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Permalink Reply by Karen Dadisman on February 4, 2011 at 8:41am

If he is really infested, a trip to the vet might be in order. There is a pill you can give him to kill the fleas he has on him, Capstar. It doesn't prevent but will give you a start. You probably should talk to your vet about what to use to treat your house also. The little buggers get in the carpet, bedding and will get on you also. If he has ticks, they need to be removed. I'm not giving advice how to do this. Talk to your vet. There are lots of illnesses he can get from ticks so don't mess around with this. The longer you wait, the worse the problem for him and your house will be.

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Permalink Reply by Zion (pem) & Andrew (me) on February 4, 2011 at 8:49am

Thanks, Capstar looks to be a good start, but I also want to look into a real prevention.  There must be a more effective prevention than Frontline, yes?

 

I just hesitate to call the vet, he'll just say Frontline.

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Permalink Reply by Rebecca Marie O'Bryan on February 4, 2011 at 9:24am

i had a flea infestation before because in Charleston they are TERRIBLE! (i live in DC now)defiantly use capstar to start and then bathe him really good! but i would go to the vet to have the ticks removed as they carry nasty diseases. i use k9 advantix and its amazing. never had fleas again and the mosquitoes wont go near him. also to get rid of them in your house get 3cans of raid (for fleas) and powder to put all over your carpet and furniture(make sure your pets are outside for an hourwhen u start doing this!) spray every little inch. every piece of cloth. then put down the powder and let it sit for how ever long it says and then vacuum it up.

 

k9 advantix dosnt repel ticks though

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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on February 4, 2011 at 9:37am

I have never tried this myself but to me it would be worth trying is giving him a bath and use hydrogen peroxide on him once you wet him down (just pour it on and scrub)...it's suppose to kill fleas on contact and I sure would love to know if it works...but we just don't get fleas very often here....that at least would take care of the fleas on him. Then to clean bedding and get a topical. I use frontline and it works fine but we don't have much of a problem where we live.I maybe use it once a year when the ticks get really bad.

 

Please let me know if you try the peroxide and how it works as I figure it has no chemicals to hurt him:)

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Permalink Reply by Lynne Cerny on February 4, 2011 at 10:08am

It would be very strange to have ticks out in the winter. It would have to be above freezing and no snow.  Do you feel any ticks on Zion?  When you pet him you would feel bumps if you do be sure to get them out! The longer that the tick is on him the more likely to get something from it!

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Permalink Reply by Karen Dadisman on February 4, 2011 at 10:39am

All we've ever used is Frontline. Seems to work fine for us. We are in GA now, usually Iowa, and when we  were here last year, the vet here said if the Frontline seems to stop working, you can apply it at 3 weeks instead of 4. It held it's own pretty well down here last year and that's what we brought down with us again for the 2 months we will be here.

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Permalink Reply by Krystle (Luna & Twinkie!) on February 4, 2011 at 11:43am

Out here in California we were just invaded by fleas again - we seemed to have gotten them at the dog park during a meetup - and Luna's on Frontline also!

 

I just dropped Luna at the vet for her spay today, so talked to them about changing her flea medicine because Frontline doesn't seem to be effective.  They mentioned Comfortis - and I know I've seen that discussed on here before as a good treatment.  I'm going to do a little research on it myself, but I know how frustrating it can be to find fleas/ticks/etc on your dog when they are supposed to be covered.  Since she's now 5 months old, it's safe for her to use (they said she needed to be at least 4 months old).

 

We have boraxed and vacuumed the carpet in our place, given Luna a bath to drown the live ones on her body, and washed all the bedding.  I hate the little buggers!

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on February 4, 2011 at 12:16pm

When we had 1 cat, years ago, we got great results from FleaBusters.  They dust your carpets/upholstery with polyborate salts (basically borax I think, dessicates fleas).  Seattle; don't know if it works as well in other climates.  They guaranteed it for 1 year; I thought it was effective for several.

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