How To Get Rid Of Fleas

[Guest CBDTherapyDogs]

Sorry to hyjack the other thread here.... but this is something that is asked of me EVERY SINGLE DAY that I work at the vet clinic. Why me? Because I know my flea stuff and I've had a **MASSIVE** infestation here and got rid of it with in ONE month, and it its been gone for over three years now. I'm talking about a flea infestation that would make the AC officers on Animal Precinct cringe, as though the hounds jumped in pool filled with nothing but fleas type infestation. Yeah, **THAT BAD**.

I'm re-posting what I posted in the other thread to here, and in addition to that, adding some more stuff too.

 

Flea facts :

Eggs: these are 50% of your flea population. Nix the eggs or make them sterile, and you've killed off half the problem. Eggs are on your pet, in your carpet, on your furniture, in your rugs, and all over your yard.

Larvea: crawl around and live off of debris and the blood rich feces of adult fleas. Yum-yum!

Pupae: once in the cocoon, they can survive through ANYTHING for over 170 days!! They ONLY hatch when they feel the vibration of thier next meal passing overhead. THe time it takes them to hatch and jump up to 4 feet off the ground to thier host, takes less than 3 seconds.

Adults: Females lay well over 2000 eggs in her lifetime, over 100 per day, bite your pet over 400 times a day, can not lay eggs until after thier first meal.

 

To get rid of them in carpet.... vaccuum and bag up/tie tight the contents and bag into another trash bag and tie it up too. Shampooing the carpet also helps get the pupae to un-cling from the carpet fibers and get sucked up. Most of all, for inside the house, I suggest any and all of the tips listed at Flea Smart Francie Stull, who is the creator of the Silken Windhound breed, owns that site and KNOWS her stuff when it comes to getting rid of pests and dealing with our sensitive Sighthounds. She has some REALLY great products for the house and the yard - more of that later on in the post.........

 

If your living in an apartment and still have these problems, and your landlord won't do anything.... go to Francies site and get some stuff for your house. It does work. Keep using your Frontline Plus, as the problem isn't the Frontline, its the ENVIRONMENT. They're in the carpet / rugs / furniture / grass / walkways / shrubs, etc....... and hitching a ride back inside - be that from YOU, your hound, stray cats, squirrels, raccoons, and the list can keep on going, not to mention your neighbor next door who won't do anything for fleas!!

 

Here's what I posted on the other thread:

One of the gals in rescue that I network with refuses to use Frontline Plus because "it doesn't work" and two of their dogs had reactions to it. I saw the reaction, though she swears it was Frontline Plus she used, I have been using Frontline Plus for YEARS on various Sighthounds/Staghounds/Lurchers/Longdogs and have NEVER seen a reaction like that. Working four years at a vet clinic and I haven't seen a reaction like that in other breeds either.

I won't use anything but Frontline Plus because it does work.

 

Coming from the aspect of working for a vet and knowing the behind the scenes stuff... Promeris is even marketing its stuff in the way that it works just as well as Frontline Plus but sells to vet clinics for less per box than Frontline Plus and can be sold at the same price as Frontline Plus. Notice it's the same price or about a dollar cheaper? That's why. You use more of the Promeris (amount wise) than you do of Frontline Plus. We used it on a clinic dog there and found that, yeah, it worked... and it did work faster on ticks than Frontline did (6 hours VS 12 hours), but it left this really huge oily patch on the skin where we applied it... and yes, we applied it to several spots along the back. The oily patch remained there for five days, where as Frontline is absorbed into the skin (when applied to several places along the back like we did with the Promeris), by the next morning at most.

 

Something about fleas though...... If your flea prevention "isn't working", then its because you have a flea infestation, not a flea problem. Fleas WILL die if they get on your pet and your pet has been given a dose of Frontline Plus (with in the 30 days of being applied). The problem is, when you first apply it, you're seeing flea #248 at that time. Well, #248 died on your pet, but #836 hopped off your pet and laid 100 eggs in your carpet and #451 hopped off and laid 100 eggs in your sofa before they both died. #312 died on your pet, so did her 100 eggs because she laid them on your pet and the fipronil killed all of them. By the end of the month, the Frontline is now killing fleas #1,000 - #2,213. So you're frustrated seeing fleas, but its working on killing a new batch of fleas!! The problem is in your house and out in your yard. This is where your Frontline Plus (or Advantage or Advantix or Promeris or Vectra 3D) needs help.

 

Sentinel and Program both have IGR's in them - birth control for fleas given orally to your pet. Sentinel is "Program AND Interceptor" together, providing HW prevention and intestinal worm prevention. You can also buy a spray IGR, called Archer, from www.fleasmart.com that can be sprayed in your house and your yard. This does NOT kill your fleas, it just leaves them sterile. This prevents flea #4087 from laying 2000 eggs in her lifetime, as well as Flea #'s 4088 through 10,987 that are still way out in the back part of your yard and flea # 20,976 who will be carried into your yard by a squirrel while you're at work... who of course will repopulate your flea infestation. Using an IGR in addition to your Frontline (or Advantage or Promeris or Vectra 3D) greatly improves your chances of winning the battle with fleas.

 

Capstar and Comfortis are both pills. Capstar is considerably cheaper but works for only 24 hours where as Comfortis works for a full month. Both work by causing the flea to "seizure" to death. Its genocide for fleas. However, it does nothing for ticks. It does nothing for flea eggs or larvae (like FL, Promeris, and Vectra 3D). You can get a box of Capstar to keep on hand and use it as needed. Given once a week to help kill off fleas can really help your flea control work even better. As your Frontline is killing Flea's #700 - 800, in one day the Capstar kills all 100 of them and it will take a while before the next group gets on your pet... start to die from the Frontline and will take longer to produce flea's #900 - 1000 because they're dying off. Repeat that Capstar in one week, and once again, you're winning that battle with fleas!

 

www.Fleasmart.com sells both Archer and Conquer. They can be mixed together too - directions on the website. This can be sprayed in your yard and your house. The owner of that website has done this for so long that she no longer even puts anything on her own hounds because its done the job. The Archer leaves them sterile, and the Conquer kills fleas and ticks. Over N Out Fire Ant Killer is Fipronil, the same as Frontline, so you can spread the granuals all over your yard for flea and tick prevention as well, and of course its safe for your hounds. My pest control guy has been using a mix of Fipronil, S-Methoprine (hmm... ingredients sound familiar? They should... that makes Frontline Plus!) and Archer to spray my yards and house since I hired him three years ago. To date, the only fleas and ticks I have seen are on new hounds coming into my house. Granted, when I first moved next door to my Gran's big house and fenced in this property, I was blinded by the fact that Gran had a bad flea problem because my house and small yard was treated regularly and didn't have one. Once I had this place fenced in, I had flea's #20,000 through 90,000 overnight. Yes, I'm talking a full fledge massive infestation. I'm talking about one yard I wouldn't put dogs into because the fleas were so horrible that you could visibly see THOUSANDS of fleas crawling all over them.... and this was with me giving them (at the time) Advantage once a month, a bath in Adams Flea and Tick shampoo once a week, and spraying them with Adams Flea and Tick mist twice a week!!!

I was bawling crying over this. What could I do??

I bit the bullet and yes, I did end up spending more than I cared to because I do have a kennel... but I bought Sentinel, Frontline Plus in bulk, and Capstar in bulk. I also called who is now my permanent pest control guy at the same time and got him out as soon as he could come out. Granted, it does help that I work for a vet and was able to charge on my account some of it. So what can average Joe do? Start ordering the Frontline Plus in the biggest size. Its 4CC's per vial. A dog 44-88lbs gets 2.7 CC's, so you can split the vials with multiple hounds. If you have smaller dogs:

Dogs up to 22lbs get .7CC's

Dogs 22-44lbs get 1.4CC's

Dogs 44-88lbs get 2.7CC's

Dogs 89-132lbs get 4CC's

 

Buying Program is cheaper than buying Sentinel, but if you're already giving your hounds Interceptor, its not. You can also find some deals at various online sites for your Capstar too.

 

They do work. I started off giving Capstar to my kennel every single day for one week. Then I gave it every other day for a week. Then I gave it twice a week for two weeks. Then I gave it once a week for a month. Now I give it as needed. This was in conjunction with giving the hounds Sentinel, Frontline Plus, and spraying the yards and house.

 

The battle with fleas can be won. It takes something that will kill adults/larvae/eggs on your pet, something that will kill them off immediately (Capstar), and something that will leave the rest who jump off your pet sterile and unable to reproduce.

 

 

in addition, I also mentioned to attack the ENVIRONMENT as well.

 

THIS CAN BE WON. I WON THIS BATTLE and YOU CAN TOO. Sentinel, Frontline Plus, and Capstar, along with treating my house and yard, all within one month, the battle was won by the next one. GONE for good, and still gone today.

 

If you're still reading this and saying "I can't afford this", what's a cheaper method????? KEEP USING YOUR FRONTLINE PLUS, and get either a box of Capstar and use it every other day for one month, or buy a box of Comfortis and use it once a month to get all those nasty critters as soon as they hatch and go for thier first blood meal... followed by going to Francie's site and getting something to use in the house AND at very least some Archer to spray around your house/yard/ area you walk your hound. STERILIZE THOSE THINGS so they can't reproduce into thousands more!!! PROGRAM!!! SENTINEL!!! Even if its just for six months of the year. By the way, right now if you buy 6 mo of Sentinel, you get a rebate of $10 back from Novartis!!!

[Guest luckydog]

Very nice packaging of all the pertinent information. Thank you!