Which flea/tick prevention and how often?

Debbie - youre in Singapore which may be way different than here.

But here?  There is only ONE choice.  they don't make plain Frontline anymore to my knowledge and haven't in years.  It's only Frontline Plus.

 It **is** a spot on -- so references to "Frontline Spot On " are probably referring to Frontline Plus.

I've never heard of Frontline Combo and it's not listed on their website.  If you go to the Selection tool and put in your dog's weight it comes up with the Frontline Plus for that weight.  No matter which weight you choose it is ONLY showing Frontline Plus as the only option -- just the different weights.

Particularly if you want it for ticks you won't be able to reapply any less frequently than a month. 

Frontline original and Frontline spot on are the same thing

Frontline plus also breaks the life cycle of fleas and ticks. 

Frontline combo never heard of it. 

http://www.frontline.com/

 How often to apply Frontline?  I think for fleas only, you apply it every 3 months.  For ticks it's every month.  The reason I can't remember how often for fleas only is because I was combatting ticks as well when I was using it.  Also, Frontline doesn't repel fleas & ticks.  It kills them after they have been in contact with your pet.  All they have to do is walk on your pet to be exposed.

Like you said, Advantage doesn't "do" ticks, but Advantix does.

Interceptor doesn't do fleas and/or ticks. 

 Debbie, Frontline Plus says it kills ticks.  It does NOT say it repels them!  So yes, you will find a tick on the dog now and again.  With regular proper use of Frontline Plus, once the tick bites the dog, it will get some of the insecticide in, and it will die off, most of the time.  I use it, and I have found ticks on my dogs once in a while.  The tick is dead, but still latched on and I have to pull it off.

Micksmom, you said all they have to do is walk on the pet, but I haven't seen that and can't see where it says that on the website.  I do see where it says that for fleas . ... maybe I'm wrong.

Freedom

...Micksmom, you said all they have to do is walk on the pet, but I haven't seen that and can't see where it says that on the website.  I do see where it says that for fleas . ... maybe I'm wrong.

That's information I got from my vet.  And remember, Frontline spreads in the oil on the dog's skin, it doesn't absorb.    Walking/crawling on the treated pet will expose fleas and ticks to it.  They don't die immediately after exposure, tho.  Which is probably why the ticks you've found have been attached.  They probably attached before the Frontline took effect (did that make sense?).

micksmom

(did that make sense?).

YES!  LOL

 I'm using Certifect once a month right now. Last winter I switched to Advantage since we don't need anything for ticks in the winter. Certifect wreaks horribly (in my opinion).

 I think Advantage reaks. I use Frontline Plus, as needed. Fleas are not a huge problem and ticks are non-existent.

Preventic collars will stop ticks from being able to attach to the dog and they kill ticks.  Yes, it's an insecticide like all of these products and has it's own set of cautions but if you're afraid of tick borne diseases these work well.  Amtraz is the active ingredient. The collars are not effective if they get wet.  They last for three months.  They are not for flea control.  Virbac is the manufacturer and you can see the details on their web site. I'm not recommending them but thought I'd tell you about it if you hadn't heard of it.  I have used these collars in the past with no negative side effects but that isn't an endorsement, just my personal experience.

I use Trifexis for fleas and heartworm.  I know Callie is completely against it but it's got a pretty safe track record.    There is no type of insecticide that we put on or in our pets that is without possible side effects and risks to some dogs.  It's a matter of weighing the risk of a possible side effect versus the risk of a tick borne disease or heartworm infection or fleas and the problems they cause.

A heads up on Trifexis for those that have flea allergic pets- critters have to bite the host animal for Trifexis to do its job.  If your pet is allergic to fleas, you don’t want that.

micksmom

JackieG

…I use Trifexis for fleas and heartworm.  I know Callie is completely against it but it's got a pretty safe track record…

A heads up on Trifexis for those that have flea allergic pets- critters have to bite the host animal for Trifexis to do its job.  If your pet is allergic to fleas, you don’t want that.

For me and mine I'm "against" it -- but at the same time, it's getting frigging difficult to figure out how to deal with fleas. 

Micksmom is absolutely right -- part of my problem with it (and with anything systemic) is that the flea has to bite the dog for it to work -- if you've got a flea allergic dog that just starts the whole cycle rolling no matter that the flea dies "eventually".  My first dog was flea-allergic -- and oh, the agony she went thru with just that one bite.

But my major problem with Trifexas/Comfortis or anything with spinosad is that spinosad (a/k/a Comfortis -- but the drug that's added to milbemycin in Trifexas) -- as indicated on their own website -- can be a serious problem for any dog that may be prone to seizures.   It kills by making the fleas seize to death. 

For anyone who has ever loved a seizure dog that massive worry is that the animal may "cluster" -- meaning seizures that won't stop.  And it can happen on the first seizure or after years ... or maybe never.  So now I'm loving another borderline-seizure dog, the idea that spinosad triggers literally seizures until death occurs?    I'm no "flea-rights person" (meant to be tongue-in-cheek)  but honestly I don't even want a flea to die that way. 

One of the ways I make the decision of what to use is to find out *how* the drug does what it does.  In the case of ANY pesticide -- how does it kill the pest and not bother the dog.  (This was the lesson hard learned by the veterinary community with ivermectin and the whole "can't use it on herding dogs" thing -- because in their initial testing they only used greyhounds.)

I know the vast majority of people only want 'something that works' -- and I understand that.  But I also spend a great deal of time helping folks who have dogs with IMHA, and the guilt so many feel because they question if this or that chemical they gave the dog triggered the disease. 

So I'm not trying to be a royal p.i.t.a. but just to give folks enough pause to think "Hmmmm" ... and let them draw their own conclusions.    We've reached a point with "warnings" in our daily lives where most of us ignore them (or we'd never get thru the day).  But then when we DON'T and something happens?  The guilt is unreal.

calliecritturs

I know the vast majority of people only want 'something that works' -- and I understand that.  But I also spend a great deal of time helping folks who have dogs with IMHA, and the guilt so many feel because they question if this or that chemical they gave the dog triggered the disease. 

So I'm not trying to be a royal p.i.t.a. but just to give folks enough pause to think "Hmmmm" ... and let them draw their own conclusions.    We've reached a point with "warnings" in our daily lives where most of us ignore them (or we'd never get thru the day).  But then when we DON'T and something happens?  The guilt is unreal.

I'm not among those who "only wants something that works".  I do my research on products and weigh the risks.  In the clinical trials done on Trifexis, before it came out, only one dog had a seizure and of course there's no way to know if that dog would have had a seizure without the Trifexis.  I too would hesitate to use it if I had a dog with any kind of seizure disorder because I'd want to err on the side of safety.  I agree that people should draw their own conclusions based on facts and research. 

micksmom

Caleb, however, ended up with sore on his neck when I put one on him. 

I never had that happen but I only used them for a few days at a time when we were training at a property that had a terrible tick problem.  I don't know about you but I've found that most yellow Labs seemed to be more sensitive to chemicals in general and to have more skin problems.  I only had black Labs. :) Maybe just my limited observations. We don't usually have a problem with ticks where I live and take the dogs these days.  I'm very glad for that.  Agree that the Trifexis isn't going to be a good option for dogs with flea allergies.  Thank goodness none of my current dogs has that problem.

Normally I use the Virbac Preventic collars but my dogs only wear them 24 hours before Schutzhund training (so they go on Sat. morning) and then all day Sunday for training.  We live in the city and I do not see ticks here and don't have a flea problem.  The only reason I use anything at all is for Schutzhund training which is out in he country and there are dog ticks everywhere (property is owned by a breeder with several dogs).  For this month though, I put Frontline Plus on everyone because we are on a two week vacation in the middle of nowhere and the dogs are swimming daily.  I applied it July 20 and our vacation is July 27-Aug 11.