# Fleas!!!!! Help!!!!!



## GoinHome

Okay, I can't afford to spend thousands trying to eradicate them right now, but I need some instant relief for my poor dogs. 

Comfortis (internal medicine) and the top-line meds sounds scary. 

I've tried DE dusting, it just doesn't keep them off the dog well enough. 

Is anybody using the old standby flea collars any more? Do any of them work? Are they massively toxic too?

Please somebody give me a suggestion for something I can do quickly to cut down the fleas on the dogs as I can't afford to fumigate, and my neighbor has six dogs, and they are gonna be in my yard, too, no matter what. 

Oh, and these are LGDs, outside all the time....


Thank you!!!!!


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## janetn

Dawn dishwashing detergent. Sounds silly but it works. Lather them up with the soap [use a lot] let it sit a few minutes - you will know when it worked because you will see the dead fleas. You can bathe them every few days if you need to at first to get the population [eggs] down. Then go to once a week. We had a horrid flea year two years ago I tried everything - bombs dust flea shampoos ect. Nothing worked like the Dawn and the new spot treatment. 

Flea collars are useless as are some of the spot treatments. My vet switched me to another product that works better than the Frontline [fleas are apparently developing resistance to it]


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## mekasmom

This is something that has gone around the web for a few years. You might look into it. I don't know a lot about it, but it is imidacloprid, cheap. Advantage is 9% of the chemical. The OTC stuff is much weaker, less than 2%. But they say it works? I can't give you personal experience advice, but you might take the time to read about it.

Borax on your floors will kill the fleas already there. You have to reapply for three hatchings to kill them all off, but that is really cheap. Just vacuum and toss.

You can also buy Frontline by the tube from your vet for about fifteen dollars for one tube.
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## vicker

ECHO echo


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## vicker

De will not work on adult fleas, but works great on the hatches. Borax and vacuuming work on adults. I like the sound of the Dawn idea.


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## BoldViolet

If you lather with Dawn, start high up on the dog's neck. The fleas will "run away" from the soap and water, so you don't want to start in the middle and then have them all congregate on the dog's nose.


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## Faithful

The dawn will work on you yard also you can put in in a sprayer and spyay your yard it will be soapy be it works.


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## Maura

The vet can give you Capstar pills. One pill for each dog. The fleas will die. Next, get a spray bottle and mix some lavender essential oil into it. Shake and spray on the dogs. Lavender is a flea bane. It will not kill the fleas or their offspring, but will keep new ones from getting on board. Dogs like lavender and you will find it in homemade dog soaps.

Keep the area mowed. Get chickens.


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## nancy237

I am battling an infestation too. First time in 10 years that I have seen fleas.
Pets have been frontlined & I bought a carpet powder that you leave in the carpet 5 days & then vaccum. Crossing my fingers..

After I got home with the flea carpet powder I realized the $20 jar of powder said it was 99% boric acid.. Man that would have been cheaper..
Wonder what the other 1 % was..probably a fragrance.

I also stripped all my bed linens because the cat has been sleeping there & I saw lots of fleas on the bed.

I will let you know the results.

One bug smart guy I taked to said repeated vacuuming daily or twice a day is very effective. he said they feel the vibration and jump to the surface thinking its a host walking by


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## vicker

I was listening to an entemoligist talk about this yesterday. He recommends boric acid inside, but said people tend to way over apply. Just a light dusting will do. Also, look for hormonal product that prevents the adult stage.


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## mekasmom

nancy237 said:


> After I got home with the flea carpet powder I realized the $20 jar of powder said it was 99% boric acid.. Man that would have been cheaper..


Use Muleteam Borax. It's three dollars a box and kills fleas. The only downside is that it won't kill eggs, so you have to do it again when the new batch hatches in ten days. Three applications ten days apart will kill all the fleas and hatchlings.


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## davel745

Get Diatomaceous earth food grade dust the dogs and no fleas. Safe and no harmful chemicals.


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## Rooster Cogburn

I read somewhere that apply salt to areas the animals lay kills the Fleas. They walk across the salt, get scratched and bleed out. Never tried it but I'm bout too...


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## KrisD

DE does not work to kill adult fleas. I have used it religiously for months on the animals, floors and furniture. There are still fleas.


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## Rock

FROM THE OLD COUNTRY VET!

Get the largest frontline packs you can (89lb-130lb) buy a 4-6-or 12 pack as you case warrants.
Get a 3cc & 6cc syringe at the tractor store (Oral syringe are 3cc if you have any for pups worming etc.) 
With a 6cc syringe and needle draw all the fluid up, now put that into the 3 cc syringe and apply between the shoulder blades, 1cc for each 25lb - 30lb of body weight.


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## nancy237

Rock said:


> FROM THE OLD COUNTRY VET!
> 
> Get the largest frontline packs you can (89lb-130lb) buy a 4-6-or 12 pack as you case warrants.
> Get a 3cc & 6cc syringe at the tractor store (Oral syringe are 3cc if you have any for pups worming etc.)
> With a 6cc syringe and needle draw all the fluid up, now put that into the 3 cc syringe and apply between the shoulder blades, 1cc for each 25lb - 30lb of body weight.


Good idea..I just bought frontline for the cat and realized it was the tiniest amount for the same price as my large dog amounts.
Is the dosage still 1cc per 25/30 lbs for cats ???


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## nancy237

This may have already been said but the patent ran out on Frontline so there are other cheaper products now exactly like Frontline. A vet told me that
fipronil is the ingredient to look for if you want generic or cheaper brands of Frontline. Don't bother with the Hartz brand flea application. It did nothing...


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## BoldViolet

Depending on where you are, Frontline may not work very well anymore. I've found that since it's been out longer than most other products, fleas are starting to grow resistant to it.


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## Tallabred

My dog was miserable with one flea. The vet gave her a pill, like comfortis, starts with a T, that also deforms them. What a difference! She is a happy, healthier camper now. Much cheaper than frontline


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## greenboy

Caefull with pills and dusts, when I was living in Miami, fleas are terrible down there, so I gave the pills and the dust to my two dogs, the female one developed cancer after 2 years of me using the dust and the male one developed cancer 3or 4 years after the dust, I hate to say it but I forgot the name of the dust. When I moved to Pennsylvania I met a German guy he had 5 dogs inside his home, and he kept bags of Moth balls around the house, he also was giving his dog garlic once a day he told me this worked very well. I both and also I was told Vicks vapor rub will help in infected dogs Idid that too because I did all of this I dont know which one was successful but I didn't see fleas at home...


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## MonsterMalak

Rock is doing what I also figured out years ago.

You are buying the dose, not the amount. Problem is that I now raise dogs in the 100-180# range.

Main thing to consider is to keep switching it up. Otherwise they will build up a resistance. In the past, I could use some Permethrin on their back, and not see any fleas all summer. Now it is not near as effective. But used once a year, will help.

Problem is that the survivors of your efforts raise the next generation. 

Good Luck


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## thehoffs

In the past I have used a blend of oils that worked well for us. I used a blend of Clove, Cinnamon, Cedarwood, and Jojoba Oil. I place a couple of drops on the back of our dog's neck. Bonus: he smelled really good( well, at least I thought so! My husband didn't prfer our house smelling like Christmas in the summer ) If I am in a hurry I just put a few drops on the back of his neck, and then when I have more time I give him a bath, brush out his hair, which also rids some fleas and then apply a few drops of the oil blend to the back of his neck. I don't like using flea collars or anything else with chemicals when possible. I hope this helps! ( Also, while garlic does help remove fleas, to my understanding it can also have a toxic effect on dogs and cats and it is one of the items (along with onions, chocolate, grapes and raisins) that I avoid feeding our dog.)


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## lexa

Flea collars are not effective and toxic.
I have used comfortis for my three dogs back in 2010 and they never had any issues. Since than I have read about it causing all kind f horrible reactions, but again my dogs vere perfectly fine. I think that the problem with it might be the dosage. Like 11 pound dog getting 10-20pill, when 5-10lb would have been enough. I used to crush a 40-60lb pill, mix it well, divide three ways and sprinkle on my dogs food. I had 25lb cocker, 18 lb poodle and 14 lb JRT. You can try and see how you dog reacts. If you dog doesn't weigh 120 lb do not give it a full 60-120 pill. Make sure to give it with food.


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## lissapell

garlic once a day and lavender spray


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## Mickey

We were battling a nasty infestation and tried the borax, Frontline and all kids of other flea shampoo's and sprays. None of them worked. What we got that finally worked was Raid for fleas. It did the job. We sprayed the furniture, floors, rugs AND the dogs. No more fleas. I wish we'd saved all that money spent on the other products and just gone to the Raid first.


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## TexinGa

Please no Hartz or Sargents. I lost a few of my cats and one has a burned back. Hartzvictims.com. I use Adams or dawn.


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## eclipchic

We use Advantage, works beautifully. As suggested above, we get the largest dog dose and split it using this chart Advantage Blue - Extra Large Dog 55+ lbs (25kg+) - PetDrugs.com - Products for Dogs


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## romysbaskets

I found Frontline to be totally ineffective for our three dogs, especially my fluffy dog. So I switched to an Advantage product I ordered online. I use DE for my carpet in the only room I have it and it has been very effective. I do not find them on my comforter, my little dog sleeps at the foot or so of my bed but not in it. I get bit if there are fleas in my carpet so I know that is under control. The best test for the Advantage was seeing fleas die immediately and my dog with the longer hair is doing great, his last treatment was two weeks ago and no fleas in site. I have inspected him thoroughly. My daughter just brought me her two dogs for a few days with my grandson as they were having a weekend trip before hubby ships off with the Navy again. Her dogs came with a few fleas visible as I checked them pronto and as it turned out, she had bathed them but did not flea treat them. Lucky for me I had some left and took care of them yesterday. Fleas are outside in our climate no matter what you do, with all the vacation homes here, not much you can do about it. You pretty much have to do some flea deterrent to keep your pet flea free. I have always washed bedding in hot water with great results. But have not seen indoor fleas in a long time. Ever since I switched the spot treatment to Advantage. Yes, I really believe that flea treatments do start to become ineffective when used for years in the same area or so it seemed for us. I had no luck with Dawn.


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