Do You Use Flea Meds Year Round?

[Guest Koalalou2]

We're trying to cut back on expenses (as I'm sure everyone is!). Is it a good idea to continue flea preventative in the winter months or is it superfluous? I certainly don't want my girls to get fleas, but its so expensive that I'm wondering if we can not do the meds for the three coldest months of winter.

Edited October 20, 2008 by Koalalou2

[Guest longdogs]

If your pets and house are free of fleas and your pets aren't picking them up from the surroundings, it is unnecessary to keep treating them. Our pets aren't treated monthly but if any of them catches a flea we come down hard to nip any outbreak in the bud. Usually that means an immediate Capstar pill and treatment with a topical or spray for a month if there is a possibility of re-infection. Apart from the occasional 'traveller' that has needed action, we've kept them all flea-free for years.

[Batmom]

In Atlanta, GA area, I kept them on year round but used only every 45 days over the very short winter.

 

Here in northern IL, unless I see a creature, I usually dose November and then restart in March.

[Guest D_MansMommy]

I use to apply Frontline during the spring/summer on the pups and kitties. I stopped for several reasons. 1) my kitties are strickly indoors 2) we have no flea problems 3) I have a problem with putting drugs on my babies that are not needed. The pups are on heartguard monthly.

[Guest heidihvt]

This is the question of all questions and I understand the money concern....

Here in Ohio we recommend year 'round preventative too. For those clients looking to cut back we recommend a minimum from April through Christmas, taking a few months off. Not exactly sure what your weather is like down there in SC, so I can't speak as to whether flea prev is a must. And as someone else stated, you can always lengthen the time between applications. The efficacy lessens as time goes on but it definitely has a longer lasting effect than stated (depending on bathing, swimming, etc.)

 

Personally we have 2 strictly indoor cats and 2 smaller mostly indoor dogs (litter box trained) but I still keep preventative on them year 'round. In addition, if you humidify your home (more than likely not since you're in the south) you definitely want to use preventative. Fleas love humidity.

 

Something that's been coming about more and more is tick borne diseases etc. So that's why there's a lot of push to keep pets on year 'round flea/tick preventative. Once again, even here in Ohio we're seeing some disease pop up here and there which can be quite scary given that some of these are zoonotic (passed to humans).

 

My 2 cents

 

 

[Guest KateWantsaGrey]

when i was living in charleston sc, year round was a MUST.

[Patclara]

Here in Southern California, fleas are active all year round.

Anna gets Advantage, in a lower dose than recommended.

It is quite effective.

 

[seeh2o]

I use Frontline once every 3 months. It is good for flea protection for up to 3 months, there are not a lot of ticks in my area (I've never seen one in the 20+ years I've lived here), so I only use it for flea protection. I was using Frontline Plus, but Carl gets a creepy reaction to it, head bobbing, once or twice for a minute or less within the first two weeks I use it on him so I'm switching to the Frontline TopSpot, it doesn't have all the other stuff in it.

 

Here in Southern California, fleas are active all year round.

Anna gets Advantage, in a lower dose than recommended.

It is quite effective.

 

I just saw your post, very interesting! What dosage do you use?

[Trudy]

Last dosed for flea/ticks and heartworm when we left NY.

Not needed here in Kodiak

[Patclara]

QUOTE(Patclara @ Oct 19 2008, 07:33 PM) *

Here in Southern California, fleas are active all year round.

Anna gets Advantage, in a lower dose than recommended.

It is quite effective.

 

 

I just saw your post, very interesting! What dosage do you use?

 

If I remember correctly, I am using the 55 lb. and under.

Anna is about 65 lbs.

I try to use the least amount of chemicals possible that will do the job.

I have not seen a tick down here, so I don't use any meds that include tick poison.

I talked to our Vet first, and she said that it was rare in our area.

 

[Guest Greensleeves]

We *do* have a tick problem here (in our household/yard; Kansas City area), but so far we've really dodged the bullet when it comes to fleas. Until a year ago, we'd had 11 dogs for six+ years, and our current count is 9, and so a small flea problem could rapidly get out of control here. I've seen fleas here twice, and I immediately hit it hard--Frontline on all the guys, vacuuming with a flea collar in the vacuum bag (twice), and hot water wash and hot dry for all bedding, towels, slipcovers, etc. We also routinely treat our back yard with a wash of Ivory soap in a fertilizer spreader on the hose.

 

I know there are fleas out there, b/c they're on the rabbits and birds in the neighborhood (we took a HBC rabbit to be euthanized, and it was covered with fleas)... but we've been lucky so far. Even with the ticks, we only treat with Frontline as needed.

 

Frankly, with just three dogs, I probably would do monthly, but I realize everyone's means are different. With eleven, yes, the expense is a consideration. Our vet sells us the larger size of Frontline and I divide it, because apparently it is a little cheaper that way.

[Guest SoulsMom]

Here in MA I haven't had to use flea prevention at all (knock on wood). Back in Oklahoma with other dogs I only needed it in the summer months. (April to November)

[Aerosmom]

I use Frontline Plus almost year-round,; if the winter is especially harsh then I might skip Jan/Feb. We have a lot of ticks in the area, and I've seen live ticks in Jan, despite the cold temperatures. To me, the cost of the Frontline is a lot less expensive than the health problems/medical bills that can occur down the road from TBDs. If you are trying to trim expenses, it's a LOT less expensive to get Frontline from Australian sources. The price of Frontline in the states has skyrocketed.

[dmswartzfager]

I use it for the tick preventative side - I've picked ticks off of dogs in January and February here in Maryland, and I KNOW at least one of them came from our yard (surrounded by a 6' privacy fence, so not too many critters passing through). In the past, I have stretched it to 45 days or so, but I'm not sure I'll do that again this year.

[Guest Dillymom]

I'm in central Fl and I dose year round with Advantage Multi. We have a nature preserve on 2 sides of the neighborhood so I have to be vigilant about dosing all year long. I did find ticks on Lola when she was on Frontine but haven't seen a single one on her since we started with the Advantage

 

[Guest ArtysPeople]

Last dosed for flea/ticks and heartworm when we left NY.

Not needed here in Kodiak

 

That's really interesting -- is it because of the climate, or because it's an island, or what? I don't think I've ever heard of a place that didn't have fleas and ticks. :

[Guest ShelbyzMom]

Living in FL, it's all year for Shelby.

[Guest FordRacingRon]

I use Frontline once every 3 months. It is good for flea protection for up to 3 months, there are not a lot of ticks in my area (I've never seen one in the 20+ years I've lived here), so I only use it for flea protection. I was using Frontline Plus, but Carl gets a creepy reaction to it, head bobbing, once or twice for a minute or less within the first two weeks I use it on him so I'm switching to the Frontline TopSpot, it doesn't have all the other stuff in it.

 

Here in Southern California, fleas are active all year round.

Anna gets Advantage, in a lower dose than recommended.

It is quite effective.

 

I just saw your post, very interesting! What dosage do you use?

 

I just wanna say, I live in East LA county , near the OC border. Last year was the worst for ticks. We have had Leia coming up on 3 years so she has been through 3 summers and last summer it was bad (2007). Not sure where she got them (only choices are the local park, my backyard or our greysitter's house) and we where taking them off. I may add she has been on Frontline Plus since she has lived here adn would have been used at that time.

 

I did stop last Nov, Dec and Jan. This year I won't. Just last week for the first time she showed up with a couple of fleas. This time the only choices are my house or the local park. Rather then waiting for the Frontline to kick in, I dosed her with Adams mist and that seemed to have done the trick. Although here were none yesterday and only 1 the day before (as far as I can tell) today I found 2. So the Frontline seems to be letting me down. I ordered some Capstar pills to have on hand too. And I did clean all the places she hangs out and washed her bedding.

 

So bottom line to original poster,,,I am spending even more now then I was 2-3-years ago,,,more bugs I guess.

[Guest KsFrets]

Once I noticed that the difference between Frontline plus small, med, and large dogs, was the amount of stuff in the same sized plastic applicator... I buy it for the largest size dog, and use a half dose on each dog. Cut our costs in half, and worked great against the fleas and ticks that were everywhere this summer.

[Guest Gert]

Rather then waiting for the Frontline to kick in, I dosed her with Adams mist and that seemed to have done the trick. Although here were none yesterday and only 1 the day before (as far as I can tell) today I found 2. So the Frontline seems to be letting me down. I ordered some Capstar pills to have on hand too. And I did clean all the places she hangs out and washed her bedding.

 

I've got Frontline on my girl and I've been getting fleas off of her everyday! It seems to be letting me down, too! I was considering switching to Advantage.....however, I also pulled a tick off of her today!!

 

I'm in Florida, so, fleas/ticks are pretty much a year-round problem here. I think she's bringing them in from the yard. So, I'm trying the natural approach to controlling the fleas outside.....nematodes!! Just sprayed them out on Monday.......so, hopefully I'll see an improvement in the next week or so!

 

Not to hijack....but, how often can you use the Adams spray if you're using Frontline??

[SAVED2]

Advantage 8 mo. a year.

[Guest sheila]

in the 25 yrs of having pets in my home I have only had a problem with fleas twice. I treated them as single incidents with flea baths/bombs/Frontline and the issue was cured.

The only time I have used a preventative is when I have traveled to a dog event such as Dewey, GIG, or Race The Wind where I know my dogs will be rubbing shoulders with a lot of other dogs.

[Guest act2redux]

I think it may depend on the typical weather conditions where you live. Here, if we are lucky we get a good freeze and they are pretty much out of commision till spring. I personally wouldn't want to wait till I saw them to treat. I have lived with the expense and hassle of having the house sprayed and having to wash EVERYTHING in as hot a water as it could stand or bag up for a month or more to kill the little beggars...never again! I usually use frontline from about march-april to about nov. depending on the temps.

good luck!

[Guest FordRacingRon]

Rather then waiting for the Frontline to kick in, I dosed her with Adams mist and that seemed to have done the trick. Although here were none yesterday and only 1 the day before (as far as I can tell) today I found 2. So the Frontline seems to be letting me down. I ordered some Capstar pills to have on hand too. And I did clean all the places she hangs out and washed her bedding.

 

I've got Frontline on my girl and I've been getting fleas off of her everyday! It seems to be letting me down, too! I was considering switching to Advantage.....however, I also pulled a tick off of her today!!

 

I'm in Florida, so, fleas/ticks are pretty much a year-round problem here. I think she's bringing them in from the yard. So, I'm trying the natural approach to controlling the fleas outside.....nematodes!! Just sprayed them out on Monday.......so, hopefully I'll see an improvement in the next week or so!

 

Not to hijack....but, how often can you use the Adams spray if you're using Frontline??

 

Honestly I have no idea. I got the Adams idea two years ago when we had the tick trouble and it was suggested on this forum to use it on her feet,,where the ticks all were. The bottle says not to use it more then once every 5 days, and yesterday and today were clean days again.

[RobinM]

We do not use any flea preventative.

 

We do however use Frontline plus when we go to our PA house during the susecptable months.