We have 8 dogs. I have tried everything to get rid of fleas that continue to cover them no matter what I do. Bathing, powder, spray, Frontline, all these promise they will keep fleas off for days/weeks. Yeah, right. A day later they are back.
Suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
PS-I’d like to try diatimacious (???) earth but I’d have to have it shipped and it would cost as much to ship it as it would to buy the product.
The topicals like Frontline dont work anymore. I use Comfortis, a once a month oral pill; works like a charm.
The front line still works well for ticks but not for fleas.
The comfortis, as mentioned works really well as does the advantage.
Treat the property. Ortho Maxx. It is in a red bag. Everywhere the dogs go, treat and then treat again. I use Advantage. It worked 100 times better than Frontline.
Are they confined to a specific yard or area? That is the best way to get rid of fleas. Give the dogs a dedicated area, treat the ground really well (and the rest of the yard too to get rid of the rest) and treat the dogs.
1 Like
I second Comfortis. One pill once a month. No messing with gunky liquids. Frontline wont touch fleas on my Aussie and my terrier is very allergic. One Comfortis pill and I found dead fleas on them withen hours 
The topicals do still work in most areas. You may try switching to a different topical. The mistakes people usually make are: 1) they forget to treat ALL the pets (including cats, ferrets, small children <kidding!>) and the environment at the same time-this means all the bedding, your bedding, the carpet, the couch, and the lawn/yard; and 2) they assume that one application will fix the problem. One needs to repeat the applications until the problem in the environment is taken care of-could be 30 or 90 days or could be longer if you have lots of strays hanging around or your dogs go to daycare etc. Something like Revolution should take care of it in less time since it not only kills the adults but prevents eggs from hatching (of course you need to avoid reinfestation…)
The third major mistake is buying flea medication anywhere other than the veterinarian-topicals such as Frontline/Advantage et al are sold only to licensed veterinarians. If you purchase anywhere other than a licensed veterinarian (or some place like vetcentric pharmacy) the product is either counterfeit or has been diverted. You have no way of knowing if you are putting the product or vegetable oil on your animal nor if the dosing/formula is correct nor if there are harmful contaminants.
I would recommend starting with a dose of Capstar followed by application of a good topical like Frontline, Advantage, or Promeris and please talk to your vet about an IGR med like Program or Sentinel.
Don’t forget to treat the environment 
And take a drop of whiskey or glass of wine for you 
Agree with Grataan. If you buy your frontline product anywhere besides a vet, you are not getting the real stuff. But a very good lookalike box.
Secondly, I use a different product each month because my dogs have built up resistance to every product at one time or another.
I have two farm dogs who run loose. This is its own set of problems because anywhere where there is long grass, that is where they get fleas from. I know this because if the kids or I walk through our neighbors grass, our tshirts are covered.
You may have to increase the topical to every three weeks which is what my farm dogs need. The others I can still get buy with every four.
And most importantly, treat the area where your dogs and cats inhabit. I use a powder in the beds, not a lot. I wash there blankets regularily. I spray the cats building monthly and keep it swept. Fleas dont much like airconditioning anyhow but just in case.
And I do my yard. With the red bag Ortho I do it early in the spring as soon as the fleas become active and then in the heat of the summer. It has to be watered in to be effective and so I either do it in the rain or just before a rain.
Keeping the premises free of the pests is the easiest way. The topicals do not prevent animals from getting the pests, it only means they die when they bite.
I second Grataan-treat everybody, including the cats, and don’t give up. It can take 90-120 days to break the flea’s life cycle. Nothing short of fire can kill the pupa stage, so you have to keep treating until they run their course.
Like snkstacres says, get the right stuff-the cheap stuff from the supermarket/pet shops is a waste. Underdosing and letting the animal get wet repeatedly will make the stuff less effective, too.
We have 6 dogs and 10 cats-I can tolerate the dirt and hair, but fleas just make all of us miserable!
Oh-and be sure you empty your vacuum cleaner!
Yup, treating the dogs only and not the property (house, garage, yard…where the dogs go) will not get rid of a flea infestation. You might get rid of the active ones currently on the dogs, but they’ll pick up tons of new ones everywhere that wasn’t treated or else the eggs on the dogs, in the yard and all over the house will hatch.
Getting rid of a flea infestation is a royal pain in the arse. But you’ve got to treat everywhere and all at or around the same time to get rid of them. And then wait a while and treat again to kill off eggs. (or use a product that kills eggs too)
Frontline, Advantix, etc do work. But you can’t skip a treatment or treat only some animals because once those pests get a chance to build back up again in numbers…you’re kinda screwed. So don’t skip a month or treat late. get rid of the fleas by treating everywhere/everything and then keep up religiously on monthly treatments.
Also make sure to use the right one for the size of each dog. Using a 30-60 lb on even a 65 lb dog won’t work.
I feel for you 3Dog…having fleas sucks out loud. Not to mention the cost of frontline/et al and heartguard for 8 dogs. Ouch!
1 Like
Frontline’s working fine in my corner of the world, on dogs and cats.
Fleas are horrible this summer here - HORRIBLE - never have I had such a problem! I have 6 dogs and I fight constantly to keep them flea free but there is NO way! ALL the tips given are GREAT and I really benefited from the posts!! I used to use Frontline with success, but it isn’t working for my guys. I tried K9 Advantix and that does seem to be doing the trick ON THE DOGS, but I, for one, appreciate ALL the other suggestions. That’s what I’ll be working on! Thanks for the help!
I read an article quite a while ago that the amount of outdated and counterfeit Frontline available even through legitimate outlets is astoundingly huge. I used to buy Advantix (only dogs and can’t be anywhere near cats) from Jeffers online-it was cheaper than my vet’s office (and I lived near Dothan so I went down a picked it up at the store a couple of times a year). I second the treatment advice you’ve been given, and add that you should get the cheap flea collars and put them in the vacuum bag-it kills ticks, fleas and whatever else gets in there. ANd if they get in the rugs or furniture you have to retreat frequently to kill of subsequent hatchings of fleas, and you’ll have to retreat the yard too.
[QUOTE=snkstacres;4972080]
Agree with Grataan. If you buy your frontline product anywhere besides a vet, you are not getting the real stuff. But a very good lookalike box.[/QUOTE]Nonsense. I purchace both Advantage & Advantix through KV Vet. They are the real deal.
KV has been selling Advantage without a prescription for years. If this were a hoax, I’m sure Bayer would be all over it.
Don’t know about Frontline but the stuff I got from the vet didn’t work at all. I told the vet Advantage was much better but she insists Frontline is the best and doesn’t carry Advantage anymore. Hummm…
I fought the flea problem for years. I use Frontline spray on my cats and dogs. I have heard that the Adams brand flea spray is very good.
For breaking the cycle in the house I use a mixture of 5 cups of Borateen (laundry detergent) to 1 cup of salt. Sprinkle on carpets and upolstery, allow on for a day or two, then vacuum. Reapply after each time you vacuum. All I can tell you is it has worked very well for me.
1 Like
PSA: The only two online sales sites that Frontline endorses as original and not repackaged and questionable are petmeds and national vet.
The ways to tell counterfeit/repackaged outside of the country and illegally shipped back in and not controlled are:
Frontline packages are notched between each dose. Some fakes aren’t. Some are though.
The batch number on the outside of the box has to match the batch number on the backs of the doses.
They need to have the insert pamphlet and that needs to include Merial’s contact information and emergency reaction phone number information. Also has to have use and disposal information written down and first aide statement.
All written parts of interior and exterior packages are in English only.
All amounts listed in fluid oz and not mls.
If the packages are missing any of these things, they’re not Frontline but a semi-similar liquid manufactored outside of the country, not tested and a lot cheaper and then repackaged into Frontline boxes and shippd backed into the states for sale on internet sites or in stores.
Just an FYI.
Thanks to everyone for all of the information! I scanned over all of the replies but plan to go back and read each one in depth. I hope the fleas appreciate my efforts.
The dogs have perimeter collars so are not all over the property. We do have something to do the yard but I don’t recall what.
Not only did/does the Frontline not work around here, the fleas just go the dogs’ tails. :mad:
We’ve bombed the house so that should help. I do like the idea of the combo to sprinkle on the carpets. Fortunately, most of the house is hardwood.
No ticks so far except on on JRT’s ear, thank goodness.
I fought the flea wars for many years. I use Frontline spray and that works well for me. I have heard that Adams Flea Spray is ver good, too.
In the house I use a mixture of 5 cups Borateen (laundry detergent) and 1 cup salt. Sprinkle it in carpeting and upolstery, leave for a day or two then vacuum. Reapply after vacuuming. This broke the cycle of fleas in my house after years of buying all types of treatments that did not work.
Someone else mentioned Borax. Fleabusters make a finer borax powder:
http://www.fleabuster.com/Products/Rx_Plus/flea_powder.html
When we moved to our house, it was infested. Bombs didn’t work, only fleabusters got rid of the fleas.
1 Like
I use Revolution for my 4 dogs. It’s a once/month liquid on their back like the others. It controls fleas, ticks, scabies, heartworm, mites, and some others. If I’m a week or two late- the dogs start scratching!
For years I’ve used 10% Seven Dust on my dogs, cats and carpet, but for the past two seasons I’ve been unable to get the 10%, only 5% which is totally worthless!! The Frontline keeps ticks off, but is also worthless for fleas. I have sprinkled Borax soap powder into the carpet with fairly good results. Please keep the ideas coming. I’m planning on buying flea collars for DH and myself!!! Just joking!!
