Advantage flea treatment for dogs?

Question

I have a cocker spaniel who broke out after we used Frontline on him as a puppy. His vet has recommended we try Advantage. He currently has fleas.

How long will the Advantage take to kill the fleas that are already on him? Will it kill them or does he need to be treated first? Is Advantage any better on sensitive skin than frontline is?

Answer 1

It's about the same for skin as Frontline. Any reason you stopped using Frontline?

Advantage will kill the fleas - all of them, within 24 hours - so long as you get it on the skin, not the fur. It will then protect your dog for at least a month. However, if you don't also treat the house you may still see fleas, as this is where they're living and breeding

Chalice

Answer 2

I just recently switched from Advantage to Frontline because one of my inside dogs now has ticks. Advantage worked great on my two inside dogs and killed all fleas and eggs within a 24 hour period. Just apply the Advantage liquid at the nape of the neck and drizzle it down the dog's back all the way to where it's tail begins. You might want to rub the liquid around a little bit to spread it around more thoroughly throughout the dogs coat like I did, but it worked great on my two dogs for years. I would still be using it if I didn't suddenly have a tick problem. Vets generally don't recommend this, but I always washed my dogs with Adams Flea and Tick Bath, let the dog dry thoroughly, and then put the Advantage on the dog. Adams killed the fleas on the dogs immediately and then once the dog was dry, the Advantage went to work on preventing more fleas or killing any that might have gotten on the dog after it was bathed from going outside to potty. I suppose it is your call, but if you don't think that your dog needs a bath first, then go ahead and apply the Advantage, thoroughly over the dogs coat and you shouldn't see but just an occasional flea because fleas really hate the ingredients in Advantage. If you do see a flea, it will either be dead very soon or it will jump off the dog.

Answer 3

With any monthly flea treatment it can take up to three months to rid the dog completely of fleas. The idea is to break the life cycle of the fleas and not simply kill them. Personally I prefer Revolution because it hasn't had any recalls compared to Frontline and Advantage. It costs a bit more but you don't need a separate heartworm preventative with it. If you are looking to kill the fleas you need to do a few things.

1) Give your dog a flea bath (I put eucalyptus oil in the water to kill fleas and just use a mild oatmeal shampoo.

2) Treat your carpet. Borax laundry detergent kills fleas. Just sprinkle it on the carpet, rub in with a broom, and vaccume after 24 hours.

3) Treat furniture with a furniture spray from any pet store. They all work about the same so the cheapest one will do.

4) Keep your yard well kept and free of grass mounds from mowing, sitting water, and weeds. If you have a composte pile in your yard make sure it's as far away from the house as possible.

5) Then you can administer your monthly flea treatment. I was using Revolution but I found the next best thing is a monthly heartworm preventative with Natures Guardian. It's all natural and smells good. It actually works better than advantage or frontline but not as well as Revolution.

Answer 4

One of my dogs has allergies to the advantage. We started using frontline when we first got our dogs, but the following year we couldnt remember the brand used so we ended up with advantage. We found the advantage did not work as well as the frontline, and again my golden retriever itches crazily. One thing we did do before treating them with the flea medication was giving them baths and combing them with a flea comb to get rid of any fleas that we could find first. This (I think) helped the medication along. If you must use advantage, then I suggest you take some of the other measures I used as well to help rid of the fleas. Hope this was helpful.

Answer 5

Advantage:
stops biting fleas in three to five minutes
starts to kill adult fleas within an hour after application
within 12 hours, 98-100 percent of fleas are dead

This will take care of your dog. However, your bigger problem is those fleas that may be living in your home. Fleas ‘hop’ and you may see them. If the problem is severe and the fleas are widespread, you may even feel them nipping at your ankles when in bed. Ultimately, you may have to fumigate. You gotta do what you gotta do.

Regarding sensitivity, this is individual to the dog. You won't know until you use it.

Answer 6

I think Advantage is a milder one also. I was using Revolution until my vet stopped carrying it. Now we use Advantage. It does work though.

Make sure and vacuum your house throughly to remove the other fleas.