.  My 70lbs dogs get about 0.30cc once a month which is a high dose compared to what's in a Heartgard tablet but I know people who dose much higher (like 0.10cc per 10# of dog which is IMO unnecessarily high).  I have these old frozen sausages in our freezer so I cut a slit in the frank and inject the liquid in there.  They gulp it down.  One $35 bottle of ivermectin will expire (3 years) before I can use it all on 3-4 dogs.

Mindhunt, I actually saw something yesterday about Triflexis killing a bunch of pets here recently. I'll look for the article.

Having lived in FL for 20 someodd years, the bet way I found to keep fleas at bay was to alternate flea preventatives. Frontline plus, then in 3 weeks advantix. Vets told us to apply every 3 weeks and they really are not bath proof, unless the shampoo specifically states will not affect spot-ons. I treated the house with DE or borax once a month. ALSO you can make a flea trap with a white casserole dish with water and a few drops of dish soap. Hang a light bulb over it.. the fleas will jump at the light, fall in and the surface tension is broken by the soap, so they sink and drown. We did this when one of my rabbits dies when I was little. He was apparently infested with fleas and the whole back yard was under attack. I wonder if cedar shavings or cedar oil around the foundation of the house might not help repel the ones that are outside?

Melissa

Mind hunt, you need an IGR. It will break the cycle and eliminate the fleas in the area...will eliminate introduced fleas' eggs from hatching as well. I started using Bio-spot (contains IGR) eighteen years ago, and haven't had a single flea on the place since. When dogs were coming in for boarding or training, I had the owners treat the dog a week before bringing it here. You can get a premise IGR for the house.
I have been using Cattle Ivomec since nineteen eighty two....one cc per hundred pounds, and have never had a dog test positive in all these years. BTW, that is the does recommended to me by the first vet to recommend it for heart worm preventative when I lived in Fla, and is the same dose recommended by my vet of the past twenty eight years.
Fleas are killers where infestations are great, they are way more than just an annoyance. They can kill a grown dog, sucking the blood out of them, and cats and pups don't stand a chance with heavy infestations.

Last month my dog got her ProHart shot. Which is good for 6 months. But your dogs are over the age of starting the product if i remember correctly.
If i see fleas i use Comfortis, last over a month and start working in 30 minutes. But really fleas have no been a problem for me. Last time i saw fleas on my dog i caught a possum in the cat trap te sae week. Got rid of critter and soon no fleas, Sometimes if i think about it i put some cat flea drops on the possums so they can get some relief too.

I've also never had any luck with Frontline either. Unless you use it to drown the fleas or the bottle to swat the flying bugs. It's worthless far as i'm concerned. Most of my clients that used it always had fleas.
Talk to your vet about ivermectin, just don't over do it because it can cause your dogs to go blind. or worse.
 

I just gave both my dogs Trifexis, because a single flea was actually seen on Beau at his vet check up. The vet explained his opinion as to what was the benefit, same as the comfortis, which I gave to the cat. All animals are alive and active today. Vet said it would kill any fleas on him at that moment, within 30 minutes. Big selling point. 

If you are in maintenance mode, though, I think you have alternatives as discussed.

I too have used Bio-Spot for many years with great success. I use ivermectin cut with propylene glycol monthly for heart worms.  I live in Tampa Bay.
 

Blitzen, just out of curiosity, why do you use anything with the Ivomec?
I just draw up the dosage, and squirt it on the food for each dog. It tastes nasty, but none of my dogs, including my fourteen year old Smooth Fox Terrier ( she turned 14 in Sep) or my thirteen year old Irish Terrier (she will be 14 in January) even notice it. By the way, I misspoke when I said the dosage is one cc per hundred...it's one cc per hundred and ten pounds.