Hey, I have never had a flea problems with my girls before this month. My stepson has been bringing his big dog on the weekends and there inlies the problem. He stays out in the little back yard we have fenced for the girls to go potty and play a little.They do not go out with the bigger dog because they are afraid of him. He says he baths the dog before he brings it but I see the fleas and see the dog scratching. Mind you my stepson is 25, but if I throw too big of a fit he won't come to see us at all I am afraid. I have always used Frontline on the girls but it just does not seem to be working and I have put flea powder outside where "Buddy" has been. I bought a flea comb and have even used it and found fleas 24 hours after using the Frontline Plus. Any more ideas what I can use along with the Frontline ? I just have to treat the fleas because I know the other dog will be here every weekend. As cool weather hits East Texas I know it will get better but I just am paranoid when the girls get fleas. I just know they are going to get all in my carpet.Someone said to get a cotton ball with a little alcohol on it and apply a little to the tops of their heads and a line along their tummys and ther fleas will run because of the smell. Anyone heard of that before??? I know I sound like a fuss budget but these are my babies . Becky
NO Advantix. I'm getting really bad stories coming across one of my Yahoo lists right now about Advantix. I can copy them if anyone would like to see what is being said, or you can probably Google and find out. Here we have no "regular" plan. We have no carpet and I'm amazed at the difference. When we had carpet, we sprinkled Borax in the carpet when we had a problem, vacuumed it up and threw out the vacuum bag. Then we bought one dose of Advantage, and split it between each "sleeping buddy" set. What I mean is, like Tony, Manny and Lily all slept together all the time. Tony couldn't take Advantage (now that I think about that, he died really young too). Anyway, Manny got half a dose and I figured eventually they'd share fleas. The other sleeping bundle, one dog got the other half dose. And not monthly. I try to stay minimal with that kind of junk. It's always wokred for us. If you have carpet though, I miagine it won't be so easy. The flea bombs are useless. Years of stray foster cats did teach me that much. They just make everyone gag and involve a lot of clean up. Feeding dogs nutritional yeast is supposed to help I think......let me go poke around. I'll let you know later.
i have ALWAYS used advantage and never had any problems. they say too you can take salt like you put on ice in the winter put it in your yard and water it, fleas can't live in the salty water, i use that and it works wonders.
Becky - if it's bare area (no grass) where other dog is - if you cover it with black tarp for day it will kill off fleas outside. You can also use organic diatomaceous earth around yard.
Fennel works well also - you can put it in dogs kennels - rub it on them - sprinkle in yard
Sprigs of mint work around house (and won't hurt dogs)
and you can add natural brewer's yeast to their food to keep fleas off them
Thank you for your input. I have to go to the doctor tomorrow so I will get some Palmolive to spray the yard with and then some stuff for the carpet just in case. I think I will keep a gallon sprayer of the palmolive fixed up. My husband uses that to spray on wasp nests but I never thought it would work in the yard on fleas. A cheap alternative to those pricey outdoor sprays.(And it is on sale this week at Brookshires Grocery Store)I will use this frontline every month that I just bought until I use it up. Do you think the Advantage is better?? I know it can't be any more expensive. I pay 43 dollars for a 3 pk for small dogs. I knew the rock salt dissolved the flea eggs but I figured it would kill all the grass. We use to use it in the pens with our coonhounds but the pen was all sand. Keep the ideas coming. Maybe someone other than me can benefit from this also..Becky