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Losing Battle Against Fleas


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I have read nearly evry single thread here about fleas.....my puppy is treated with Advantage and permoxin and my older dog Sentinel Spectrum & permoxin.

Haven't found any on my older dog for awhile but found one on my pup this morning and he's been itching and biting away this afternoon.

We live on acreage and share our property with kangaroos , wallabys & deer that i'm sure all carry fleas , the dogs stay pretty much around the house so wondering if theres anything i can spray on the grass surrounding the house?

Any other tips?

Thanks

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Try Nucidol, follow directions on the tin for spraying around yards etc. I also spray the shed where the outside dog beds are in summer, and around the doors to keep flies away. You can make a solution as per instructions to use on your dogs for fleas. Available at Produce Stores in NSW. I have used it for years.

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capstar is great too. kills all fleas within 10mins and lasts for 24hrs. helps give that boost. Get ur house and around the house sprayed and wash all bedding and vaccumming just before they spray. should help.

i did all this and havent had to use flea treatment for 6 months. any visiting dogs, such as my sisters, get a capstar tablet before arriving so not to bring any home

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in addition to spraying the ground, try your dogs on garlic and brewers yeast. my 2 are on this and they have no fleas at all. about 1 teaspoon of each for an adult dog once per week. mix in with food.

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For Advantage to be 100% successful... ALL dogs and cats in the home must be on it.

You will not need anything else if you committ to all animals with advatage (or advantix or frontline) every 4 weeks, 3 weeks while infestation is bad.

If you shampoo them you will reduce the efficacy and will need to reapply. Often people think "water resistant" means you can bath and shampoo too.

Sentinal does NOT KILL fleas, it only sterilises them so they can't breed. The topical products I have just mentioned are "adulticides" and will kill fleas.

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We had a big issue with fleas in our last house, fixed up finally by getting tick treatment for cattle from the produce store and mixing it in a 5 litre back pack sprayer from bunnings. I sprayed the house yard with this every weekend for two months as well as spot on for both dogs and cats.

After two months not a flea on either dog or the four cats. If I ever had a flea problem again I would not hesitatge to repeat this approach as I felt it was the cheapest option and worked perfectly for us. The tick product was about $30 dollars and I had heaps left over for next summer.

Edited by Kayann
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It would be useful to know where you are, have heard a lot about Frontline/Advantage being useless in the tropics.

I would probably switch your permoxin for capstar, will do less damage to your dogs immune system, and the residual effect is the same.

Your problem may be that either both dogs need to be on an adulticide, or both need to be on an insect growth regulator - Sentinel + Capstar (capstar being 2-3 times weekly) until your population has gone. However some people do battle with fleas in the outdoor environment and that is always a struggle.

Indoors, vacuuming religiously, washing beds at least weekly in hot water and tumble drying may also help. :(

My dogs are on Sentinel and when I see one dog may have a flea or two, I know it's time to treat my cats with adulticide. :o I'm in Vic though so fleas are relatively non-existent over winter.

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Flea eggs can last several years too, so the ones that have laid eggs down before they are killed will be hatching for some time and re-infesting the dogs. If they are at risk of picking up fleas all the time, Sentinel will not really be effective. Sentinel is best in a controlled environment.

I agree with capstar. It can be given with Sentinel and other products also. You cam literally see the fleas dying within minutes of giving the dog a tablet.

It is really important to treat the environment as much as possible, and as often as possible, as well as the dogs.

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For Advantage to be 100% successful... ALL dogs and cats in the home must be on it.

You will not need anything else if you committ to all animals with advatage (or advantix or frontline) every 4 weeks, 3 weeks while infestation is bad.

If you shampoo them you will reduce the efficacy and will need to reapply. Often people think "water resistant" means you can bath and shampoo too.

Sentinal does NOT KILL fleas, it only sterilises them so they can't breed. The topical products I have just mentioned are "adulticides" and will kill fleas.

You obviously have never had a bad infestation. These products alone do not always work. Speaking from experience, i did all animals every two weeks and the situation remained unchanged. I dont even think frontline works......for me anyway....... Although, i would be great if it was as simple as what you said. :thumbsup:

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A friend, who lives in a house built near the beach on very sandy soil had a continous problem with fleas on her long haired dog.

She tried everything, spraying outside, bombing the house with flea bombs and found Advantix (not Advantage) was the only thing that worked.

Permoxin, Advantage and Sentinel were all useless after a time.....even though Permoxin did work well initially for me. I suspect fleas build up resistance to products after a time.

When I had the same problem I switched to Advantix as well and it worked (I had used Preventic collars on the dogs for ticks)...but you still need to treat the house, outside areas like lawns, under the house if it is raised, sheds and bedding. I also used Capstar as well.

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A friend, who lives in a house built near the beach on very sandy soil had a continous problem with fleas on her long haired dog.

She tried everything, spraying outside, bombing the house with flea bombs and found Advantix (not Advantage) was the only thing that worked.

Permoxin, Advantage and Sentinel were all useless after a time.....even though Permoxin did work well initially for me. I suspect fleas build up resistance to products after a time.

When I had the same problem I switched to Advantix as well and it worked (I had used Preventic collars on the dogs for ticks)...but you still need to treat the house, outside areas like lawns, under the house if it is raised, sheds and bedding. I also used Capstar as well.

I was using frontline and suspected this so i rang the company and asked. OF course, they assured me that fleas dont and they sent out a free pack to keep me happy, well i still wasnt happy, no point in using something that doesn't work.

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For Advantage to be 100% successful... ALL dogs and cats in the home must be on it.

You will not need anything else if you committ to all animals with advatage (or advantix or frontline) every 4 weeks, 3 weeks while infestation is bad.

If you shampoo them you will reduce the efficacy and will need to reapply. Often people think "water resistant" means you can bath and shampoo too.

Sentinal does NOT KILL fleas, it only sterilises them so they can't breed. The topical products I have just mentioned are "adulticides" and will kill fleas.

You obviously have never had a bad infestation. These products alone do not always work. Speaking from experience, i did all animals every two weeks and the situation remained unchanged. I dont even think frontline works......for me anyway....... Although, i would be great if it was as simple as what you said. :thumbsup:

Works for some, not for others maybe.

I am a dog groomer and vet nurse of 20+ years and have seen it work countless times for people. So I'm speaking from my own experience. No need to rubbish my opinion, coz that's how you came across.

Edited by redarachnid
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Having just spent months helping clients deal with one of the nastiest flea plagues for a long time, I have to say that in some areas it seemed that only agent orange or a nuclear bomb would suffice.

Fortnightly applications of Advantage combined with Capstar twice weekly for all pets, and thorough spraying of yards, homes and cars seems to have been successful.

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I think making sure the dogs can't get under the house also helps as the dirt is a huge reservoir for fleas and eggs. It might be useful to get a professional treatment done for the inside and outside, wash everything and treat the dogs and other animals at the same time so that you can hit the problem with everything you have.

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Can capstar for large dogs be given as half a tablet for small dogs? Seems like that would save a fair bit of money. I am also fighting a losing battle against fleas and am at my wits end! Its supposed to be winter why arent they dead :laugh: This is my first flea season as I never got them in Canberra :cheer:

ETA: Found the answer re capstar:

http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...&hl=capstar

Edited by muffincav
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