Fleas
Although we very seldom have a problem with this, here are some healthier ways to treat your dogs. I have also just used Peroxide to bathe my dogs they few times they have gotten fleas.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Unfortunately, we live in one of the worst areas for Lyme disease in the country, so we have to use a spot-on every month. :-( It is very expensive on top of everything, but Lyme is no joke. My parents' dog has had it twice. My agility instructor had a friend lose her dog to Lyme.
None of the natural remedies work for ticks at all.
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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
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Products like Advantage and Frontline are not harmful to your pets. They have been around for 20 years and before they were even released there were years and years of pilot studies. However, products such as biospot, zodiak, and hartz are absolutely toxic to your pets even though they are widely sold at pet stores. The diseases fleas and ticks transmit far outweigh the risk of using a well known, veterinary sold, flea product. Frontline and Advantage are also guaranteed (as well as Comfortis/Trifexis) so if you pet does happen to get sick in direct relation to the product they will pay for medical costs. I have only seen a pet become severely ill once due to vet sold flea prevention and it was after giving Comfortis. The pet had Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia in the past and a re-occurance of the condition after giving Comfortis, it was never shown for sure if the medication was the cause but the company paid a huge portion of the medical bills in good faith with no questions asked.
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It's not so much that they are harmful as that it's always best to use the least amount of treatment practical for your situation.
Most pets can be on these medications for life with no problems. A small number have reactions to them (itching, burning, etc). An even smaller number of animals may develop cancers or other diseases in their lifetime, and some of those diseases may be set off by chemicals, pesticides, medications, etc. SOME dogs, because of their genetics, seem more sensitive to environmental hazards than others, but keep in mind these environmental exposures can include anything from lawn chemicals to car exhaust to plastics to heavy metals in the environment.
We know that over the long term, there will be a certain small number of extra cases of disease for any living thing exposed to certain things in the environment. There is no way of knowing beforehand which animals may be at risk.
Because of that, it's always best to expose all of us, people and pets, to the fewest chemicals that meet our needs.So whether or not you treat depends on your circumstances. IF we just had to worry about fleas and not ticks, I would probably only treat as needed (meaning if I saw fleas). Since we have ticks too, I treat all year.
Also, some dogs are so allergic to fleas that even one bite can leave them in misery for weeks. And the thing with allergies is, once an animal is sensitized, they are more likely to pick up other allergies to different things in the future. So there is that to consider.
When it comes to cats, though, they seem to have a harder time clearing toxins than dogs do, and so are more sensitive to chemicals. With cats, I would only treat if needed.
I would never use a buckle-on flea collar. Ick.
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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I try to use the least harmful chemicals I can. So at tick season I usually have to apply once a season instead of automatically using every month. So moderation is what I try to do.
I had a cat I used a liquid flea med on monthly and I swear that's why he ended up with Kidney problems and died at an early age.
Same way with heartworm meds...I use 5-6 months out of the year NOT year round because they freeze out from Oct-May.
Like Beth says her area of the country is bad for Lyme and so her dogs need it. It's what works for people, their dogs and the regions they live in.
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We live in the middle of farming country and the chemicals used are so much more than used to be. The county we live in and surrounding counties also have a much higher cancer rate than the norm...my guess is all the chemicals. Luckily my dogs stay in our yard but at 1st sight of the chemical trucks/tractors they get called in and kept in or fenced for their safety. Have you ever listened to all the side effects of meds that are now on the market? Enough to scare me away unless I really need them. What kind of testing is done on the animal products compared to people ones and if they have some hefty side effects I really doubt that the doggie drugs are tested to such an extent. Everyone has to use their own judgment but I will continue to error on the side of caution.
@ Beth...is there a Lyme disease shot for dogs? I personally had them when they came out and don't remember if any of my dogs did or not. I know they have stopped making them for people but just curious about the ones for dogs.
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Jane, the Lyme vaccine is a bit controversial. Go to 10 different reputable vets and you'll get 10 different opinions. After sifting through a lot of information, my own conclusion is that it probably reduces by a fair amount (but does not eliminate) the risk of infection, and probably reduces the severity of disease for dogs who were vaccinated and still ARE infected.
It seems there is a small but real risk of an auto-immune type reaction to the shot, in which case there would be a disease that mimics Lyme but is not treatable with antibiotics (like many diseases, the Lyme disease itself is only part of the problem; the body's attempt to clear the infection actually causes many of the symptoms, such as arthritis, and so a very small number of dogs seem to have the same reaction to the shot that they'd have to the infection).
My interpretation of the information that is out there now is that the newest version of the vaccine is much less likely to cause the auto-immune problems than older versions.
Because of the less-than-perfect efficacy and the risk of side-effects (and also the short duration of effectiveness-- like other bacterial vaccines, it does not last long, probably a little less than one year) most of the vet hospitals don't recommend it unless you are in a Lyme hot spot, and then they say to talk to your vet.
Due to our lifestyle (live at the edge of a wooded area) we vaccinate. If we had dogs who spent most of their time in a more typical suburban neighborhood, we probably would not.
I wish there were better answers out there. But that's what I've been able to gather. Our own vet recommends vaccination for dogs who go in the woods (and he went to Cornell). My parents' vet recommends not vaccinating. Both recommendations can be justified based on the available research. It's frustrating but there you have it.Were it not for that we would not use spot-ons. Then again, I minimize use of plastics, don't weed-n-feed my lawn, avoid dog treats with artificial colors or preservatives, etc.
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@ Beth, Your last statement says a lot. I agree with anything we can minimize to keep our pets healthier and unfortunately there is so much out there that isn't good for them.
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I totally agree with only treat as needed. There really is no need to treat an indoor only cat with flea/tick prevention year round. I have a cat with severe flea allergies and I don't even treat him year round, I start treating around March and treat until late fall generally. In my area heartworm and mosquitoes are a year round risk, we don't have snow and we don't have heavy freezes. Franklin is treated with Trifexis all year long. I have done a lot of research on Comfortis/Trifexis and even though it isn't labeled for ticks, it is effective against them so I don't treat for ticks even though we go into areas where ticks are present, I've never had a problem. Unfortunately with the flea allergy cat all of my cats must be treated to prevent fleas in the environment.
Its really unfortunate that there are vet hospitals out there who are mostly out to make money (think corporate hospitals like VCA and Banfield). We recently had a dog in who had lyme, rattlesnake, lepto, giardia, a dental vaccine, etc, etc, etc. My head was about to explode looking at all these vaccines that VCA "required" knowing at at least 1/2 are pretty much proven to not do anything! People would have more trust in their vets if there weren't so many questionable ones out there. My vets are excellent, they don't recommend anything for their patients that they wouldn't do for their own pets and will often offer alternatives to our products when its in the best interest of the pet. Therefore, when they tell me Frontline/Advantage are safe to use all year round, I believe them.
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Permalink Reply by Lauren Rae & Fauna on
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Seasonal treatment might work...unless you live in Louisiana (FL, AL, MS, TX, etc.) and the fleas and mosquito NEVER DIE!!! Keep that mind, Southerners. Your pet is always exposed to parasites.
Triflexis doesn't work well against ticks. I've picked a number of them off of Fauna and Lola after hiking. But also, topicals seems to be limited in their effectiveness down here. I just check her for ticks every time we get back from hiking.
I've used diatomaceous earth on my outdoor pets (chickens and rabbits) and it seems to work alright. But it's messy and dusty for indoor pets.
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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
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Many years ago with one cat, we had Fleausters dust the house with polyborate salts. This is a dessicant, not a neurotoxin. They gauranteed it for 1 year. It seemed to work for several. YMMV in other climates (this is Seattle WA, cool & moist).
I don't like the idea of diatomaceous earth; it's microscopic fragments of diatom shells, silica, and I would not want it in my lungs -- totally insoluble and can't get out.
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Permalink Reply by Linda on
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I live in NY and I have seen mosquitoes even in winter so I treat my dogs all year for heartworm. I also live in an area that is heavy with Lyme. Max had it before we got him, he was treated but will always show a mild positive for it. Both dogs gets vaccinated. I don't use anything with chemicals on the cats, as has been said they have a harder time clearing their systems of toxins. A big problem is that cats can get heartworm and there is no treatment for it and there is no preventative. It also doesn't present like it does in dogs. It's a sudden and horrible death. My daughter's cat died from it, no one had any clue including the shelter she got him from.
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Permalink Reply by Lola and Paige on
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I live in Red Cliff, Wisconsin an Indian Reservation and have to deal with wood ticks and deer ticks almost all year. Or at least from April to November... we try flea and tick collars because fleas tend to be fairly common around here also. The road we live on is called Ezigaa which is Ojibwe for Wood Tick and does know how to live up to its name. Ordinarily I am terrified of ticks and prefer to not touch them even to pull them off myself, however; this past summer I've had to get over it to pull almost a hundred ticks off of the dogs. These ticks include deer ticks... Spring is coming and the snow beginning to melt so I would like to know some recommendations for keeping the little buggers at bay.
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