Activyl

[DeltaCharlie]

As it says in the title, does anyone have any experience with using Activyl for fleas? Being a relatively new product in the grand scheme of things I would like some personal experiences before considering it.

We try to be as chemical free with our dogs as possible and only treat for things if they are an issue or deemed absolutely necessary. Unfortunately with the number of bunnies hanging around the flea problem is getting on top of us and we are having to bring in the big guns. We have been vacuuming and washing bedding daily, dogs are routinely fed apple cider vinegar, coconut oil and diatomaceous earth. We have also tried dusting them in the DE and sprinkling it everywhere. We stepped it up to bathing everyone in flea shampoo and also tried a permoxin rinse (which gave us a 24hr reprieve before the little buggers were back with a vengeance). Unfortunately with 12 dogs it is a mammoth task to keep on top of it all.

We will pick up a few packs of Advantage for the border collies but our little dogs fall into 2 different weight ranges and it just isn't ideal to buy them a 4 pack each. Activyl comes in single packs though which would work well.

[Rappie]

I had favourable reports from clients who used it and no adverse reactions over a period of a couple of months - I've been on leave since mid January though.

[VizslaMomma]

I have found it can take several months of dosing the grass outside with the DE to get the upper hand.

Interesting you have mentioned the recurrence of fleas as I am having that issue here on The Hawkesbury.

US friends do not use this on dogs over 7 years old. These are gun-dogs though.

[DeltaCharlie]

I have found it can take several months of dosing the grass outside with the DE to get the upper hand.

Interesting you have mentioned the recurrence of fleas as I am having that issue here on The Hawkesbury.

US friends do not use this on dogs over 7 years old. These are gun-dogs though.

Interesting that. The dogs in question are nearly 16yo (5kg) and 13yo (2.5kg). For the most part they are pretty healthy, active little dogs but age is certainly not on their side. I think to play it safe we may look at using Advocate on them instead, it comes in 3 packs and they are due for worming anyway so will just save us buying more milbemax and work out similar price wise. If it was for the border collies we probably wouldn't hesitate to use the activyl, it seems that problems with products are more likely to appear on small, elderly dogs.

We have finally sold the place near Canberra so already on the hunt for somewhere to buy that is not quite as coastal. Fingers crossed we won't need to worry about it for much longer, it was definitely not an issue last winter and we hope to be out of here in the next few months. I think we found the first flea in late January? That would certainly coincide with when the bunnies started to inhabit the yard. Although it would also coincide with when we finally got the dog fence panels up here and the dogs had more access to the grass rather than being kept in concrete runs so perhaps they were here all along.

Someone also mentioned raising the lime levels in the soil? Not sure how you go about that though.

[DeltaCharlie]

I had favourable reports from clients who used it and no adverse reactions over a period of a couple of months - I've been on leave since mid January though.

Good to hear, I think it has been around for 12 months or so now. Am I right?