Flea medications- HELP please!

[Sandy Paws]

Hi Everyone,

My Boxer has a flea circus living on him that we just can't get rid of by homeopathic and natural methods. He is already on a 100% raw diet. We have tried adding garlic to his diet, cedar/rosemary/eucalyptus sprays and shampoo, brewer's yeast, lemon solution on his skin, nematodes in the grass, washing all bedding on a sanitary cycle, etc. We have pretty much tried everything at this point and we were able to decrease the fleas, but now that summer is here, the fleas have outnumbered us. The flea bites have been so severe that my Boxer is now developing hives from the bites. I really hate to resort to the flea meds, but I think I need to... does anyone know which flea med is the safest and most effective? I think I read somewhere that Frontline causes the least harm to the pet? Any help would be very appreciated.

Thanks,
T

 

[Sansal]

I used Frontline for a while and my dogs never had a problem with it. I'm not using it now because I want to try some more natural prevention methodes as well. My dogs never had flees but one of my friends dogs had a flee problem, kind of like you described (flee circus ), she tried everything, nothing helped so she finally gave up and bought Frontline, only took a couple of days to get rid of the flees. How do you protect yourself from flees in the house? I heard there is a non toxic powder that you can put in the room corners, between the couch cushins and so on but I don't know the name.
Good luck!

 

[samsons]

probly doesnt help ~

BUT .....

do u give heart-worm meds ? if u do .. heres one to check out.

I have sam on Sentinel & it also controls fleas ( its a pill 1x a mo ) instead of chemicals on his skin. we have never had a flea !
. check it out w/ ur vet.

just had to ad my 2cents .. hope its useful.

 

[Caney Creek]

I heard there is a non toxic powder that you can put in the room corners, between the couch cushins and so on but I don't know the name.
Good luck!

I think you mean Food Grade DE?

http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/holistic-care/138348-few-questions-about-food-grade-de.html
Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth Perma Guard

I bought Food Grade DE a while back when we were having an issue with fleas here (Caney is allergic to them :() but honestly haven't put it to use around the house much (although I do sprinkle it on their food daily to ward off internal parasites). I think soon after I ordered it was when I found a topical spray that actually worked to keep the fleas from jumping on the dogs (and I also tried many, many different sprays for months prior to that discovery, and all failed miserably) -- it's actually a Hot Spot spray that contains tea tree oil. I started spraying the tea tree oil spray on the dogs before they went outside, every time they went outside, and within just a couple of weeks there were less fleas. That combined with excessive cleaning and vacuuming of the house for about a month, and haven't seen a flea since... that was about a year ago. I also don't like to put chemicals on my dogs, they are not on Frontline or anything like that, just the tea tree oil spray, and honestly I don't have to use that nearly so often anymore.

If you haven't tried tea tree oil yet I'd highly recommend getting a topical spray that contains TTO as one of the ingredients and spraying it on him every time he goes out, especially his legs, paws and underside.

This is the spray that I use:
Amazon.com: Veterinarian's Best Hot Spot Spray - 16 oz
I get it at PetCo or PetSmart. I've noticed since buying it that there are actually several other sprays on the market containing tea tree oil made by other companies, so you have a few options

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

(be careful with Tea Tree Oil if you have cats, it's HIGHLY toxic to them and can kill them)

I personally use Frontline Plus every 60 days on all 3 of my dogs all year round and haven't had any fleas either here in Arizona or in Louisiana (I'm HIGHLY allergic to them so it's a must). I've also used it on all of the dogs I have boarded in my house as well as all of my foster dogs. Never had a flea problem and never had any reactions to it.

 

[Jan]

If your dog has fleas, your house has fleas. So your dog is going to keep getting infested again until you get them out of your house. If you have carpets, sprinkle them with Borax and then brush it in. You can get it in the laundry soap aisle. Leave it on for a couple of house and them vacuum it up. It is best to have the dog out of the house while doing this. You can also use diatomaceous earth. It doesn't have to be the food grade stuff, unless you want to feed it to your dog as well. Just keep it sprinkled around the edges of the rooms and especially in the corners and under the sofa. Basically anywhere fleas can hang out. It dries them out and kills them.

I had a terrible time with Tara and fleas. I called her my fleas magnet. Nothing worked until I treated my carpets with Borax. I just did it a couple of times and the fleas were gone. It was like a miracle. I wondered why I hadn't done it earlier.

 

[Sandy Paws]

Thank you for everyone's help. Our house definitely has fleas, but we have all hardwood floors; so, Borax and Fleabusters solution unfortunately was not an option for us. We have also tried diatomaceous earth in the past, but it didn't do much for us. Our main source of fleas comes from our indoor/outdoor cat.. it all started with him. We tried to keep him indoors, but he learned how to use the doggy door rather quickly with the aid of our boxer. I have read that Tea Tree oil is effective against fleas, but we probably shouldn't use it since the cat likes to cuddle with the Boxer.

I ended up cleaning the house really well and washing practically everything in hot soapy water. I washed both the cat and the dog with Dr. Bronner's Eucalyptus shampoo (kills fleas instantly upon contact). Gave the dog 2 capstar pills and then applied Frontline on both the cat and the dog. The next day, I discovered a few fleas on the dog, but they were very lethargic, so, I think the Frontline is affecting their nervous system.

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

Thank you for everyone's help. Our house definitely has fleas, but we have all hardwood floors; so, Borax and Fleabusters solution unfortunately was not an option for us. We have also tried diatomaceous earth in the past, but it didn't do much for us. Our main source of fleas comes from our indoor/outdoor cat.. it all started with him. We tried to keep him indoors, but he learned how to use the doggy door rather quickly with the aid of our boxer. I have read that Tea Tree oil is effective against fleas, but we probably shouldn't use it since the cat likes to cuddle with the Boxer.

I ended up cleaning the house really well and washing practically everything in hot soapy water. I washed both the cat and the dog with Dr. Bronner's Eucalyptus shampoo (kills fleas instantly upon contact). Gave the dog 2 capstar pills and then applied Frontline on both the cat and the dog. The next day, I discovered a few fleas on the dog, but they were very lethargic, so, I think the Frontline is affecting their nervous system.

If worse comes to worse you can always bug bomb your home. They now make "no mess" bombs which I had to do my place twice but I had a BAD infestation (and carpet). Wouldn't be my first solution but it will definitely work.

Good luck hope you've stomped it out! I swear we could have a nuclear war and we'd still have fleas LoL.

 

[kathysboxer]

I can attest to the flea bombs. When we moved into the house, it was a huge flea infested disaster! We use Zodiak products for inside the house. They work extremely well. This is the first year in the last 5 we haven't had a flea problem inside (did I jinx myself?). We did use twice the amount the bombs called for. The only reason we had to do it so often is because of the neighbor's dogs who got infested and they didn't tell us before they played, thus giving Tyson a bunch of unwanted friends.
For the dogs, we use Frontline Plus. When we first got Bailey, she did have some fleas, but we haven't found any on her for about a month now. Tyson hasn't had any since last summer.
Here is a link for the Zodiak product we used.
Zodiac Pet Care Products, flea, tick, mosquito control products, shampoos, sprays, powders, topicals

 

[Sandy Paws]

Bad news... we still have fleas and now my poor baby is a mess! He became itchy all over, broke out in hives, got a fluid lump under his arm, and developed an aural hematoma from the chemicals in Frontline. To top that off, he still has his flea circus! I think we have a sensitive Boxer.