[Saireah]

I’ve never had an experience with fleas. On Friday night, I found a flea running across our foster puppy’s stomach. We received him the night before, but didn’t put his flea formula from the rescue on him since we were concerned our current dog would lick it off as they were getting acquainted. My current dog has only ever been on Frontline from the vet and I can’t recall any flea issues with my family dogs when I was younger.
At that moment, I killed the flea and immediately put Frontline on Quinn and the small bit of K9 Advantix II (for dogs 11-20 pounds) that the rescue gave us on our foster puppy. On Sunday (nearly 48 hours), I gave him a bath due to his itching with some sensitive shampoo. I’ve combed through his hair and can’t find any more fleas, but he’s still itching. For those of you who have had experience, what would you suggest? Could it have been less effective because I believe he’s actually at 20 pounds or because I bathed him a few hours too early? I’ve read that K9 Advantix II purchased from PetSmarts, etc, are not as effective as products from the vet. Should I just wait it out?

[Hound Dog Mom]

I personally don’t use any chemicals on my dogs. I use Sentry Natural Defense topical which has pepermint oil, lemongrass oil, cinnamon oil and thyme oil and I put Earth Animals No More Ticks herbal tincture in their food 6 days per week during flea/tick season. My dogs are outdoors a lot, I comb them with a flea comb daily during flea/tick season and have never found a flea or tick on them. All their snap tests have always come up negative for lyme as well. Dogs with weak immune systems are more likely to attract parasites (both internal and external) – so the best and safest way to prevent flea infestations – imo – is building up their immune system. When my dog ate low quality kibble I always had flea issues (I used Advantix on him and he had a flea/tick collar purchased from the vet during the summer). Since I’ve switched to a grain-free raw diet, eliminated chemical flea and tick preventatives, eliminated chemical wormers and limited my use of heart worm preventative and vaccines – I’ve never had any of my dogs get fleas, ticks or intestinal parasites.

[Author]

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