Flea & Tick Preventatives? What do you use?

[Joe13]

It's that time of the year again and the dogs have started itching.

I try to stay away from the toxic stuff from the vet for as long as I can so I'm curious what other people use to help keep the fleas and ticks (thinking of bringing one of my dogs with me on hikes is the tick part) off thier dogs?

I start off with baths with eucalyptus, lavender, cinnamon, peppermint and rosemary oils in the shampoo. Seems to help for the first 2 months.

Then we have a spray that is more natural oils and such but it's highly concentrated and smells up the whole house for a whole day and even then they are smelly in a fruffy way.

I'll go toxic in August / September
If it gets out of hand.

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[Nick Burkhardt]

My Father adds brewer's yeast to their food for fleas.

We use Revolution.

 

[Member 5605]

Nothing.

I used to use the drops on back of neck. Our cats are indoor. Three years of not needing treatments, if anything ever surfaces a dose will eliminate anything again.

 

[Stomper]

Tunafish sandwich

 

[IronMonster]

I have three dogs and two cats in the house. My wife has used the Advantage drops on the neck stuff for all of them for years.

It quit working. All of the critters got fleas and had fleas. Wife kept dosing them with the same stuff and they all still had fleas.

My dog that goes everywhere with me had a vet appointment that I took her too, surprise they said she has fleas. They gave her an oral treatment and rid her of them. She is the only one in the house that is clean. My wife keeps using the stuff that doesn't work. She said "Its expensive, I have to use it all up before we try anything else" Im like IT Doesn't WORK! I don't get her logic but its her house so I have to tolerate the occasional flea bite

If you come up with a natural remedy I would love to hear about it. My experience is they are tough bastards to keep dead.

 

[Larrytpdx]

This is my wife takin' care of the little b*stards

 

[Larrytpdx]

Actually, we use Frontline on our 2 dogs IF they ever need it. Our house is built on a hillside in SW Portland and we have no lawn/grass so we normally don't have a problem unless we take them somewhere and they get attacked.

 

[Martini_Up]

I figure that while it may be a bit toxic (it's keeping the fleas / ticks / heart worms away), it's better than what the potential health problems are without it... and what I use is Trifexis. It's $100 for 6 months but it works.

I think Costco has a it (at least used to) a bit cheaper but theirs doesn't include the heart worm but I could be wrong.

 

[Bigbaddude]

I have been giving my lab Bravecto it about $50 a dose and it last 3 months and she even likes the taste. I get it at the vet.

 

[Mistman]

Living in the sticks ticks are a yearly annoyance. We use Frontline for fleas and worms but haven't found anything that works for ticks except tweezers. My wife pointed out a bump on our rat terrier yesterday, sure enough, tick. A little early but the weathers been nice. I try and rub her down daily but can't find them until they're a little engorged. She's relatively short and loves running through the brush. Our outdoor cat never seems to get them, though he got 3 mice yesterday, 1 today so far. He loves bunnies and chipmunks so has a tendency to be wormy if we don't stay on top of the drops.

 

[rick49]

My wife does not allow fleas in the yard or the house. I am pretty sure a charging Cape buffalo would stop dead in its tracks with one of her "Just try it buster" stares.
For the record I use Comfortis, to augment "the look".
I had to give up the .22 with shorts from the porch, started only wingin em instead of clean kills. Eyes are starting to go after 65+ years I guess.

 

[rick benjamin]

I break the flea's life-cycle
Scotts lawn feed and insect preventer

 

[2A2Dend]

I use moss killer once every three years.

 

[Joe13]

I break the flea's life-cycle
Scotts lawn feed and insect preventer

I worry about those kinds of treatments because my dogs always lick at thier paws right after going outside.

 

[Joe13]

I use moss killer once every three years.

Does that kill and keep fleas away as well? I would have the same concern as the Rick B's suggestion.


BTW - we have neighbors with doge on every side of us so that doesn't help much when one of them slacks off on the bug control.

 

[rick benjamin]

Fleas spend 5% of their life cycle as a biting sucking adult.
95% of their life cycle is spent in the weeds (lawn) DIE, FLEA, DIE!

 

[Joe13]

This is what I've used the last few years. No need to saturate them but just spray and rub in once a week. It reeks for a little while but then disapates.

 

[cmica]

frontline Used to use it 3 times a yr. never had any problems

 

[2A2Dend]

I found that if I pursue crane fly prevention, the flea and tick population also vacate or die. So, with one simple pre-spring treatment, all is well for a few years. Dogs and cats lick themselves. That said, they ingest the eggs of fleas. Warmth, moisture are perfect breeding as a nursery. As they get to almost hatching stages, they pass through the intestine, and eventually drop when the animal defecates. In the grass where they further grow and gain the ability to jump onto a host in search of their favorite meal. My method has worked for me for years. But, until recently we also used Advantage. All of a sudden this preventative no longer works. We have super fleaman fleas! This year will be a test of my methods!!

 

[Larrytpdx]

I have a friend who says this works for him: http://fleaspray.com/
I've not tried it though.