Fleas!

[atxcio]

My wife uses some natural stuff for fleas on our indoor/outdoor cat, and it seems to work. I think it's called "Flea Free" or "DeFlea" or something, but you can get it (along with other natural remedies for pets) at Bark n Purr in Austin.

Bark 'n Purr Pet Center - organic & holistic dog and cat food plus toys and accessories in Austin, Texas

[austifornian]

Ticks are less of an issue in Austin because fire ants eat them like popcorn.

[Megan1967]

Wow! Thanks for all the information. Monty (my dog) is on HeartGuard and Frontline, though I slack off on both in the winter (it's a balmy 11 degrees here right now, not many critters of the insect type around here now).

I never treat the cats for anything because they don't go outside. Cats are more sensitive than dogs, the majority of melanine deaths were cats, so I'd rather not treat them if I don't have to. If I actually ever get to move to Austin, I probably will, however.

I know what you mean about not wanting to put pesticides on your pets, but I use Deet products on myself and see it as a necessary evil.

[twange]

Originally Posted by Megan1967

Wow! Thanks for all the information. Monty (my dog) is on HeartGuard and Frontline, though I slack off on both in the winter (it's a balmy 11 degrees here right now, not many critters of the insect type around here now).

I never treat the cats for anything because they don't go outside. Cats are more sensitive than dogs, the majority of melanine deaths were cats, so I'd rather not treat them if I don't have to. If I actually ever get to move to Austin, I probably will, however.

I know what you mean about not wanting to put pesticides on your pets, but I use Deet products on myself and see it as a necessary evil.

When we were in Ohio we never treated the dog for fleas from October until April/May. That was nice because the stuff is poison. But until I find a reliable natural remedy for fleas, I gotta use the stuff.

Short story:
We were on our way home from a camping trip in W. Virginia and stopped for a short hike through some high grass in Southern Ohio. My wife and dog were absolutely overtaken by large ticks(deer I think). Particularly the dog. We stopped at a rest stop, made her lay down and started pulling them off her with tweezers(good thing I had my loaded Swiss knife handy). Dozens upon dozens, in her ears, muzzle, arm(paw)pits, tail etc....Totally miserable. Poor thing had to get a Lymes Disease vaccine after that just for precautionary measures.

[jwb123]

We haven't used Frontline regularly since we moved here and we haven't had any fleas. We also haven't used heartguard, because it wasn't needed in WA, they have a very low rate of heartworms.... and we haven't had any problems. Maybe we are just lucky? My dogs aren't outside other than to bark at people for a few minutes and pee on my trees.

[Megan1967]

Originally Posted by Jenbar

My dogs aren't outside other than to bark at people for a few minutes and pee on my trees.

Mine too usually, but we do like to go to the dog park.

[Trainwreck20]

The heart worms come from (actualled, transferred via) mosquitos, or so I have been told. If your dogs are not outside or near a high mosquito area, then you are in pretty good shape. Dog parks can be bad for fleas, or again I am told. We never (with rabbits and indoor/outdoor cats) had flea problems, but that might have just been luck.

[love roses]

The vet we used may just have been trying to sell us heartworm preventative, but he said if the animal spends any amount of time outside (I guess any more than just to pee on some trees) then better safe than sorry. I had a little dog when I was 20 that spent some time outside and she ended up contracting a pretty serious case of heartworms and thankfully they were all destroyed, but it is kind of scary and I put her on preventive after that and she never got them again.

[Lindsey_Mcfarren]

When I lived in Texas I found that the more rain there was in the spring, the more fleas there were in the summer, the winter kills them off so thats sort of their life cycle.

I used to use the stuff from the vet but I started using the same KIND of thing but its sold at Wal-mart but it cost alot less and it works just as well.

Its best to use it year around, at least thats what I found while living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I found out the hard way that I am allergic to the bombs you set off in your house and the flea shampoo you wash them with. It was just easier to treat them year around rather then face a posible problem.

If you own your own home and don't mind poluting the water table, I would spread stuff on your lawn to help kill of some of the bugs, it can ONLY HELP. If you prefer to be less harmful of the environment, you can try something called Dyatamacious earth, not sure of the spelling there. You can spread it all over, even put it in your pets food. Its used to kill bugs on grain used to make our bread. You can spread this all over your lawn, put it under the sink in the cabinets, it kills everything from **** roaches, fleas and ticks, won't harm humans, children, animals or plants.