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To Flea-Med Or Not To Flea Med?


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I've normally used flea and tick prevention during the summer and fall. It's worked out fine. I used Advantage or something like that for years, but last year I switched to the chewable (can't remember the brand). Now.... I'm thinking of waiting and maybe not using it. With Diana's kidney issues I really don't like the idea of adding anything into her system that I don't have to. I need to research it and talk to the vet.

 

I dunno. I'm thinking "wait and see". Some years fleas are a big issue in the area, some years they're not. It's June and I haven't heard anybody talking about fleas yet, so it might be a light year after our super-cold winter.

Your thoughts?

 

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I haven't used flea or tick meds on a preventative basis for 10+ years, but only because I really don't have flea/tick problems where I live. I've never seen a tick hiking and my dogs have only had fleas once. I did 2 rounds of treatment with the meds and I haven't seen them again. Since I rarely have problems I am not just going to stick chemicals on my dog for the sake of a preventative. I only use them if I need them. I know this is not possible in many places though because the tick and flea populations are just too high.

 

If you are worried about kidneys though, the topical treatments don't get into the system as was mentioned above. They might be a better option.

Edited by RedHead
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I think whether or not to routinely use flea/tick meds depends on your location, lifestyle, and risk of exposure. Various risk factors would make it more prudent to continue using flea/tick products on a regular basis, such as living in an apartment, walking your dog often in areas frequented by other dogs, having neighbors with outside dogs, or having stray/feral cats or wildlife that come into your yard. I don't use flea/tick control on my dogs on a routine basis as they're mostly just on my property and occasionally come to work with me. I do treat them if we're going to be traveling and staying at hotels.

Jennifer &

Willow (Wilma Waggle), Wiki (Wiki Hard Ten), Carter (Let's Get It On),

Ollie (whippet), Gracie (whippet x), & Terra (whippet) + Just Saying + Just Alice

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I am definitely in the minority here on this issue but topicals are absorbed through the skin into the body. That is how they work. I don't use them at all after having a really bad experience with them years ago. I would be afraid to use them on a dog that I knew to have kidney issues. I'm sorry about your dog's kidney issues. I lost one to CRF in 2012. I hope you find something that works.

Cynthia, & Cristiano, galgo
Always in my heart: Frostman
Newdawn Frost, Keno Jet Action & Chloe (NGA racing name unknown), Irys (galgo), Hannah (weim), Cruz (galgo), & Carly CW Your Charming

Princess http://www.greyhound-data.com/d?i=1018857

"It came to me that every time I lose a dog they take a piece of my heart with them. And every new dog who comes into my life, gifts me with a piece of their heart. If I live long enough, all the components of my heart will be dog, and I will become as generous and loving as they are." -- Unknown

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While you're researching & deciding, consider using Adams Flea & Tick spray ... a vet at one of the greyhound events (I think its a vet from Wheeling) uses ONLY that product on his hounds, and he considers it safe enough to use it on himself while he's walking as well.

 

Good luck.

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Guest chickenpotpie

I use advantix II because we have ticks where we live. Pulled a big on off Lucky (it was dead) I can't use collars on her, because of me, not her! Advantix goes away pretty quickly, but i can't touch her in the spots if its wet, I will get uber nasty hives.

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  • 1 month later...

I am confused as to what to use on my guys. I do live next to a state park that is hundreds of acres, deer, bear, possum, rabbits, snakes, skunks, groumdhogs, and what ever else that lives in near the Howard County, Maryland area. They have their own fenced in yard, with a high rabbit fence to help keep critters out and my greys in. I have tried k9 advantage, at half dose, but they seem to get lethargic after applying it. So I stopped using it, after about three times. Then I got frontline, no better. I even cut the dosage down to 25% of the suggested amount. So, anyone have a suggestion of something that works for them, with out the side effects?

 

I have asked my regular vet and he can only say what he prefers. I asked the neurologist and he said he was not up on that for a while, and that I should check with my vet? So, I want to check with other folks who are friends of greyhounds instead.

Edited by SanTanSnuggles
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SanTanSnuggles, there is really no reason you need to do anything different with a Greyhound than any other dog with regard to the flea/tick treatments. That's not one of the "issues" with Greyhounds.

 

I used K9 Advantix on my George, no problem, but I stopped because of the potential issue with my cat, who loved to snuggle with him. I used Frontline Plus for years. Never an issue. I've used Soresto collar on Buck--no issue with him, but he did come home from being baby sat with FLEAS! Only a few, but still....


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Susan,  Hamish,  Mister Bigglesworth and Nikita Stanislav. Missing Ming, George, and Buck

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I think whether or not to routinely use flea/tick meds depends on your location, lifestyle, and risk of exposure. Various risk factors would make it more prudent to continue using flea/tick products on a regular basis, such as living in an apartment, walking your dog often in areas frequented by other dogs, having neighbors with outside dogs, or having stray/feral cats or wildlife that come into your yard. I don't use flea/tick control on my dogs on a routine basis as they're mostly just on my property and occasionally come to work with me. I do treat them if we're going to be traveling and staying at hotels.

Interesting, thanks for sharing. Maybe I should switch to just Trifexis, we've been doubling up with Frontline for Tick protection, but given that they mostly walk around are neighborhood and don't interact with other dogs (because of Leo's fears), maybe I should stop or just use a collar when taking them higher risk places.

 

Eta: Sorry if you've answered this before, but what protection do you use when taking them other places? Would a collar work for ticks for just a few hours?

Edited by PatricksMom

Beth, Petey (8 September 2018- ), and Faith (22 March 2019). Godspeed Patrick (28 April 1999 - 5 August 2012), Murphy (23 June 2004 - 27 July 2013), Leo (1 May 2009 - 27 January 2020), and Henry (10 August 2010 - 7 August 2020), you were loved more than you can know.

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SanTanSnuggles, there is really no reason you need to do anything different with a Greyhound than any other dog with regard to the flea/tick treatments. That's not one of the "issues" with Greyhounds.

 

I used K9 Advantix on my George, no problem, but I stopped because of the potential issue with my cat, who loved to snuggle with him. I used Frontline Plus for years. Never an issue. I've used Soresto collar on Buck--no issue with him, but he did come home from being baby sat with FLEAS! Only a few, but still....

So do you think the Soresto did not work since he came home with fleas? I'm also confused what to use....

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This is something I would research for myself, but also be prepared to take my vet's advice on. In fact it came up at Ken's first healthcheck - I had planned to continue using Effipro (a fibropronil treatment) which I had got in for Doc, and would use on an 'at need' basis. However, when I adopted Ken the greyhound rescue had asked me to use Advocate instead, because of the growing risk here from lungworm. The vet confirmed that it is indeed a growing problem, so we switched.

 

Ken is a healthy young dog, but our vet is lovely and would I know would have been prepared to talk through and/or research further any concerns I might have raised if he had been Diana and I was worrying about potential side-effects, etc. All vets should be like this IMHO :).

Clare with Tiger (Snapper Gar, b. 18/05/2015), and remembering Ken (Boomtown Ken, 01/05/2011-21/02/2020) and Doc (Barefoot Doctor, 20/08/2001-15/04/2015).

"It is also to be noted of every species, that the handsomest of each move best ... and beasts of the most elegant form, always excel in speed; of this, the horse and greyhound are beautiful examples."----Wiliam Hogarth, The Analysis of Beauty, 1753.

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Thank goodness we really don't have ticks in this area of old established East Dallas - even my vet agrees.. Go further north or South and and it's a different story. I use AdvantageII but don't treat every month. If I see flea evidence (may once or twice a year) I dose everyone, wash all the bedding in hot water and spray Adams on everything else. A lot of people use Advantix as a monthly as Frontline doesn't work as well as it used to (maybe ticks have formed a resistance) but there are old schoolers that don't like using permethrin on greys.

When we used to go to Abilene I always bought a tube of Frontline (the vet on the corner sells single tunes) for the one or two hounds going. Oklahoma is tick central. I've seen dogs on OK farms with so many big green ticks between their toes no two toes touched. We usually made one pit stop at various Truck stop/travel plazas en route to Abilene and they could pick up half a dozen ticks in a potty break

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Eta: Sorry if you've answered this before, but what protection do you use when taking them other places? Would a collar work for ticks for just a few hours?

 

I usually use one of the oral products and give it a few days prior to planned travel. If they're due for their HW preventative, I'll sometimes use Trifexis. If not, I'll give either Comfortis or NexGard. Even if ticks might be an issue where I'm going, I'm pretty comfortable using Trifexis/Comfortis because it seems to work pretty well against ticks in the first week or two after administration, even though it's not labeled for ticks. I've definitely found dead ticks on my guys within that time frame, and the studies show pretty good efficacy in those first couple weeks. It's just that the tick protection doesn't last all month, so the company couldn't put it on the label.

 

Tick collars work by a similar mechanism as the topicals. The active ingredients in the collar diffuse out into the skin oils and take time to reach full efficacy. Depending on which brand, most collars have to be on for at least 48 hours before you get full protection.

Jennifer &

Willow (Wilma Waggle), Wiki (Wiki Hard Ten), Carter (Let's Get It On),

Ollie (whippet), Gracie (whippet x), & Terra (whippet) + Just Saying + Just Alice

gtsig3.jpg

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To be completely honest I've had greys for over 16 years now. And I have only Frontlined my hounds twice over the years. And none of my hounds have ever had flea's or ticks on them.

Sarah, mom to Stella and Winston . And to Prince, Katie Z, Malone, Brooke, Freddie, Angel and Fast who are all waiting at the Bridge!

www.gpawisconsin.org

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  • 1 month later...

Well.... I have had pets all of my life and this is the first time I've ever had a flea problem. In the past we've used flea collars with great success but also lived in a very rural area. We now live in a suburban neighborhood with some wildlife (birds, occasional skunks, raccoons), a number of dogs in the neighborhood, and some lawn/backyard. We have been using Frontline (fipronil) which I've heard is losing it's effectiveness against fleas. That seems to be the case because Bella spent a week with 3 other dogs at my dad's house and they didn't get fleas - they're on Nexguard.

 

Going forward, I'm definitely going to be using a flea med. I now definitely want to prevent versus clean up.

 

Thought I'd weigh in :)

Dave (GLS DeviousDavid) - 6/27/18
Gracie (AMF Saying Grace) - 10/21/12
Bella (KT Britta) - 4/29/05 to 2/13/20

 

 

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When my first Grey, Piper, began to have seizures I tried to minimize use of pesticides around him. I experimented with not using flea/tick topical or oral meds at all and, fortunately, none of my Greys ever had fleas and I have found only 3-4 ticks over the last 14 or so years and they were easily seen and removed. So, I have not been using any flea or tick product to treat MoMo or Spirit regularly.

 

When I was taking them to Sandy Paws, I did treat everyone, Piper included, with Frontline Plus. They never came home with unwelcome passengers of any kind and Piper never had an issue with the Frontline Plus.

gallery_2398_3082_9958.jpg
Lucy with Greyhound Nate and OSH Tinker. With loving memories of MoMo (FTH Chyna Moon), Spirit, Miles the slinky kitty (OSH), Piper "The Perfect" (Oneco Chaplin), Winston, Yoda, Hector, and Claire.

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Well.... I have had pets all of my life and this is the first time I've ever had a flea problem. In the past we've used flea collars with great success but also lived in a very rural area. We now live in a suburban neighborhood with some wildlife (birds, occasional skunks, raccoons), a number of dogs in the neighborhood, and some lawn/backyard. We have been using Frontline (fipronil) which I've heard is losing it's effectiveness against fleas. That seems to be the case because Bella spent a week with 3 other dogs at my dad's house and they didn't get fleas - they're on Nexguard.

 

Going forward, I'm definitely going to be using a flea med. I now definitely want to prevent versus clean up.

 

Thought I'd weigh in :)

are you using frontline or frontline plus. i had pretty good success w/ frontline plus, i live 40 min. south of you and go for walks in the woods all the time a nd we have all of the same critters roaming the streets of yonkers. we did have a problem upon leaving texas this summer. big fat juicy fleas- it took 48 hrs but the frontline plus did the trick. i patiently waited, picked for fleas and shook out the bedding daily(we were driving north from san antonio). knock on wood- it worked.

 

i am considering a seresto collar for next spring. i'll be watching for specials, but as of now i need to finish up the frontline plus. heavy duty tick time is approaching, they will be looking for warm bodies once the cooler weather sets in.

Edited by cleptogrey
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i also combed the dogs thoroughly w/ the mighty flea comb and had a blast killing those fleas. they had to be drugged since it was no effort on my part. but i'm a nit picker and those buggers don't have a chance w/ me on the prowl! i think i'm the only person on GT who has had success w/ frontline plus this year....mmmmm....can it be the constant vacuuming?

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I'm the OP, and I know this is an old post, but I thought I'd chime in. Actually, I'm glad the post got some good discussion and information flowing!

 

Although I've always been a big believer in flea-control meds (Frontline, the new chewable, etc) - I decided not to give any to Diana this summer, due to her compromised kidneys. I talked to the vet, and it was a gain vs risk scenario to him. He was OK either way, any couldn't quantify the damage meds could do or the damage fleas or ticks could do in DIana's condition. Anything put into the body without working kidneys can be a risk. But - fleas and ticks are a risk. I decided to go no meds - watch closely - and deal with it if I have to. Luckily - no fleas or ticks. She hasn't been out and about much, so that probably reduced her risk.

 

I'm glad this time I went "no drugs". But - if she'd had a bad flea infestation - I would've regretted that decision. Ya roll the dice - ya take your chance. With a healthy dog - I don't take the chance.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I'm happy to report that a mix of Capstar (3 doses, 1 about every 6 days), 2 baths with Zodiac Oatmeal Conditioning Shampoo (kills fleas and ticks and left her coat really soft and shiny and smelling good), washing all bedding in hot water, using Zodiac powder on carpets and upholstery and finally Bravecto chewable oral med/preventative, I think our flea issue is gone. Will definitely be more vigilant in the future.

 

Bella tolerated the Bravecto very well. I did split it into 2 doses and gave each with her meals.

Dave (GLS DeviousDavid) - 6/27/18
Gracie (AMF Saying Grace) - 10/21/12
Bella (KT Britta) - 4/29/05 to 2/13/20

 

 

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