Flea treatment

[Bonnies mum]

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Sorry if this has been asked numerous times but i cant seem to search threads. I’m wondering how necessary it is to keep pumping my dog with advocate to prevent fleas etc. I asked a vet once and they were against pumping dogs with chemicals if it wasn’t necessary. There is so much conflicting information. Bonnie is 15 months old now. What does everyone else do? Also I have been trying t9 get her to eat a Drontal, the ‘tasty’ bone sort and she is having none of it. Any advice or alternatives? Thanks in advance.

 

[JoanneF]

There are alternatives. For example if you don't need tick prevention too, you could elect not to treat her at all but instead treat your house if you saw any indication of fleas (but that uses some strong chemicals too, and it's hard work). Some people use Seresto collars, I am actually thinking of using one on my dog this year as an alternative. I know @JudyN uses them, maybe she could add more.

 

[JudyN]

You called, @JoanneF ?

I use Seresto collars for tick prevention, and they work wonderfully for that. I think they last for 8 months, so I put one on at the first sign of ticks and leave it till winter. So he is unprotected against fleas over winter to spring, but I keep an eye out and would use a different treatment if I spotted them. The only time he did get them was when I'd not been treating my cat.

Seresto is still chemical, but at one point Jasper was picking up about 5 ticks a day and he's a grumpy old sod which didn't help with removal.

You can see 'natural' methods suggested online which could be worth trying. Tread carefully though - some may work well but others may be useless or actually harmful (e.g. if they suggest applying essential oils to the skin).

Have you tried crushing Drontal and mixing it with her food (or liver pate or similar)?

As a side point, I haven't had to worm J for years now - I use a service called Wormcount where you send off a poo sample every 3 months and they check it for worms, lungworm, etc., so you only need to treat if they find something. So far, J's have all come back clear.

 

[merlina]

Absolutely agree- be wary of using any of these things if you don't need to. I have a flea comb which I use on ours. Tap the combings onto a sheet of white paper- add a drop of water and unless you get rusty red marks you probably aren't looking at flea infestation. Although of course if you see one of the critters jumping around that's another good indication!

 

[Bonnies mum]

Thanks everyone. God I love this site ha ha. I should’ve added that Bonnie doesn’t like to go in water and we have no other animals but she is a doggy dustbin when we are out and about. I groom her regularly so will be on the look out.

 

[Bonnies mum]

Absolutely agree- be wary of using any of these things if you don't need to. I have a flea comb which I use on ours. Tap the combings onto a sheet of white paper- add a drop of water and unless you get rusty red marks you probably aren't looking at flea infestation. Although of course if you see one of the critters jumping around that's another good indication!

Thanks Merlina will try this trick.

 

[Bonnies mum]

You called, @JoanneF ?

I use Seresto collars for tick prevention, and they work wonderfully for that. I think they last for 8 months, so I put one on at the first sign of ticks and leave it till winter. So he is unprotected against fleas over winter to spring, but I keep an eye out and would use a different treatment if I spotted them. The only time he did get them was when I'd not been treating my cat.

Seresto is still chemical, but at one point Jasper was picking up about 5 ticks a day and he's a grumpy old sod which didn't help with removal.

You can see 'natural' methods suggested online which could be worth trying. Tread carefully though - some may work well but others may be useless or actually harmful (e.g. if they suggest applying essential oils to the skin).

Have you tried crushing Drontal and mixing it with her food (or liver pate or similar)?

As a side point, I haven't had to worm J for years now - I use a service called Wormcount where you send off a poo sample every 3 months and they check it for worms, lungworm, etc., so you only need to treat if they find something. So far, J's have all come back clear.

Tried everything else but not tried crushing into pate...thanks. Will also look into Wormcount and seresto. I take her collar off in the house but I guess this environment isn’t so much an issue

 

[Bonnies mum]

There are alternatives. For example if you don't need tick prevention too, you could elect not to treat her at all but instead treat your house if you saw any indication of fleas (but that uses some strong chemicals too, and it's hard work). Some people use Seresto collars, I am actually thinking of using one on my dog this year as an alternative. I know @JudyN uses them, maybe she could add more.

Thanks Joanne, hadn’t even considered ticks. Sounds like seresto is worth looking into.

 

[Bonnies mum]

You called, @JoanneF ?


As a side point, I haven't had to worm J for years now - I use a service called Wormcount where you send off a poo sample every 3 months and they check it for worms, lungworm, etc., so you only need to treat if they find something. So far, J's have all come back clear.

Just checked their website, which pack do You Use?

 

[Bonnies mum]

There are alternatives. For example if you don't need tick prevention too, you could elect not to treat her at all but instead treat your house if you saw any indication of fleas (but that uses some strong chemicals too, and it's hard work). Some people use Seresto collars, I am actually thinking of using one on my dog this year as an alternative. I know @JudyN uses them, maybe she could add more.

Would I only need tick treatment if she went in water?

 

[JudyN]

Just checked their website, which pack do You Use?

I get the combined worm egg count & lungworm screen for £24. The lungworm screen is a bit of a pain as you have to collect the sample over three days, but worth it IMO. The best bit is when you take the sample to the post office and they ask what is in the package

Dogs pick up ticks from grassy areas (among other places) so it wouldn't be related to going into water.

 

[Mad Murphy]

@JudyN do you leave the seresto collar on Jasper the whole time or only put it on for walks?

Just wondering because Id like to find something else for Murphy but he doesnt wear a collar.. at the moment we give him lambs fat with garlic in cube form and use advantix during the flea/ tick seasons

 

[JudyN]

The Seresto collar stays on the whole time, @Mad Murphy - you can't get them off without cutting them. Do dogs not need to wear id tags by law where you are? Jasper wears it alongside his 'proper' collar... but then he does have a long neck.

 

[Mad Murphy]

The Seresto collar stays on the whole time, @Mad Murphy - you can't get them off without cutting them. Do dogs not need to wear id tags by law where you are? Jasper wears it alongside his 'proper' collar... but then he does have a long neck.

Not sure about tags no one enforces that. We dont have dog wardens either just council guys who do fines for any breach of bylaws... Murphy has an id tag attached to his harness which he wears when out.

 

[Caro Perry]

Harri wears a Seresto collar too now. We can undo it - his collar size varies quite a bit depending on when he last went to the groomer....

 

[Kara 1]

We had a bad experience with a seresto collar on our lurcher girl ...she had an awful reaction to it that resulted in a siezure. ..

 

[JudyN]

Harri wears a Seresto collar too now. We can undo it - his collar size varies quite a bit depending on when he last went to the groomer....

Maybe we've just never fiddled with ours enough - but then J doesn't like being fiddled with.

@Kara 1 , I think you've mentioned your girl's reaction before, and there's similar stories on the internet. It's a hard one, as you have to weigh the 'anecdotes' against the research data (and ask how objective that data is) and consider whether it is generally 'bad', or only affects a small proportion of dogs (similar to peanut butter allergy). My vet thought seizures were very unlikely because the chemical spreads through the hair and surface of the skin and doesn't get into the nervous system. But who knows?

 

[Caro Perry]

We had a bad experience with a seresto collar on our lurcher girl ...she had an awful reaction to it that resulted in a siezure. ..

I saw those reviews too but we'd tried the herbal route and it didn't work long term. Harri had a horrific reaction to the oral medication and there is no antidote. The stuff was in his system poisoning him for at least 3 months if not longer. At least I felt I could remove the collar at the slightest hint of any problem.

 

[Kara 1]

My vet couldn't find anything else that could have caused the reaction...she has never had another seizure ...I think like everything else we have to look at the pros and cons of our dogs health care products ...I use natural resources now and considering Tilly was pcking up ticks daily ...I've hardly had any ...and we walk in the woods daily overpopulated by deer

 

[JoanneF]

My vet couldn't find anything else that could have caused the reaction...she has never had another seizure ...I think like everything else we have to look at the pros and cons of our dogs health care products ...I use natural resources now and considering Tilly was pcking up ticks daily ...I've hardly had any ...and we walk in the woods daily overpopulated by deer

Sorry if you have said before @Kara 1 but what is it that you use?