[Dori]

Hi Bobby. Yes, the pyramid. I just went back on line and am wondering if I misinterpreted what I read. I thought they were saying that it killed 5% of adult fleas on your dog. Now I’m thinking they mean there are 5% of adult fleas on your dog and then going on to say everything else living in your house with you, the dog and the 5% of adult fleas on your dog. Now I need you to explain it to me cause I’m really confused now.

[Dori]

Bobby dog. Read what I just wrote to Dog Obsessed and if you go to Sentinelpet.com and click on the upper left hand side of the page on Sentinel Spectrum and then follow directions on my post above it says that it kills 5% of adult fleas on the dog. That’s pretty inconsequential I think. If it only kills 5% of adult fleas on your dog you’re still left with 95% percent of adult fleas on your dog. Not even sure why they bothered to add that part. As I said, I don’t give Sentinel Spectrum to kill adult fleas nor do I think anyone else will have good results if that’s there intent. It’s a HW preventative and preventative for a hold host of worms and flea larvae. As an added benefit it says it kills 5% of adult fleas on the dog.

[Bobby dog]

Dori:
This is from Sentinel’s FAQ section under general FAQs:
I see a few fleas on my dog. Are Sentinel Flavor Tabs working?
You may see an occasional “hitchhiker” adult flea that your dog has picked up at the dog park or in the yard or other infested environments. Since Sentinel Flavor Tabs stop fleas before they become adults, you will need an adulticide, such as CAPSTAR® (nitenpyram) Tablets, to eliminate the occasional adult flea.

http://www.sentinelpet.com/faqs

[Dori]

Hi Dog Obsessed. Go on line and go to Sentinelpet.com When you’re there check on Sentinel Spectrum. On the left hand side of the page you’ll see a list of all the things it deals with. Click on each item one at a time and read up on them. The first one will be Heartworms, of course. Second one on the list is fleas and then so on and so on about the different worms. Let me know if you need more information.

[Dog_Obsessed]

I found a flea on Lily the other day, and she has seemed sort of itchy over the last few days. She had her Activyl (a topic flea preventative) 3 weeks ago. I would definitely rather not put those chemicals on her. We talked to the vet on the phone yesterday, and she said that just because we saw one flea on Lily doesn’t necessarily mean she has fleas. We asked her for natural treatment recommendations, and she said that she doesn’t have that much experience with natural treatments but she mentioned Sentry as an alternative treatment. I looked it up and it contains the same main ingredient as Frontline, so I’m not crazy about it. I’ve gotten suggestions on various threads for Little City Dogs, Sentinel, and Dichotomous Earth. I am a little worried about the DE because I have heard it is bad for humans to inhale. I’m a little overwhelmed with all the choices right now. I just looked up Sentinel and it looks like it is a Heart worm and internal parasite prevention, but it didn’t say anything about fleas. Could someone please un-confuse me please? Thanks!

[Dori]

Bobby dog. I have seen the info on line and also in the pamphlet that comes in the box. Probably would say it on Novartis’s site. Says it kills 5% of adult fleas on the dog. It’s not a particularly large amount of adult fleas at all but better than none I suppose. HW, flea larvae and all the worms it covers is really more my concern. Adult fleas you can pretty easily get rid of if caught fast enough in the bath I think or would hope so from what some of the posters have said. Just glad I haven’t had to worry about fleas and, again, I hope I haven’t jinxed myself and the girls. I have a real aversion to insects of any sort. YUK!!!!!!!

There are other ingredients in Sentinel Spectrum so I’m just thinking that I don’t know which of the ingredients would kill 5% of the adult fleas. Bobby dog, the info is on Sentinelpet.com I just went to their web site to make sure I had read it correctly.

• This reply was modified 11 years ago by Dori.
• This reply was modified 11 years ago by Dori.
• This reply was modified 11 years ago by Dori.

[Bobby dog]

Dori:
Where did you find information that lufenuron kills adult fleas?

[Dori]

Hi Bobby Dog. I hear you about adult fleas. I don’t take my dogs to pet stores, friends and relatives homes with animals that I know are not particularly careful about fleas and such. I don’t ever take my dogs to dog parks and let them run free. Way too many issues with dog parks for me. Fleas, ticks, illnesses, feces and urine everywhere and then, of course, the dog fights that break out while the owners sit around b.s.ing not paying the least bit of attention to their dogs. None of that is to my liking or for my girls. The local pet stores that I go to don’t have cats but some of the workers do bring their dogs in that hang around behind the counter. As you so, they all look healthy and I know the workers are pretty scrupulous about the store and their animals, but you never know. Some of my friends say I’m too cautious and nuts about all that but the last thing I want is an infestation of fleas on my animals and my home.

[Bobby dog]

I am always on alert for adult fleas because Bobby does have a friend in the neighborhood that he hangs out with sometimes. Although I don’t see her scratch and her fur looks good, you never know. I also keep an eye out after visiting my pet store. They always have several cats in the store up for adoption. The cats are in great health, but again you never know what is lurking in a pet store since there are other pets that visit the store throughout the day as well.

Glad he seems to be doing better today! 😉

[Dori]

Hi Susan. I use Sentinel Spectrum. It’s main selling point is as a Heartworm preventative. As added bonuses it also kills 5% of adult fleas. It kills flea larvae, hookworms, tapeworms, ring worms , round worms. I’ve been using Sentinel for years (I use the chewable tablets). They have recently (this year I believe) come out with Sentinel Spectrum (also a chewable or tablet you can hide in the food) which added the ability to kill one of the worms mentioned above. I switched to this one early this Summer. What I like about this version of Sentinel Spectrum is that there is more weight varieties. I use the one that is made for dogs that weigh between 2 and 8 lbs. All three of my dogs fall into those weight ranges so that they are not being over medicated with doses that have, until recently, been geared for a wider range of rates. I don’t use topical flea solutions like the ones that you put on their necks. Frontline, Advantage and stuff like that. It always worried me that the directions were to put on the upper part of their neck where they can’t lick it and then immediately wash your hands thoroughly even if you didn’t get anything on yourself. Little too frightening for me. Anyway, I’ve been using Sentinel with all my dogs for more years than I can remember and have never had an issue with it. None of my dogs have ever become ill, itchy, anything all on Sentinel. I don’t know if they sell it where you live but I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to get it from your vet. I always buy it from my veterinarian so that I don’t have to be afraid of a medication like that having expired or having been transported under bad conditions. I’m super careful about medications with the dogs and myself and husband. I don’t purchase things like that on the internet. That’s just me possibly being more concerned and cautious than necessary but that’s just me being me. I don’t have cats so I’m not sure whether they make a cat version. I’ll check into it for you and get back onto this post and let you know.

Susan I just did a quick Google search and they do make a Sentinel Spectrum version for cats. The manufacturer of Sentinel Spectrum for dogs and the cat version are made by Novartis. Just go to Novartis.com and type in Sentinel Spectrum.

• This reply was modified 11 years ago by Dori.

[Naturella]

Hey, all! Been a long day for me, so here I am with an update and a response to each of you:

Bobby Dog, I know Sentinel Spectrum only kills flea eggs, not the adult fleas, but I thought, like Dori said, giving Bru a brushing and a bath fairly recently would have eliminated that issue? I mean, a stray flea could be there, which is why, as BCnut said, he could just be very sensitive to flea bites, which I think he has a history of, so this may be it, plus, like Dori suggested I may have scratched him too hard with the Furminator. I really need to be better with this thing and just do short sessions every 2 weeks or so instead of an intense one every 3-4 months… Maybe I will just start doing that, and keep it to one brushing per area. Quick, easy, gentle. I was just trying to not do it too often in the cold months so as to help him retain most of his undercoat as he may be cold, so I only was going to do one in the end of November and pick up when warm months come, as in probably in March-April. Maybe when I start brushing again, it could be every 2 weeks or so (that’s how often I do his nails too), and it won’t be terrible as it will be warm outside.

Tabitha, thank you for the info! I will certainly monitor Bruno, but so far he seems overall well internally – he had a checkup in September, all was well; he fares well on a rotational kibble diet with added canned/dehydrated/freeze-dried/air-dried foods and whole foods such as egg, sardines, coconut oil, yoghurt/kefir, RMBs. Stool is great, eating is great, I make sure he eats a lot of water with every meal (I feed his kibble and toppers with warm water as a soup), so that I try to increase his hydration. I also would try to use more natural remedies before I resort to medical (chemical) compounds in other stuff. I make my own shampoo of castille soap, coconut milk, and essential oils, and I, Brian, and Bruno use that, and I use the oil blend mentioned above for almost everything – body lotion, hair conditioning, dog coat conditioning, wound remedy, etc. Which is why I will definitely keep in mind the recommendations by Susan (thank you!) on the Malaseb shampoo and Cortisone cream, but I will hold off on them as long as I can to give a chance to the natural stuff to try and help. He hasn’t chewed at it today, and I was able to watch him all day. Spot looks fine, skin is ok, and there is no miraculous overnight hair re-growth, lol, but I am sure it will come back – the scrotum spot got all its hair back. 🙂

I will just watch him and play it by ear, and see how it goes. By no means will I let him suffer (if he displays any signs of it, like excessive chewing, redness, etc.), but for now, we may just be able to home-treat this. 🙂 I will certainly keep you posted.

Also, Susan, I am not Dori, but Sentinel is a tablet that prevents all worms: heartworm, hookworm, roundworm, tapeworm, whipworm, and controls flea populations by killing the eggs (not the adult fleas though). It works pretty well I think, and if they sell it in Australia, you can look into it, but I don’t think they make it for cats. http://sentinelpet.com/

[Susan]

Hi Dori, what is Sentinel, Ive seen it at Pet Barn behind the counter, is it a tabet??? I haven’t used no flea products this winter spring or summer on Patch.. as he gets sick from everything, I did use Frontline Plus but that was back in March, also I have a cat called Jeremy, & Jeremy brings the fleas home…he’s a big fluffy bath mat that comes home, whinges, eats then washes himself, flicks off any fleas, then scratches at the door to go back out…I do use Advantage spot on, on Jeremy monthly but he’s still always scratching, when I look I never find any fleas on him but like I said he’s a big fluffy bath mat, so 1 could be hiding, I dont think they have made a tablet for cats yet only the spot ons….

[Dori]

I have to honestly say that my dogs have always been on Sentinel and now on Sentinel Spectrum (weight appropriate…they have one for 2 – 8 lbs. which all three of my dogs qualify) and, I don’t want to jinx them or myself, but none of my dogs have ever had fleas or any types of worms other then when they were first born and got their newborn worms from their mothers. The only dog I have ever had in my life that had fleas was the very first dog I had on my own and I lived in the city and had to walk around NYC and I didn’t know about doing any type of flea preventative. Cleaned him and had to flea bomb the apartment and have never had any fleas or worms again. I have lived in a number of states and cities and suburbs (I like to move…can you tell?) that are flea and tick central but it has not been an issue. No, I do not use topical neck type liquids. Sounds scary to me putting insecticide on the top of their necks so that they cannot lick at it and then allows it to get in their system. Yikes and Yuk!!! Just not my idea of a good thing.

[Susan]

Does he have the odd flea, Patch has been going mad & trying to scratch around the base of his tail & licking his ball sac, when I looked & he had a couple of fleas in the fur of his ball sac, (Patch was desexed at 4 yrs old, so his skin is a bit lose where his balls once were) he must of picked up fleas on our walks, we’ve had alot of rain & humid weather, prefect for fleas…I killed the fleas & put some Cortisone 1 % cream around the base of tail & ball sac & this relieved his itch also get a good shampoo… I use “Malaseb” medicated shampoo, this is excellent kills any bacteria on their skin but doesn’t strip the oils in their skin, leaving him feeling so soft & itch free…

[theBCnut]

Definitely not a hot spot! With a hot spot the skin turns red and hot before the hair falls out, then the skin starts weeping and gets raw, this causes the hair to fall out, so you definitely would have known if it was that. When the weeping dries, it is crusty like a scab.

You could have a couple different things going on here. If Bruno is sensitive to fleas, they can remain itchy for up to 10 days after a single bite, so you don’t have to see a flea for it to have been a flea. And then of course there is the drier winter air. It isn’t at all uncommon for short coated breeds to have dry skin.

[Bobby dog]

Lufenuron does not kill adult fleas.

[Naturella]

Hey, Dori!

It shouldn’t be fleas then because he was bathed on Nov. 30th – fairly recently, and I scrubbed him very well and rinsed well too. He gets Sentinel on 1st of every month, so Dec. 1st, and we don’t skip any pills. As for the Furminator – it was me who brushed him, and it may be from that actually, maybe I scratched him some, but not too much to leave any lasting irritation, and he kept itching at it, and got himself hairless at that spot… I will be more careful with this thing, cause I don’t usually do the legs much, but I go over them a couple times just to take any excess hair out… I really wasn’t trying to take much off cause it’s getting cold anyway. So it may be that too, didn’t think about it.

[Dori]

Naturella. Doesn’t sound like hot spots. Hot spots usually have some redness or other type of inflammation that goes along the the bald spots. If you’ve been giving Bruno Sentinel every month without missing any then it shouldn’t be fleas either but do check him out with a flea comb or just give him a bath. Fleas don’t like water so if it is fleas you’ll readily see them in the sink or tub. That only leaves some type of allergic reaction to food or some environmental issue he may have been exposed to. Is it possible that whoever did the fur intake treatment on him was too aggressive and he got a bit of a razor burn type effect. They really have to know what they’re doing with those things and just work slowly and on small areas at a time. Maybe they rushed through it?

[Naturella]

Bobby Dog, thank you, I will probably go get a flea comb tomorrow and try it out. He has a double-coat, and it is fairly thick, so it is hard to just dig in it kind of. So I will try the comb tomorrow and see how it goes! 🙂

[Bobby dog]

Hi Naturella:
Hot spots are usually pretty irritated looking. My previous dog used to get them now and then in the summer and they usually become pretty obsessed with licking them.

Have you used a flea comb on him to see if you can find any fleas? I am just thinking if there are only a few they can be hard to see even though he has allot of white in his fur. One of my cats got fleas mid-September and the first sign was he losing hair near the base of his tail in a small spot because he was biting at fleas.

[Naturella]

Thank you, Dog_Obsessed! Yes, if he seems worse, I will scoop him up to the vet, but he doesn’t seem distressed or anything. I haven’t even caught him in the act of itching between yesterday and today, but hubs said he’s seen him chew at that leg before. So maybe he’s done chewing it. I also checked his ears and paws, nothing smells weird or yeasty, everything looks good on him so far. It might just be a stray flea or just some skin dryness or something… We will see how the oil treatment goes! 🙂

[Naturella]

You know, it could be dry skin, as when I condition him after his bath, I can only do the coat (with the oils) cause if I go down to the skin, he will be a greasy mess! LoL. I do give him coconut oil every other day just about, but I think I will just call the vet to ask about it on Monday or so if there is no improvement. I just put the oils on him again and will continue to do so over the weekend. He took it like a champ though he doesn’t like how the Eucalyptus smells – maybe that will deter him from itching at his leg! 🙂

He doesn’t seem to be feeling bad or anything, and it really may just be a couple of fleas I am not seeing for all I know… Hope it is not anything worse. And he’s not chewing at his scrotum spot anymore, hasn’t been for a while.

[Naturella]

Dog_Obsessed, he usually stops chewing on it when oils are on it. And it literally looks like clear, healthy skin – is that what hot spots look like? I don’t know much about them. I just looked them up actually, and they look nothing like Bruno has – in fact they look like something Snowy has, on both her sides of the thighs, red, irritated, almost raw, skin, on the fold between the legs and the torso, and hers clear up very well with coconut oil, but her family is not very consistent with it and they come back.

As for foods, we started transitioning today, so it can’t be from that. Other than that, no change in his normal food routine. Until today he was on Back to Basics Open Range with usual THK and BDN toppers, plus fresh food toppers. Today we began introducing Castor & Pollux Ultramix GF with Duck, Turkey, Lamb, and Salmon meals. But the spot was there before, I saw it yesterday actually.

As far as seasonal or environmental allergies, it may be that, not sure. When he had the scrotum spots, I did see one flea on him, and there may have been more, but so far I haven’t seen any on him around the leg spot… But there MAY be some? The oil treatment helped last time, and I will try it again I guess, and if he gets another itchy spot, I will ask a vet.

[Naturella]

Hey, all!

So, Bruno has caused himself a relatively large (about the size of 2 quarters next to each other, which is large-ish for him) “bald spot” on his rear hind leg. He vigorously itches that spot with his mouth, apparently “shaving” the hairs off in the process or something. He had done it in another spot before, on his, um… where his testicles used to be. Right behind that spot, on both sides of his scrotum (?) I guess. I used Eucalyptus essential oil first and my own blend of other nourishing oils (coconut, olive, shea, chamomile, vitamin E oil, a tad baby oil, a tad castor oil, and some drops of essential oils – no tea tree) and that spot healed up and grew hair back and he stopped biting at it, but now he’s at the new one. I can use said oils again and it will probably heal (although it doesn’t seem irritated at all, just “shaved” by Bruno himself, and regrow the hair (I think my oils make it light-brown, almost crimson-ish when it grows back though! That’s the color of the hair on the scrotum spots at least).).

Does any of you have an idea what may be causing it? And just in his hiney area, by the scrotum and only on one leg… He doesn’t seem irritated anywhere else, I also don’t know if it would be a food allergy. He was also recently brushed with the Furminator and bathed, I saw no fleas. He gets his monthly Sentinel on time, which should control any flea populations by killing the eggs… Do I need to get some Cedarcide and spray him just in case? I wouldn’t use any chemical-based anti-flea topical even if he had fleas.

[Bobby dog]

I went to the Wondercide’s site and found they offer trial sizes of their products. I am going to order the flea spray, skin tonic, citronella soap, and neem soap trial sizes to try out. I checked them out earlier in the summer, but didn’t want to order a big bottle of the flea spray and kind of forgot about it. I’ll be able to try out the soaps and skin tonic right away. This will be a good way to see if my zoo will like the Wondercide if I ever need to use it.

[judy t]

Jenna…I wouldn’t use it again. I killed my elderly lab by giving her one of those oral flea medications. It was too much for her kidneys. I’m still not over that. I did have to break down and give my four dogs Nexgard for fleas and I’m happy to say that it worked great and no one got sick at all.

I probably wouldn’t use chemicals at all if we lived somewhere else, but here in the south inside/outside dogs are going to have fleas and mine were just covered up this year. The house was also infested but I used diatomaceous earth (DE) and vacuumed often. Also, once the dogs were flea-free it didn’t take long before the house was also clear. Just vacuum everyday, including the furniture. I’d also put some DE in your vacuum bag.

[Walt J]

Akari, I was very disappointed in LittleCity Dogs, as I was looking for affordable flea treatment for my lab who has had a terrible time with fleas this summer. I tried many of the non toxic techniques including DE without success, and after researching the least toxic meds, I decided the use to generic Capstar and lufeneron, and they seemed to work well. I normally don’t do much blogging or reviews, but when a business does a number on me, I feel compelled to let others know. FYI, there are other generic flea med suppliers on EBay with competitive prices, and where you can see their feedback. Good luck to all who battle the flea problem.

[Jenna M]

My 9 year old min pin recently got fleas for the first time. We live in FL and went from living in a home with no other animals, to living in the city, where many other animals are walked in the neighborhood. Im not a fan of medications for myself or my dog, but seeing fleas swarming throughout my dogs hair and finding flea dirt (poop) everywhere freaked me out. I actually didn’t know what was going on, since he never had fleas before. The vet I went to mentioned bravecto and said it was new and also mentioned frontline etc. I ended up choosing bravecto because I wanted to get rid of the problem immediately. I was concerned if a medication that lasted so long would be good for my dogs organs etc. My dog did not have any adverse reaction and the fleas were gone within 1-2 days. The only thing I noticed about 2 weeks later, was on my dogs eyes. There were thin white marks on the outer corner of his iris. I know this could be related to my dog being 9 years old, but I didn’t see them before.

Anyway, I’m unsure if I will use the product again. I prefer a less aggressive approach. Also, even thought my dog is free of fleas, do the flea eggs still live in my house on the couch etc, waiting for bravecto to run out so they can hatch on my dog again? Should I get my sofa steam cleaned etc? Pillows, blankets? I have no clue. I want to do all I can to prevent this from happening again.

[Akari_32]

I’m very happy with it. It’s lufenuron, which doesn’t kill fleas, but prevents their eggs from hatching. If you have a bad flea problem, you use this together with something like CapStar (LCDs also sells their own generic of CapStar) to kill the fleas outright. Once fleas are under control, this is fantastic. It’s not a pesticide, which is why I like it, and in the event of an accidental overdose, it’s still non-toxic. Best of all, it’s cheap! I’ve got my cat and 130 pound rott mix on this for a year for $85. The rott takes a double dose of the larger pills because of his size, and the cat takes a single small pill, every month.

[Dog_Obsessed]

Sigh. Lily has fleas AGAIN. She had a topical flea preventative (activyl) just over two weeks ago. I dislike topical preventatives because of all the chemicals, and for Lily they don’t seem to work too well either. Does the Little City Dogs work well for you?

[Dori]

Hi Dog Obsessed. Which HW do you use monthly? As we were just discussing on the other forum, I use Sentinel monthly for HW and it has the added benefit of also being a flea preventative. Check to see if your HW meds is also a flea preventative. None of my dogs have ever had fleas. Uh Oh! I hope I haven’t jinxed myself. Nah. Living in the South and having lived on Cape Cod (both flea and tick central) that’s saying a lot.

[Dog_Obsessed]

Has anyone used Flea Away: http://www.chewy.com/dog/flea-away-natural-flea-tick-mosquito/dp/105329 or any other oral preventative? Do they hurt the dog? Do they work? Thanks!

[Judy M]

any vets I have been to will require a heartworm test before renewing the HW meds if you have a lapse in monthly treatment. , but if continually on the monthly med, they will renew it without the ktest (and additonal test charge), BUT the holistic vet I consulted recommended giving the HW every 45 days rather than once a month, to lessen the amount of toxiic med given. and she recommended natural methods for flea control and not spinosad (Comfortis) at all, cuz too toxic

[Judy M]

all the f[rodducts at Wondercide have neem oil They also have a great bathing bar soap for flea prevention called “Repel” holding a bar of soap to bathe is easier than having to squeeze a bottle when u need 2 hands for bathing. ‘They have a whole line of flea prevention products t that all include neem oil they are quality products recommended (I even list them for sale on my own poet supply website and have them dropshipped, and use them myself, but having to spray repeatedly periodically isnt as easy as giving a Capostar pill or other like Comfortis,m but I won;t give comfortis anymore, now that the holistic vet told me that spinosad (however it is spelled) is toxic, so don’t want to harm my pet, but she chews herself to death in summer if she getsfleas, so I have to be sure and prevent them ans her sensitive pick skin gets all raw with hot spots once she gets a flea and starts chewing at the bite, so its hard to balance. Where to you get the Bug Of Garlic? is there a way to makeit with health food store garlic, I do think the holistic vet said something about garlic being potentially toxic (probably if wrong dose)?? hate those darn fleasl no easy solution…thankfully now that it is cooler, they seem to not be a problem at the moment, and Im in So CAl

[Judy M]

Wondercide Evolve spray for flea prevention was recommended to me by holistic vet
go to Wondercide.com ther are some discount coupons available to use on their site, that I think may not yet be over, but I will need to search my email to find one. will look for it if anyone needs…

[jakes mom]

Has anybody ever used Capstar? Kills fleas for just 24 hours. Could maybe use for a couple of days until the DE has time to do it’s thing?

[theBCnut]

DE in the food won’t do anything for the fleas, but you could dust the dogs with it, just be careful of getting it in eyes and nose. Usually, dogs get dog or cat fleas, and these live primarily on the dog, so bathing weekly to kill the fleas on the dog until the problem is resolved is one of the best things to do. That and step up vacuuming. Get a flea collar or flea powder and chop it to pieces and vacuum it up so that any fleas that are vaccuumed die instead of finding their way out.

[pugmomsandy]

You can put powder on their body/bedding:

http://neemtreefarms.com/dry-dog-shampoo-p-91.html

Only Natural Pet All-in-One Flea Remedy Powder for Dogs & Cats

Or use essential oil/neem sprays like Halo or similar or spot-ons like Sentry Natural Defense.

[InkedMarie]

Saturday, we dropped off all three dogs at the groomers. Six hours of freedom!!!…..til they called, asking if we knew they had fleas. You could’ve knocked me over with a feather. We had no idea. The groomer said this fall has been bad for fleas up here. They all hot a flea bath.

So much for our day being dog free. We drove the hour plus home, washed all the bedding, blankets etc. No carpets, thankfully but we vacuumed the entire house, sprayed with an all natural spray, dusted the beds & crates with DE, dusted the kennel with it, too. I’m giving the dogs DE in their food as well.

I’ve used Bug Off Garlic for years, the only time we had fleas were just a few on Ginger after a pet expo a few years ago. I don’t want to use topicals so what else should I be doing beside the BOG & DE?

[Walt J]

Good product, BUT– WATCH OUT!!
As a satisfied return customer, I ordered some flea meds and LittleCityDogs sent me the wrong dosage. I emailed them the problem, including a picture of their invoice and the wrong package so they would know I wasn’t trying to get a free order, and asked that they send me the correct dosage. No response then or after two subsequent emails. I notified PayPal and disputed the problem, asking for a refund. LCD refused the refund, and then they generously offered $3 ( I paid $17). I told PayPal, ” No”, and filed a claim, and they ruled in my favor. LCD then refunded my $17. Is this trustworthy business practice? You decide.

[Kristin C]

So this is the first I have read about foregoing heart worm meds in the winter months. I live in CT so this would apply? Of course our vet never suggests it. We do omit the flea/tick treatments in the colder months, unless we travel to FL as we did for Thanksgiving.

[MelSnowy]

To Rebeka R ..Yes, very scary, I know! I used a “Seresto” Flea/Tick collar on my 6 month old puppy – immediately over 3 days broke out into seizures. Once collar removed, seizure free. I am not trusting any of these flea/tick products. Living in New England we have plenty of deer ticks so was very concerned as to what I could use that was non-toxic to my dog. A dear vet friend turned me onto FOOD GRADE Diatomaceous Earth. I rub this powder onto her fur throughout her body and NO FLEAS, NO TICKS, NO DEER Ticks. (pls avoid the eyes). MAKE SURE it is FOOD GRADE, or otherwise regular diatomaceous earth is very toxic/deadly to animals. I go right to the source and buy it from Wolf Creek Ranch on the web. I’ve found some ‘commercial’ pet stores, food/grain stores, on-line pet stores don’t have FOOD GRADE label on it and won’t take any chances. I do use Heartguard on my puppy with no side effects. Hope this helps!!! Woof-Woof and Happy Tails to you.

[Juliet C]

My border collie has skin issues. The vet was of no help and order £100’s on blood test etc. Apart from keeping him free of fleas obviously I went down the line of possible food allergies. Plus when we bath him we use ordinary dandruff shampoo. After 6 months of constant scratching, rolling and the rest an incredibly itchy dog does. We settled a cheap brand of supermarket dog food out of desperation and their also cheap mixer. It turns out our boy can’t handle all the the fancy additives and supplements that the expensive brands contain. He comes from a long line of farm dogs. That were basically fed on what was available. Table scraps, sheep pellets. Rabbits shot on the farm. So sometimes its ok to go back to the basics. We thought we were doing right by the poor dude by giving him the high life food wise. Instead we were hurting him. I threw out the stuff the farmer gave me thinking it was crap. I learnt a lesson!

[BeachDogs]

I am in Florida as well and would love to not have to give those chemicals to my pups every single month, but I do because we have mosquitoes (and ticks and fleas) year round. I agree with the others about getting the test in spring if you do skip a couple months of meds. Maybe work it to where it’s the yearly visit. Oh, on that topic, my vet says the yearly exam is just as important as the vaccines. I tend to agree.

[Rich]

EDITED: After reading Barb R’s excellent link I have to edit my original post below. It seems that DMV’s recommend DE for parasites in the gut etc. My neighbor however thinks feeding them DE is a way to treat for fleas. So I stand corrected and will share with her this wonderful link that Barb provided.

{PUT IT ON DOG??? Oh my, my neighbor FEEDS it too them!! She mixes it in their food and told us about it and we told her we wouldn’t do that without a vets approval. Is it approved for mixing in feed?}

• This reply was modified 11 years ago by Rich.

[Nancy M]

I need some opinions……FAST. Until I can get a vet appointment, I need some suggestions on skin issues. I have a year old mini Aussie, who has acquired a skin/hair condition over the last few weeks. I don’t know if it’s due to a diet change, the colder weather outside and drier, hotter temps in the house, or a flea med I’ve used lately; which was Advantix II ( this was just a couple days ago; the problem already existed beforehand).

She was on Diamond Naturals Puppy formula since 8 weeks old, but since it was time to change to an adult food, and I also just got a new Sheltie pup that was already on it, I’ve been transitioning VERY slowly, to a VICTOR formula; Hi-Pro Plus for Puppies and Adults.

At this point, I’m not sure what’s doing this, or what is “lacking” for her, but she is obviously being driven crazy by itchy or dry skin; although the skin does not look irritated. She is consistently rolling and scratching herself on the carpet, leaving small areas of hair (all I can see. Who knows how much hair she’s rubbing off), and then she’s obsessed with “shaking” her body, like she trying to shake off water.

Anyone have suggestions as to what this is all about, or suggestions to relieve her until I can get her into the vet? Gave her a bath yesterday, hoping it would would help, but it hasn’t. I used baby shampoo since I was at my daughters for the weekend and that’s the best I could come up with.

Thanks!

[Barb R]

I have been using it for years after reactions to the topical spot flea treatments. Dog had seizures.
i get it here.
http://www.earthworkshealth.com/
No fleas. I just dump some in an empty shaker
and spread from the neck-ear area to the base of the tale and rub it
in. You may want to apply outside cause it can make a mess if the
dog decides to shake after applying it.

[Susan]

I dont know for sure but I think there was a post on DFA about using natural products to repel fleas instead of flea products, You could even post a post…..I dont use monthly heartworm prevention, only every 4 months when I worm Patch I use Milbemax all wormer & this worm pill covers Heartworm aswell, so if Patch was infected with Heartworm he should be covered on the Milbemax, it takes 6 months for a heartworm to mature…. I dont really live in a mosquitoes infested area, I was speaking to a vet nurse the other day when Patch was being admited into hospital for his Endoscope, she asked if he’s on a monthly heartwormer & I told her what I do & she said thats Ok cause most people use heartworm prevention there’s less chances of getting heartworm now, she said they are not seeing many dogs infected with heartworm anymore but I live Australia…. a mosquitoes that bites ur dog has to be carrying the parasite heartworm & bite your dog, I think if you have indoor dogs that sleep inside of a night, it would be rare for a infected mosquito to come along & bite my dog….if he did get infected he’d be covered when I worm him every 4 months……I hate using anything on my dog, he just looks at a pill & gets sick lol….

• This reply was modified 11 years ago by Susan.

[Rebekah R]

Thank you everyone. Titan has been playing all day and is eating, drinking, going to bathroom as normal. He has not had another seizure. I was so afraid for him to take a nap, but he did and no seizures. I hope it stays that way throughout the night. He’s really very tired, as am I. I have been stressed all day and haven’t eaten a thing.

I am thinking about taking them off the flea meds and heart guard in the cold months. Not sure yet what to do in the spring and summer. I just am not comfortable with these poisons.
My dogs all eat a dry food by Natural Balance. It’s salmon and sweet potato and has no fillers, bi-products, etc. Two of my dogs have severe skin allergies, so this is what we have found works. I wonder now if the skin probs could be due to the topical flea treatments. We stopped giving them the heart guard bc it is beef flavored and beef was one of the first things we excluded when trying to determine what was causing the allergies. But the advantage multi is supposed to have the heart guard in it combined with flea meds. An all in one thing. I’m thinking it’s just too strong for my sensitive pups. Although the others have never had seizures that we know of, there are some suspicious things that go on after they get this topical.
We have him a bath this morning and tried to wash it all off his skin. I don’t know if it helped, but I hope it did.
I have unplugged the scented plugins, am not going to burn scented anything, gonna watch on the volume of tv, etc. just things in general that stress me, I’m going to take into consideration for Titan and try to keep it calm.
Doing research online, we ran across something. Have any of you heard of canna companion or canna pet? Two companies that have created non-Thc meds for dogs with seizures, anxiety, arthritis, cancer, etc. I’m going to talk to my vet, but we may try it.

[Susan]

Hi Rebekah, oh be careful with Advangtage spot on, it goes thru their skin to the blood system, where frontline plus only penitrates 2 layers of their skin, that’s what my vet told me after Patch was real ill after I put Advangtage on him, so now I just use the Frontline again but only if I see a flea when we come into spring & summer then I stop using the frontline over Autunm & winter,
When I was young, 11 yrs old I had epillepsy & was put on medication for years after having all the test done & staying in hospital for 2 weeks drs said the fits were probably caused by my hormones turning into a teenager (peroids)… I remember after a fit I would have a real bad headache & felt crap, I had my fits in my sleep aswell, my mum would hear me from the loungeroom….I had to change my diet, no preservatives etc…..In Lew Olsons “Raw & Natural nutrition for dogs & Cats” book she recommendeds either a raw diet or cooked diet no kibbles for epilepsy……like BC said GO Natural as much as you can..