Flea medication (frontline etc.) for dogs..?

Question

i want to know if you're only supposed to use them if your dog has fleas. can it also be used/ is it normally used to prevent fleas? even if your dog doesn't have and never had any?

Answer 1

Preventative medicine is the BEST. I keep frontline on my dogs year round. I live in Calif where it doesn't get cold enough to kill fleas off in the winter. It takes 1 female flea to start an infestation in your house and up to a year to get them back out again. along with hundreds of dollars in vet bills if your dog/cat is allergic, sprays and foggers. And a lot of time spent trying to get them out of the enviroment. Fleas have a 4 stage life cycle, that any or all products can only kill the adults, larvae and egg stages. Nothing can or will kill the pupua stage. Fleas can control when they hatch. so if it's too cold etc they will lie dormant until ideal times and hatch. this is why it takes so long to get an infestation out of the house all together. So for those people that don't want to put a pesticide on their pets that is safe and effective, I hate to sleep in their houses!!!!! and do you not have your pets on heartgard for prevention of heartworms, this is also a pesticide!! much more cost effective is to practice prevention. besides your pets will be so much happier and healthy if they are not scratching all the time etc. hope this helps.

Answer 2

I have used both Frontline, Advantage and some other knock off brands (Hartz & another pet store brand). The knock off ones I have found left my dogs fur discolored where it was applied and the hair never returned to the normal color. Never heard of any animals dying from any of them. The Frontline Plus & Advantage both work great from my experience. The difference was that the Advantage was really only applicable for fleas. Frontline was good for mosquitoes, fleas, & ticks. I have heard from some vet personnel that Advantix works good too , but have not tried it. I was reccommended to try Revolution, but no one has been able to tell me the long term affect on the dog. I thought it covered to much any way. Good luck deciding. You may have to try them on your animal for 3-6 month time and see which one is the most effective. I also have never had any luck with flea collars of any brand. Most effective has been Advantage or Frontline + .

Answer 3

The consequences of a flea infestation can range from just plain fleas in your house, biting you too, to allergic dermatitis and tapeworm in your dog. At that point you can end up spending a whole lot more money on stuff to fix the problem, than you would if you spent a bit to prevent one.

Some folks go with the philosophy of don't fix it if it isn't broken. I prefer preventive maintenance. It can be less costly in the long run. It is a personal decision.

Answer 4

Its actually good to use that type of products before your pet gets fleas to prevent investation. I belief those type of products actually work by being absorbed into the dogs skin and getting into the fatty tissues creating some kind of a repellent that is expelled from the dog itself- if I remember right from the talk with my vet when I got it for my spaniel.

Answer 5

Frontline is used to prevent fleas, all stages of brown dog ticks, american dog ticks, lone star ticks, and deer ticks (which may carry lyme disease) and chewing lice. When used monthly it completely breaks the flea life cycle and controls tick and chewing lice infestations. It can also be used to cure existing fleas, ticks, or lice. It is safe as long as you use the correct dosage which is measured by your dogs current weight.

Answer 6

It can be used to prevent fleas. Ideally you use the recommended dose at the scheduled times and your dog won't be as susceptible to fleas.

Answer 7

Yes, they can be used as a preventative.

If you're leery of putting 'unnecessary' chemicals on your dog, however, you might want to consider Program tablets (flea prevention only) or Sentinel (heartworm/hookworm/whipworm/roundworm prevention that also contains the active ingredient in Program.)

Lufenuron (Program) is a substance that has absolutely no effect on a mammal's body....it passes through completely unchanged. It inhibits chitin formation. (Mammal bodies contain no chitin.) Chitin is the substance that is needed by fleas for them to make their 'crunchy' exoskelelton during embryonic development. Without it, they cannot form. The eggs will never hatch.

So.....

Lufenuron has no effect on an adult flea when she bites your dog. (Since her exoskeleton is already formed.) But....it prevents any of her eggs from being able to develop exoskeletons because the chitin can't develop. Her eggs won't be viable...they'll just shrivel up. It's like birth control for fleas. Mama flea won't die....but who cares, as long as she can't produce hundreds/thousands of babies? She'll die of old age shortly.

If you don't have a current flea problem and your dog has low potential exposure to fleas, it works GREAT to prevent fleas from setting up an infestation in your house/yard. (Assuming all pets in the household are on it.) Keep a dose or 2 of Capstar on hand for when you DO see the occasional fleas....it is also incredibly safe (I've given it to nearly dead anemic kittens to save their lives), and any adult fleas on the dog will start dying and falling off within 10-15 minutes. Every one will be gone within 2 hrs. It only lasts a day or 2, so it's not financially practical for long term use. If you see more adults than that, you need Frontline, etc. anyway.

Clear as mud now? LOL

I know it seems confusing, but the best person to ask is your DVM or one of his/her technicians. They stay up on what works and what doesn't in your area.....as well as newer/better products on the horizon. Many are still in development.

Keep in mind that many of these products purchased online or through pet stores are counterfeit....the packages are deceptively similar.....and not backed up by the companies' guarantee, since they can't be sure of their origin/handling. (The companies sell them only to licensed DVMs, so anyone else who sells them has obtained them through unauthorized channels. Many come from countries with little or no quality-control standards, and use different concentrations.) They may not work...or they may actually be harmful to your pet. The only way you can be certain that you're getting genuine product is to purchase through your veterinarian.

Answer 8

Don't use anything on your dog if it isn't really necessary. If your dog has fleas, frontline, etc, are great products. Before they were available, flea season was a disaster both for my dog and me.

Answer 9

I use the Frontline Plus on my dog monthly so he will not ever get any fleas or ticks. I have never seen one flea or tick on my dog since I bought him as a pup and he is now 4 years old. The Frontline Plus also helps repel mosquitos so they won't get bit by them and get all of the things that mosquitos carry also. It will not hurt your dog at all. It is sort of expensive to use every month but worth every pennie to me to keep my baby safe and not sick or dead from fleas, ticks and mosquitos. The Frontline Plus helps to keep your dog or cat from ever getting any fleas or ticks ever. I highly recommend putting it on your dog even if you have never seen a tick or flea. My best friend just lost her puppy from one small brown tick that was inside his ear and she didn't see it. The puppy died from that one tick bite.

Answer 10

You can use them monthly.

I don't - if your dog has no fleas, why add a pesticide to his body? Don't fix what ain't broke

Just becuase it comes from the vet doesn't mean it's perfect. Dogs can have bad reactions to flea medications, and lots of other stuff