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We have stopped using any topical flea medication. For one it is expensive, and two when you stop and think about what you are putting on your dog or cat it makes you think. Recently the EPA ramped up an investigation if these meds.
Here is a good article with some natural ways to defend against fleas:
Safe Alternatives
Despite the preponderance of chemically-laced products on the market, there are a few safe alternatives to the commercial flea and tick preparations.
"Among the many herbal flea preparations that can be useful, I'm partial to Earth Animal's Herbal Internal Powder," writes Goldstein in The Nature off Animal Healing. This is a powdered mixture of natural ingredients that contains garlic as well as alfalfa, wormwood, yellowdock and pennyroyal. Goldstein recommends that you sprinkle the powder liberally into a pet's food. It repels fleas without hurting your pet.
Here's an alternative to commercial flea powders: Slice about six lemons, and pour boiling water over them. Let the water stand overnight, then strain the liquid into a spray bottle. Start at the back of the pet, and work toward the neck, making sure every inch of the pet is covered with the lemon-water spray. Cats may not be cooperative with the spraying method, so in that case, daub on the solution with a cotton ball.
Bedding can also be sprayed to repel and kill fleas. Check the pet every few days to make sure all fleas are killed and eggs have not hatched.
Safe Shampoo
Roger DeHaan, DVM, suggests using the following mixture, which is an antiseptic shampoo that kills fleas and soothes irritated skin:
* Add 10 drops of tea tree oil and 1 tablespoon of aloe vera to an 8-ounce bottle of your regular pet shampoo.
* In a separate container, combine 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar with 1 pint of water.
* Shampoo the animal as you normally would and let the shampoo stand for 6-10 minutes.
* Rinse with the apple cider-water mixture.
A fine-tooth comb also works very well, especially on cats. Invest in a quality steel flea comb, and use it daily until you are sure fleas and flea eggs are no longer on your pet. When combing, make sure you have a bucket of soapy water close by to drown the fleas in as you comb them from your pet.
Herbal flea collars containing essential oils such as pennyroyal, eucalyptus and citronella can also prevent fleas and ticks from landing on your pet. For eats, I recommend an herbal collar that pulls apart if the feline should get caught on something. Cats have strangled when the wrong type of collar is used.
I disagree with all y'all poison drop people and am tickled pink to hear that the fleas are immune anyways. Yes the fleas in Raleigh are pretty horrid. I finally proved to my satisfaction that it's not my apartment, when I walked outside and came back with 5 fleas on my legs. I use "Best Yet" from CedarCide . It is made from cedar oil and quartz crystals and is totally harmless to us. It causes the pores of all insects to close up; they suffocate and die. Fleas die in 5 seconds on contact. Every insect I've sprayed it on has died in under 2 minutes; for instance, Japanese Beetles. It's an excellent contact killer but, unfortunately, not a very good repellent. So I have to keep spraying. Whenever I see my dog scratch I spray him where he's scratching. It's still cost effective compared to Frontline, and unlike Frontline, it won't poison my dog. Really, leaving this toxic junk on your dogs every month, why do you believe what the petrochemical companies tell you? Bet you wouldn't put it on yourself....
Pennyroyal is poisonous to dogs. Don't buy into things just because they're "natural." Hey, uranium, a bolt of lightning, and anthrax are all "natural."
I disagree with all y'all poison drop people and am tickled pink to hear that the fleas are immune anyways. Yes the fleas in Raleigh are pretty horrid. I finally proved to my satisfaction that it's not my apartment, when I walked outside and came back with 5 fleas on my legs. I use "Best Yet" from CedarCide . It is made from cedar oil and quartz crystals and is totally harmless to us. It causes the pores of all insects to close up; they suffocate and die. Fleas die in 5 seconds on contact. Every insect I've sprayed it on has died in under 2 minutes; for instance, Japanese Beetles. It's an excellent contact killer but, unfortunately, not a very good repellent. So I have to keep spraying. Whenever I see my dog scratch I spray him where he's scratching. It's still cost effective compared to Frontline, and unlike Frontline, it won't poison my dog. Really, leaving this toxic junk on your dogs every month, why do you believe what the petrochemical companies tell you? Bet you wouldn't put it on yourself....
The topicals are not poisonous to your pet. They have been tested and found to be safe. Frontline and Advantix stay on the skin and are not absorbed sytemically. As a matter of a fact, you can wash them off with shampoo. I think alot of ppl don't realize this and that's part of the reason the topicals may not work. You must use a soap-free shampoo when bathing. Hope you all have better luck with the fleas up there.
I use Frontline, have for years, and I haven't seen a flea in over 10yrs. I have a Pommie, she is mostly and indoor dog except for walks and potty trips. I thought you were not supposed to stop using the Frontline (ie: winter comes)? I give my dog Frontline every month, even winters and even tho she doesn't spend much time outside.
Try using the Frontline more often. Bump it up to every 3 weeks. If that doesn't work, do it every 2 1/2 weeks. It's safe.
Frontline and all topicals are pesticides. If the fleas in your area are resistant to Frontline (which does happen and is not uncommon in this area) increasing the frequency of dosage will only overexpose your pet to the toxins.. it will not solve your problem. Changing to a different product such as Advantix or Revolution is much more likely to be effective, if you want to keep using a pesticide on your pet. Breaking News - Topical Flea And Tick Products Under EPA Watch
It is important to note that parasites thrive on animals with compromised immune systems. One of the best ways to repel them is to have a healthy dog or cat. Poor quality food, over vaccination and over exposure to pesticides all contribute to suppressing the immune system and making your pet a more receptive host to bugs. If you work on your pet's ability to naturally repel them, you will find it is easier to manage.
As far as alternative options go, there are a few things you may want to try:
Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is a natural, non toxic product. Be sure to purchase the food grade variety and you can sprinkle it on carpets, pet bedding, etc and it will kill fleas by dehydrating them. If I notice my dogs scratching after being outside, I give them a little dust bath by sprinkling it on a brush and brushing into their fur. Be careful not to use too much on the carpet and clean your vaccuum before it gets full so the dust doesn't damage the vaccuum. Also, whenever you vaccuum (with or without DE) make sure you empty it immediately or fleas can come back out of it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diatoma...h#Pest_control
I would not recommend the Cedar or Neem products for cats due to the essential oil ingredients which cats can not metabolize.
Can you tell I have been working on expanding the flea prevention category DE and Neem products are already available at Triangle Pet Supply : Flea Control (http://shop.trianglepet.com/category.sc?categoryId=44 - broken link) but the other two I mentioned are still being evaluated in our home.
This will work, promise! We had the same problem with our cats after being on fronline plus. I'm still not sure how the fleas got there. Buy the fronline spray. It comes in a bottle with a spray nozzle. It kill fleas on contact (it's not to be used as a monthly thing, only if there is a random breakout). There is a successful way to us it an an unsuccessful way. Read the directions because there is a max amount of sprays per weight of dog. This is the successful way: Spray a ring around the neck, paws, and tail. The reason why you want to spray around these areas first is because fleas are smart and will restreat to the edge of the toes, in the nostrils, and rectum while you are spraying and then come back out when all the fun is done. They are good for this! That's why some of the expensive flea soaps don't work because the owner starts on the back and guess where the fleas take a vacation to....yes you guessed it. We learned this the hard way when I washed my cat with some flea shampoo and the fleas started going into the poor cat's rectum where you can't get the shampoo to. I tried the above method and they had nowhere to go and they died...we never had a flea problem afterwards. We also do frontline plus still, but we apply it every 3 weeks in the high flea seasons instead of every 4 weeks. That's what the vet recommended. You may be able to just use a strong flea shampoo rather than frontline spray as long as you outsmart the fleas with the above method. Good luck!
Diatomaceous Earth (DE) is a natural, non toxic product. Be sure to purchase the food grade variety and you can sprinkle it on carpets, pet bedding, etc and it will kill fleas by dehydrating them.
Good god NO do not do this in your home. I did it, applied it liberally to carpets with a broom. The dust goes airborne and gets EVERYWHERE. All horizontal surfaces, huge mess. Gets in your lungs. Made my Mom cough. She was really mad that I tried it, we didn't know that it would be like that. Even food grade diatomaceous earth is not something you should be inhaling a lot of. There is no such thing as a fine dust that is safe to inhale into the lungs for long periods of time. The DE was reasonably easy to get rid of at least. Lotta dusting, vacuuming, and a carpet cleaning that was happening imminently anyways. No lasting damage.
The punchline: I'm not convinced it did anything about fleas anyways.
Because I had a lot of DE, I also tried using it as a dewormer. No effect... then again, I'm not sure that my dog actually has worms. Gonna go to the vet in a few days and get a real diagnosis.
DE would be good to use in a yard as an ant or flea killer, or for other yard pests. Or maybe in a chicken coop. But please don't think you're gonna enjoy using this stuff anywhere that you have to regularly live and breathe.
Excellent contact killer. I use it all the time. Not so good at repelling.
Quote:
I would not recommend the Cedar or Neem products for cats due to the essential oil ingredients which cats can not metabolize.
Essential oils and Cedarcide / Nature's Defender / Best Yet are not the same thing. Essential oils are very concentrated oils, and they're dangerous to all pets. You should never use straight essential oils on an animal. Best Yet has some oily feel to it, but my gallon bottle says it's "Non Aqueous Quartz fluid spiked with a 10% Cedar Oil."
They are especially bad this year in Greensboro too. It's maddening to pay $100+ for our 2 dogs and 4 cats only to find them scratching and licking AGAIN. My mother passed away last year, and I adopted her parrot, so flea bombs or any toxin that could become airborne is not an option. In the past we have used borax and diatomaceous earth to combat fleas. Once they're on the critters though, there's nothing as effective as Frontline or Advantage. We used to switch every few years, but haven't done so in a while. I can say that Frontline is certainly not effective for a month - you would need to apply it more regularly. I personally am not fond of the idea of putting more chemicals on the critters, no matter how safe anyone says it is. If it's dangerous for me to get on MY skin, why is it okay for theirs? Good luck - I'm looking for help here too.
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I tried the above method and they had nowhere to go and they died...we never had a flea problem afterwards. We also do frontline plus still, but we apply it every 3 weeks in the high flea seasons instead of every 4 weeks. That's what the vet recommended. You may be able to just use a strong flea shampoo rather than frontline spray as long as you outsmart the fleas with the above method. Good luck!
Fleas
