Flea Prevention Meds

lauren17 · 01-31-2010, 09:59 PM

I have always used Frontline Plus for my dogs for flea prevention but for the past 6 months or so my dogs have had fleas. One of my dogs seems to be especially allergic to the fleas, his stomach is very red and he chews so he has scabs and occasionally has chewed the fur off on his feet and back end. My other dogs dont seem to be affected at all so maybe the Frontline is still working for them. I went in to the vet and they gave me a flea pill to try on him called Comfortis. Has anyone else had issues with Frontline? and does Comfortis work better? He is 6 years old and this is the first time he's ever had a problem with fleas.

aisling · 01-31-2010, 10:25 PM

It seems that after using the same flea/tick preventative for a while some dogs become resistant. I've personally had success with Advantage or Advantix if you have issues with ticks, as well as a product called Omnitrol, which is another topical application.

lauren17 · 01-31-2010, 10:35 PM

I think we have used Advantix before but its been a long time and I dont know if my vet still carries it. The only choices they gave me were Fronline plus, Comfortis, and another pill that is heartworm and flea but I dont remember what the name of it was. I've never heard of Omnitrol. As soon as it warms up he will need something that prevents ticks as well and I know Comfortis does not.

lucidity · 01-31-2010, 10:50 PM

What about Revolution? It covers heartworms, fleas and ticks.

ruckusluvr · 02-01-2010, 01:10 AM

i live on the KY/TN border and can you believe that even the vets here will tell you that you are throwing away your money with frontline and advantage!
the only thing that seems to work around here is comfortis.

Labsnothers · 02-01-2010, 05:42 AM

In the last year, I have seen many reports of Frontline failing. It has had a good run, but it may be time to move on to something else.

lauren17 · 02-01-2010, 10:44 AM

Does revolution work good? If the Comfortis works for his fleas I'd like to keep him on it but I'm in southern IN and ticks are a big issue so I dont think I'll be able to keep him on it. Comfortis is less expensive than the frontine was, so that was a plus as well. Do you think its a good idea to go ahead and switch all the dogs to something different? Also, do the meds that are both flea and heartworm work as good as the seperate medications? I use interceptor for heartworm. They are due for their vet check and shots this month so I want to have an idea of what meds to ask about when we go.

ruckusluvr · 02-01-2010, 11:01 AM

we have ticks really bad too. what we tell people do to, and what we do ourselves is use comfortis AND a preventic collar.

shimmermama · 02-01-2010, 12:37 PM

My vet told me that Frontline just isn't working anymore to prevent fleas...something about the fleas evolving to ignore it or something. He's changed his whole practice so that they don't even recommend it anymore.

Shimmer is on K9 Advantix and it's working well for her.

ShutterBug · 02-01-2010, 03:00 PM

I can't comment specifically for dogs, but we used Advantage on our cat when a stray kitten we took in temporarily brought fleas with him. It was our first experience with fleas, since our cat never goes outdoors, and within a weekend our house was literally infested *blech* One dose of Advantage completely took care of the problem. So I imagine we'll use it with our new puppy, too.

Jennet19 · 02-08-2010, 11:55 AM

I think comfortis is the answer. I started my year old dog on this last November when both my dogs had fleas after 2 doses of frontline plus, capstar and frequent combing. I have not seen a flea since. My older dog is still on frontline just because I have 3 left and he has a sensitive stomach, but I am thinking of switching him too. The only thing I worry about is the ticks in the summer but the vets office said you can use both together.

Angie's Bella · 02-08-2010, 12:35 PM

I have my dogs on Comfortis and that stuff is GREAT!! I live in Florida and we have fleas year around and I never see fleas on my dogs. If fact, and this is pretty cool to me, if you give comfortis to a dog that has a lot of fleas you can see them falling off of the dog in about 15mins. I know this because I do rescue, lol.

Duckie1009 · 02-08-2010, 09:34 PM

I have a friend who uses revolution for her GSD who is has a flea allergy and she swears by it. I use advantage and so far so good.

Labsnothers · 02-09-2010, 08:20 AM

Aster came to us at 10 years old with a flea allergy. We used Revolution on her and out puppies too. Not a sign of a flea for 5 years. Revolution? Maybe. For many of our puppies, when we only had one healthy young dog in the house we didn't use anything and had very few problems. My vet says it isn't that good on ticks. Aster did get one.