Flea med for dogs & cats: which one?

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This past week we had the last of the "keeper" kittens neutered, Hurray! Now nobody here can have four-legged kittens, no matter how hairy things get! Anyway, while at vet's, I bought another three month's supply of Advantage flea & tick medication for the critters we keep. At $39.00 for each dog and again for all the cats, it was over $100. Well worth the money, though, as the stuff really does work very, very well.

HOWEVER... On Saturday, Husby & I made an expedition to Sam's & Wally's for supplies, and while perusing the cat litter I saw the display of Hartz Control. For $9.95 for three months of treatments. Naturally I stood there for about 5 minutes staring at the stuff, until Husby dragged me off to get Wally-Spam (good stuff, $1.00 a can).

So my question is, for those of you who have had the patience to read through this long-winded drivel, and who may know something about it, Is the stuff you can buy from Hartz as good as the expensive stuff from the vet?

PS. I also got my catalogs from Jeffers on Saturday, am about to go read how much they want for such stuff.

Also, aside from the hosing down (which she hates!), can anyone suggest a way to convince a border collie that she should stay away from the fragrant end of the neighbor's cows? I swear, she comes home looking and smelling like she and the cow cooperated in a special shower arrangement. YUCK!

Thanks for all the wisdom, y'all!

-- Arewyn (isitthatlate@lready?.com), August 01, 1999

Answers

I have four cats and a dog, and tried the less expensive available in discount stores medication, and it didn't get rid of the fleas. The expensive stuff from the vet worked big time.

-- robert waldrop (rmwj@soonernet.com), August 01, 1999.

I can only speak for Advantage which I think is wonderful. I too have a border collie and my vet gives me the Advantage for her and TB syringes. I divide 1/3 of the dog dose into two RX for the two cats. The dog gets the other 2/3 and this system has worked fine and saved a lot of money. I don't have the problem with the dog running live stock. She used to be our working dog, but when we retired she did too. She prefers to lay around the house with airconditioning now.

-- Taz (Tassie@aol.com), August 01, 1999.

Taz, thanks for the info. I split up one of the dog vials for the cats, too. As for the silly dog, she doesn't CHASE the cows, at least not that we've ever witnessed, but she does like to be around them. The only critter she does insist (and I mean INSIST) on herding is our little Leghorn rooster. She's obsessed with him.

-- Arewyn (isitthatlate@lready?.com), August 01, 1999.

We like Advantage too. We tried Frontline this year because of the ticks and found that it didn't work as well on fleas AND made 2 of our cats very sick. What our vet suggested since we have so many animals is to buy several of the large dog size and he gave us a medicine bottle with a rubber top and a syringe. We took the dosages off of the containers for the appropriate size animal. Put all of the little containers in the med bottle and use the syringe to pull out the right amount, leaving the needle in the top of the med bottle. Saves us a fortune and no fleas in the house.

Our old male Sheltie likes to roll in the horse and cow pies. We have never been able to stop him and have never figured out why he likes it. If you figure it out, let me know.

-- Beckie (sunshine_horses@yahoo.com), August 01, 1999.


Our dogs are on Heartguard(as all dogs should be--lost an English setter to heartworm and it was not pretty)...anyhow, they just don't get fleas and any ticks just dry up and die...our setter is an outside dog but no fleas on her and the inside Corgi hasn't any...know for a fact there aren't any fleas in my house as my husband is a flea magnet--come from miles to chew on him. Has anyone else used this product and found this added benefit?

-- MUTTI (windance @train.missouri.org), August 01, 1999.


Hi, my son is a veteranarian; he recommended Frontline for my dog's ticks. It works incredibly well. Unbelievably! (Hmm, that was redundant). He also says it's pretty safe for the animals. We've been using it for our dog during tick seasons for a couple of years.

We just got two new kittens. The second one came equipped with fleas. Again at my sons advice, we used frontline. The fleas were gone in 24 hours, and haven't returned. We live on a large piece of land, so the cats don't get reinfested.

Read the label for dosage; you don't use it on kittens until they are a few weeks old, but I don't remember how many.

happy hunting

JOJ

-- jumpoffjoe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), August 01, 1999.


I use Frontline because I find it cheaper. I also split up the large dog dose for my cats. Also Frontline on the dogs last about 3 months where Advantage is only one month (per the label). However, because it works so fast, I usually just wait until I see my first flea and then reapply. Depending on the time of year, I've had one application last me 4 months on dogs and 2-3 months on cats.

I also do not recommend the Hartz product. Although I have not used it, I have heard it doesn't work. Also, Hartz has a bad history. One product a few years back (Defend?) started killing dogs left and right.

Heartguard is an ivermectin-based product which controls heartworm as well as hookworms and roundworms. It does not have any flea-killing properties. My dogs were flea infested and on Heartguard. Mutti, perhaps you're lucky and just have a flea-resistant dog!

-- dakota (none@thistime.com), August 02, 1999.


Beckie,

We always had queensland heelers when growing up and they all loved to roll in the cow poop - I was told it was because they still have lots of wild instincts and in the wild this maskes their scent from the prey they are hunting...makes sense to me!

I am glad for this thread - need to buy the stuff soon.

-- Kristi (securxsys@cs.com), August 02, 1999.


Diatomaceous earth works reasonably well as a critter killer on animals, and has no ill effects as it is not a poison but a contact killer. I used to mix it with water (keep it agitated) and spray my Lab/Australian Shepherd mix every week or so- he loved it and it did a pretty good job with the critters (I'm currently not owned by a dog :-( tho). Kitties would be happier with it dusted on dry, I imagine. A little added to the food dish will take care of intestinal parasites also.

In addition you can use it in de-bugging your own dried or dehydrated food (about 1 1/4 cup per 5 gallon bucket of grain) for storage, and it works as an insecticide in the house and garden as well.

It won't work as well as the modern miracle products do but it's relatively cheap, not poisonous (but is dusty), has an indefinite shelf life if kept dry (otherwise it clumps) and is useful for a lot of things.

-- Lee (lplapin@hotmail.com), August 02, 1999.


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