Fleas

[ohiofarmgirl]

we have been hammered all fall/winter by fleas and we finally found relief with....

Knockout Area Treatment
http://www.virbacvet.com/preventic/product/virbac_knockout_area_treatment/36/

after suffering this whole time we cant believe how well it works.

unlike flea bombs, you dont have to vacate the house - just put all the pets in one room and treat a different room until its dry to the touch, then shuffle everyone to another room, treat the room they were in.. etc etc...until you've done the house. and since its not a 'pesticide' you dont have to worry about the pets being covered in a toxic substance.

apparently its a hormone that the fleas eat and it will kill them at a certain life stage. however you have to do it again after two weeks to get all of the fleas.

separately, we also used borax on all the carpets (shake it on, broom it in, let it set for about a week, vacuum it all up)

and finally we flea combed everyone everyday. you can tell your efforts are working when you see only little tiny fleas on the pets and no more adult fleas. eventually they will all be gone. and vacuum vacuum vacuum....

and for next spring.. we ran right out and got a herd of guinea hens to kill all the bugs outside... for all their screaming they had better work!

last - we got a big lecture from our vet about how fleas cant be 'immune' to frontline etc - he said that its just that there are so many fleas, and since they wont die until they bite your pet it just looks like it isnt working. i'm not sure if i believe this but thats what he said. we tried the knockout after two vets suggested it... and they convinced us that instead of treating the dogs/cats we primarily treat the environment which is supposed to be more effective.

we were naysayers until we saw how great the knockout worked.

good luck!

 

[Crazyland]

You have to remember that just because you treat your yard, house and pets doesn't mean that the neighbors yard and pet and any place you take your animal doesn't have them. So it is only part of the problem.

 

[MomtoSyd&Emma]

Their dogs never leave their yard, their cat is indoor only. I am thinking either the neighbors dont treat their dog, roaming cats. squirrels etc.. are bringing them there!

 

[Rin]

in my case I was mostly blaming the wildlife. I live out in the woods and the blood suckers come with the territory. it also probably hasn't become so much as an all out household issue because A) the dog was sickly and already infested with fleas when I brought her home and B) No carpets

 

[OccamsTazer]

Another Comfortis vote here. Only caveat, don't give it at the same time as you give your monthly heartworm. I did that once, and one of my dogs acted crazy all night. Pacing, drooling, agitated as all heck

 

[Rin]

Quote:
so heartworm first of month and this pill the last? so one one day the other the very next?

 

[gritsar]

We give Jax his heartworm pill on the 1st of the month; his comfortis on the 3rd of the month. No problem as of yet.

 

[Barred Rocker]

Oh Lordy, we fought fleas for 4 months last fall. Only since Christmas have we gotten them under control. Our poor dog had so many baths and different treatments I thought it was going to kill him and not the fleas. Not to mention we bombed the house twice. It was horrible, we've created mutant super fleas. I was almost ready to shave the dog bald.

 

[OccamsTazer]

Quote:
so heartworm first of month and this pill the last? so one one day the other the very next?

I do mine as HW on the 1st and Comf on the 15th. It's only one of my four that has a problem with the combination, but after that one night of NO SLEEP, I've been too traumatized to risk it again.

 

[lawnboy57]

Garlic works great for my dog....all natural and pretty cheap. Never have fleas!!