advantage or frontline?

[andtckrtoo]

I think it's important to remind everyone NEVER to give more than the dosage recommended in the instructions. I saw the results of that at my vet's once- a poor beautiful maramelade tabby cat in a cage having horrible convulsions due to being over-dosed with one of these products. She was literally poisoned and the vet said she had been convulsing for a day and a half. I asked about the poor kitty later, and she did recover but came close to death. That was from Hartz Mountain flea/tick meds.- though I'm sure an overdose of any brand might produce the same results.

Please avoid the Hartz brand like the plague. Its known to cause many troubles in cats and dogs, even while used correctly.

My dog doesn't not suffer from fleas - they are not as prevalent where we are, so I don't know any homeopathic remedies for fleas - although the orange peel oil is supposed to be effective and safe (you can buy sprays like that and spray them on the dog directly with no ill effects). For ticks, I've had pretty good success with garlic. I was feeding raw for a while, so I would just grind up a bunch of garlic with the veggie mixture I made him, now I just put a chopped up clove with his breakfast and dinner. It's not perfect, but ticks are attracted to the smell our the carbon we exhale, and this seems to change the attractiveness of Jimmy. When I had my foster and did not feed him raw, he attracted ticks like no one's business. As soon as I started mixing the veggie mixture into his kibble, he became much less attractive (we hike in tick country a least once a week).

[andtckrtoo]

Stupid trigger finger!! Sorry for the double post!

[jesvetmed]

Please avoid the Hartz brand like the plague. Its known to cause many troubles in cats and dogs, even while used correctly.

As an ER vet, I can tell you that any "over the counter" product are the ones I see cause terrible reactions in cats, and sometimes dogs too. I've never seen a seizing pet that had been treated with Advantage or Frontline (appropriately). It's always the cheap store brands. Please do not use them! AND... they don't really work.

Frontline Plus for dogs works against ticks.
Advantage makes "Advantix" that works against fleas and ticks, but this is toxic to cats if you have them in the house with the dog.

There are new ones on the market -- don't know a lot about them all yet. Revolution is nice for dogs or cats b/c it works to prevent heartworm if that is an issue in your area, and handles normal GI parasites, also.

Just remember, always ask your vet before trying to use any product on your cat that is labeled for your dog. It is NOT always safe.

Good luck! Fleas are awful.

[Tuckervill]

In my neck o' the woods, it's Frontline that has stopped working. Advantage is working GREAT. I have switched to Advantix for my dogs, because it's summer time.

I did a lot of studyin' before I got our flea problem under control. You have to use something that kills the eggs AND the larva and the adult fleas. Anything with an Insect Growth Regulator works (it has to kill the eggs!). We were forced to spray our yard every 10 days for about a month with heavy duty chemicals, while at the same time washing everything in the house over and over again, including the dogs and cats.

Bad flea problems cannot be solved with "natural products" unless you don't have anything else to do in your life but apply them over and over.

Karen

[Eden]

nix on the garlic for cats too - it destroys their red blood cells and causes them to become anemic. Yeah it does take pretty large quantities to be severely harmful, but still a little poison is still poison...

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Gee, all this makes me doubly glad my cats are indoors only.

[Blueberry]

Gee, all this makes me doubly glad my cats are indoors only.

Mine *is* indoor only. My flea-treated dog must be bringing them in. My vet is recommending we try Revolution and Capstar (every 2-3 days for 10 days).

CA

[Norse]

We have ticks all over the State, including our neighborhood. For some reason, they have increased their numbers this year and they carry some very nasty diseases. Our vet has always recommended Frontline Plus, which is what we use. Knock on wood, our dog - who gets frequent walks and hiking outings - has never had a tick on her. Just walking around our area our neighbor said her tiny terrier acquired 2 ticks. Oh, our pup has never had fleas either.

[Norse]

Another one to avoid like the plague is bioSpot. This stuff is awful. We lost one of our cats to it - seizures, ... and then a coma that he did not recover from. Drs. Foster and Smith gleefully sells this stuff and they hold themselves out as vets recommending that it is safe. I think that is disgusting. I tried a one woman campaign to get them to stop carrying this product but the company could not have cared less. It's cheap and therefore a lot of people buy it. Not only is it harmful to pets, but the emergency vet that saw our poor kitty said that it can also harm babies or small children if they touch or rub a pet that just had it applied. Its active ingredient is some inexpensive, harmful chemical

Unless we go out with them (with harnesses) our cats do not go out anymore and we don't use anything on them, just the dog. Pay more for the Frontline or Advantage, don't go for the cheap crap.

[Tuckervill]

If you use Advantage, you can use it on both dogs and cats, which is great, because....you can buy the super large dog size and treat about 3 cats with it for only a few dollars more. A single dose for one cat is about $12. The large dog size is about $15 at my vet.

You have to measure it out right, though!

Karen

[emily_in_nc]

No flea problems here in the woods, but we do have many, many ticks of all sorts (deer, lone star, and dog). My DH even ended up with ehrlichiosis last summer after a lone star tick bite! We use Frontline Plus on Paisley and used it on Pepper before her. Never a single bad reaction whatsoever.

[Blueberry]

If you use Advantage, you can use it on both dogs and cats, which is great, because....you can buy the super large dog size and treat about 3 cats with it for only a few dollars more. A single dose for one cat is about $12. The large dog size is about $15 at my vet.

You have to measure it out right, though!

Karen

Be careful with this. My mom's vet was doing this, and, despite careful measuring, had several cats die from it. I wouldn't mess with it - not sure if they changed the formula, or what....