Is this safe for my dogs? What is the best product?

Question

Yesterday I posted a question about how to gid rid of a flea infestation. The overwhelming response has been to use Frontline or Advantage on my dogs and either bomb my house w/professional grade foggers or hire an exterminator. What I need to know is this. I have applied Hartz topical solution (worthless!) once and bathed and dipped my dogs twice in the last 2 weeks. I have also used powders and foggers in the house to try and control the flea problem. I've had these dogs for 6 years and never had a problem with fleas even close to this one. Is it safe to now give my dogs Frontline or Advantage? Which product is better or are they about the same?


Thanks for all of your suggestions yesterday and today!

Answer 1

I personally like frontline plus better... it's water proof and in my opinion it lasts longer although according to the labling they last exactly the same length of time.

Frontline Plus lasts through baths and is safe on pregnant and nursing dogs ;-) Both will get rid of an immediate flea problem though...

Answer 2

I am a vet and I have this question every day. The fleas you see on the dog are only 5% of the problem because the fleas been nice enough to leave millions of eggs in the environment. Apply a topical flea product on all your pets once a month (Advantage and Frontline Plus are both great products) for five months in a row. That is how long it can take for all the eggs in the environment to hatch. The goal is to keep the pet protected until all the eggs hatch and the fleas then die without producing more eggs. You can try environmental treatments, but it can be very difficult to kill all the eggs. Key: apply a good product once a month for five months in a row. And don't give the dog a bath 3 days before or after you apply the product. Good luck.

Answer 3

First off..you are putting too many chemicals on your dog in such a short amount of time. NEVER use any Hartz product. That stuff is crap and is also known to cause all kinds of problems.
Myself and alot of other groomers do not even do flea dips anymore..they have too many harsh chemicals in them. So, I would stay away from those too. Plus, they aren't really effective.

I personally have never had a problem using Advantage. But, I only ever need to put it on my dogs maybe 3 times a year at the most. But, I also bathe my dogs weekly, so that helps keep things under control.

The only time I ever had a flea problem was with a cat I took in. I put Advantage on her and instead of bombing the house (I had a baby in the house) I used regular table salt and dusted it all over the furniture and carpets. Let it set for maybe 15-20 minutes and vaccumed it up. I did this 3 times a day and after the 3rd day I had no more fleas. It's a bit time consuming, but I was afraid of using any chemicals in the house with baby stuff everywhere.

Answer 4

Dont forget to spray the yard too. It takes time to see them thin out but as vigilant as you have been, it should work. I had a horrible flea problem too once before and I did just that.. Spray the yard every 7-10 days, fogged the house, bathe the animal , used the sprays for furniture and thought i would never win the war. One day during the weekly bathing I noticed the fleas were gone. Just like overnight . Keep going till you get all the hatched eggs. It will happen. Hang in there. I ve tried frontline, and I didnt think it helped that much.

Answer 5

You can't get rid of the fleas easily. The eggs will exist and keep hatching in your carpets for up to six months (assuming no more eggs are laid). Fleas only live for about 2 weeks.

Your best solution is Frontline or Advantage (or as I use, Revolution, which has heart worm medicine also). They sterilize the fleas so no more eggs. You should be able to apply these at any point.

Answer 6

Hi, I am a long time pet groomer, and there are alot of answers out there but never seeming to be the correct educated answer for you right? Well, my experience has served me well in the past many years with long term clients to back me. OK..Advantage k-9 for the weight of your pet is the best 30 day treatment and also you must treat your house and yard at the same time to overcome the infestation of them nasty fleas, for between treatment it is safe to go to home depot and buy "BORIC ACID" powder and sprinkle around baseboards and behind large furniture (please always read instructions of product). It is safe both for pets and children ( not intended for consumption). Also, when treating your yard , start with the inside of the yard and make circles going out to a perimeter, make sure you do a heavy treatment on the perimeter area. You may want to rotate your front and back yard for use of your pets. The reason that we are having the epidimic of fleas this year is due to a couple of facts, the extra warm weather with no rain to speak of and the fact that people do not use treatment like they are designed to be used, frontline, advantage or any other 30 day treatment is not a repelent to the pest but a killer, but it takes the flea getting on the pet and bitting to digest the treatment, if your vet was half a vet they would explain this to their clients instead of just making the bucks by selling the product. It is a joint effort on treatment of both pets and areas of pets. Good luck to you and the fight on your flea festation problem.

Answer 7

If you have a question about FRONTLINE, call the consumer number at 1-800-660-1842.

Advantage®. If you would like to speak with someone feel free to contact Bayer Product Information Services by phone at 1-800-255-6826 between the hours of 9 am - 5 pm CST Monday - Friday.

these are people who should be able to tell you if it is safe to use these so soon after using the other chemicals on your dogs.

BE SURE to make sure they understand you are asking about the COMBINATION of products in such a short time, not just "is your product safe?"

Answer 8

The fleas have just been HORRIBLE this year - my dogs never had a problem either until the last few months.

I recommend Frontline - it's expensive, but worth it - you can buy it on Ebay or 800petmeds.com to save money. I would wait 3-4 days to give it them since they were dipped.

Answer 9

hartz is crap!!! the fleas have been real bad everywhere.
you can use frontline or advantage..but personally i use zodiac. you get a 3month supply for like 10$
also to get rid of a flea infestation you have to clean like you have lice in the house. that is the only way and then you have to treat your yard or else they will just come back.

Answer 10

Try frontline, and keep on using it to avoid having this problem again. My dog has bad skin allergies to things like frontline, so I bath her with flea shampoo once a week.