# Fleas before winter... help!



## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Okay i've battled fleas before. This is the first time i've had to deal with them as it was cooling off. The house is clean. The exterminator is scheduled to come BACK OUT thursday and finish spraying the yard and the house. Shasta got flea combed, bathed, let soak, and flea combed while still soaking for better chance at getting the little annoyances and then rinsed and flea combed again. Over kill, possibly. Unfortunately getting Riley or Shelby in the tub isnt an easy task even leashing them in there and i'm looking for a decently priced do it yourself dog wash out in town. Shasta was difficult enough to handle in the tub because of my back. I'm looking into getting Neem Oil but i have to be able to find it out here. Getting some capstar from the vet later this afternoon to help me out some but i'm seriously POed about this. Our friend brought her dog over last week who is bathed regularly but i'm seriously convinced she's the one who brought the fleas in. I had FINALLY gotten them gone the first time and now they're back. Freaking hate this crap. The floors that can be mopped are being bleach mopped again, everything else is getting sprayed down. I'm so frustrated!!! Does anyone know of a quick very effective cheap way to kill these little b*****ds? I'm at my wits end. On top of the food allergies Riley has he's also allergic to fleas so now he looks like a patchwork quilt! They've been on advantix and frontline and those didnt work. Shelby had a bad reaction to the frontline and Riley had a reaction to the advantix. generally they're inside dogs so unless someone comes over with their dog who has fleas, we've not had an issue. I dont need anyone bashing me for not doing a good enough job so please if you have nothing nice to say keep it to yourself. Riley is proving to have allergies to most everything out here and he's never been good with chemicals anyway. Shelby is in perfect health except for her issues with frontline and now the fleas though thankfully she isnt allergic to the bites like Riley is. She just scratches. Riley tears himself to pieces. Shasta is also not allergic but all the scratching is annoying and i'm sure the cats are NOT going to be happy if i have to bath them too. Neem oil. I'm thinking about going back to sprinkling cinnamon in their food as it helped last time. Also brewer's yeast again. thats all i can think to do right now.


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## Minnieski (Jan 27, 2009)

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that. We use comfortis and haven't had trouble with fleas. When we moved to TX I was really worried about it because a lot of people told me that Frontline doesn't work down there - the fleas are rather immune to it. You might want to give it a shot - just make sure you give it to them with food because mine throw up if you give it to them on an empty stomach.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

comfortis?! roughly how much does that run? I'm not sure if i can get that out here but i'll ask when i go to the vet this afternoon.


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## Minnieski (Jan 27, 2009)

It's not cheap, but I don't think it costs any more than frontline. I buy all of my dog meds from petcarerx.com because they tend to have pretty good prices, but it takes a few days for shipping, so you might want to buy an initial dose at the vet's office and see if it works.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

well my vet was out of it when i went and got the capstar this afternoon. and all the other vets want to see the animal first. Sorry but i'm not paying a $40+ office fee just to get a flea medication i should be able to get anyway. Good news though!!!! The other dogs clear just fine on a thorough flea combing and the cats are clear. So my guess is in all of Shasta's hole digging she got some all to herself. The rest of the house is clear. The animals arent allowed in the kids rooms or upstairs really so its just downstairs. I blame the hubby for this one as he continually leaves the dogs outside when we're not supposed to leave them out unsupervised. I'm glad its not as bad as i originally thought. Exterminator is still coming out though to make sure. I'll keep checking back with my vet about the comfortis though. hopefully that will work out best for next summer.


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## jakeandrenee (Apr 30, 2010)

you can also order it on line....


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

jakeandrenee said:


> you can also order it on line....


 
yeah i'm looking into that. i know 1800petmeds has it but i havent been able to check price yet. any other pet meds websites i can check out?


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## jakeandrenee (Apr 30, 2010)

vetmedsforpets is good, great prices


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

jakeandrenee said:


> vetmedsforpets is good, great prices


 
fabulous! thank you!


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

jakeandrenee said:


> vetmedsforpets is good, great prices


 
oh yeah! definitely cheaper. placing an order in the morning!!! thanks again!!


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## jakeandrenee (Apr 30, 2010)

Sure....they are in Australia so shipping takes a full week or so but well worth it!


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

jakeandrenee said:


> Sure....they are in Australia so shipping takes a full week or so but well worth it!


 
if i can get a 6 pack of capstar for $16 whereas my vet charges $10 for one capsule and $50 for the 6 pack i'm all for it!!! i can wait the week easy!!!


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## jakeandrenee (Apr 30, 2010)

Capstar should be available at a local feed store...but the comfortis you can get online....just remember no tick protection....


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

jakeandrenee said:


> Capstar should be available at a local feed store...but the comfortis you can get online....just remember no tick protection....


 
its weird but we actually dont have ticks here. We had more ticks back home than i've seen out here. I know a on the other side of our housing area they have them simply because they're all right next to the woods and whatnot. if we go hiking i usually have something that repels fleas, ticks and those freaking mosquitoes. But its tough hiking with two small kids.... I'll check tractor supply for the capstar when i go get some more dog food. Thanks! i didnt know they might have it!


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

petedge is awesome, we ordered from them several weeks back and were very happy.

We use and love biospot, don't care what people say about it. There are others on this board that use and love it. I've used it for years on my own dogs and many fosters who came to me with fleas and have not had any flea problems. I paid $20 per 6 pack this past yr when I ordered it online from entirelypets.com 

I use it on mine, all our fosters, and my mothers two GSD's. My personal opinion and experience is that frontline and advantage (I've never used advantix) are worthless. Both times I was using them in years past my dogs got fleas.

The feed throughs are very overpriced but sound like they work ok. Remember that capstar is only good for the fleas that are on them, so if you give them capstar and there are fleas still in the house it won't do any good.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

Rerun said:


> petedge is awesome, we ordered from them several weeks back and were very happy.
> 
> We use and love biospot, don't care what people say about it. There are others on this board that use and love it. I've used it for years on my own dogs and many fosters who came to me with fleas and have not had any flea problems. I paid $20 per 6 pack this past yr when I ordered it online from entirelypets.com
> 
> ...


 
killing the fleas in the house is the easy part. getting them off the dogs is the PITA part of it. Thats the only reason i like capstar is because it helps get them off the dogs to begin with. And i horribly get a kick out of watching the dogs spazz and get all twitchy because they can feel the fleas trying to get away before they die. lol. I like biospot as well though. it did very well on the yard as far as yard sprays go and is cheaper than an exterminator by far. I havent tried the contact products from biospot though. may give it a shot.


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## Shadow's mum (Mar 13, 2010)

We use advocate for Shadow, never had any signs of fleas. We buy on line.

I've also heard fleas can live in the dirt under and around your house for up to 7 years. Heard this along time ago-not sure how true it is.


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