What dog flea treatment?

Our little rescue seems to picked up fleas.

What flea treatment would people recommend?

I need something that works but I’m a bit concerned that some can be pretty toxic to the dog and not just the fleas.

Our dog takes Simparica tablets. They also protect against ticks and intestinal worms (also heartworms I think).

Once a month, it’s a palatable tablet that he crunches up and swallows with no fuss.

Interestingly we noticed fleas on him at the weekend as he’d been playing with other dogs and some of them had ‘jumped ship’, but he never started scratching and within a day they’d all gone. I don’t know how the Simparica works but a treated dog is obviously not an attractive environment for them to continue their lifecycle.

IANAV

TBH what ever the vet prescribes, as TBH I’d hope you’d have them on a flea/worming plan, and I’ve not found over the counter stuff to be any cop. Then some Indorex spray for the house

Bravecto for my dogs.

Changed to Bravecto when we lived in Scotland due to the high number of ticks that attached themselves to my dogs. Never found a live tick on any of my dogs since. Same for fleas.

None of my dogs have ever had an adverse affect from Bravecto

I’ve had success with fiprinol based spot-on treatments in the past but the most recent bout my lab had were persistent, partly due to some mates he was knocking about with re-introducing them on a regular basis so I caved and got a vet prescribed treatment. Bravecto I think? 50ish quid for three months single tablet that went in without too much trouble. I keep an eye on him and signs of re-infection have yet to appear and we’re at the 4/5 month point now. I’ll treat as and when required.

I worm him as required but don’t see good reason to keep treating for fleas that aren’t there.

Once they’ve got the fleas:  Bravecto.  From the vet.

It’s too late now for other (lesser) options.  They might be OK for ongoing prevention but ymmv.

Thanks all.

Google Bravecto – I wouldn’t give it my dog.

6 years with our Karelian Bear Dog, in winter months I don’t use any flea or tick treatment. In summer I avoid areas with known deer. If going areas with deer then I use Cooper and Gracie flea & tick spray, he picked a few ticks up but that was after lots of scrub bashing tracking deer.

Google Bravecto – I wouldn’t give it my dog.

I just have and I don’t see anything bad? Do you have links?

Google Bravecto – I wouldn’t give it my dog.

This is going back circa 5 nearly 6 years, we were new to being dog guardians and had 100% blind faith in our (1st vets). We tried spot on but it damaged our dogs fur at the application point, asked the vets advice they recommended Bravecto. I paid for it but then noticed Bravecto branded advertising in the vets which raised my suspicions. Came home googled it and threw the Bravecto in the bin. Changed vets shortly after. Haven’t used any flea treatment since.

I’m going to summerise but it makes the dog toxic enough that fleas and ticks cannot survive on the dog. There was enough information out there (at the time) for me to not give it my dog. Vets are commercial enterprise’s who balance profit against what’s actually right for animal care, some lean more than others.

I don’t regularly wash our dog (probably once a year), his fur has lots of oil. He gets brushed a lot, he’s never had fleas and has been to doggo day care plenty of times.

Some of the peer reviewed literature is collected here:  https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/bravecto

Currently Oscar is on Milbemax works very well.

Jake was on Bravecto as he was at a different vent until his later months, absolutely no issues. It tarred with scare stories from a few that may have had issues of millions of dogs that have been prescribed it.

We maintain flea free status with Billy No Mates. Wouldn’t imagine it would cure the infestation you currently have.

We don’t routinely worm or vaccinate but we do work count every 12 weeks and titre test every 12 months. We’ll give the harsh chemicals if there is a justification, but we won’t do it routinely.

Some of the peer reviewed literature is collected here

I don’t doubt that Bravecto works whilst the dog is alive.

The question to ask when giving your dog/cat something is would you use it on yourself.  Do you take regular worming tablets just in case you have worms or would you only treat IF you had worms,  if you had fleas would you put something toxic onto/into your body or would you do a cycle of washing with gentler shampoos until the flea cycle is over.

Just sayin;

Imidacloprid and fipronil are powerful killers of invertebrates such as insects. One monthly flea treatment for a large dog contains enough imidacloprid to kill 25 million bees. In aquatic ecosystems, insect larvae are particularly at risk, such as those of mayfly and dragonfly. These species, among others, are important food for fish, birds, and bats, potentially causing knock-on effects on the wider ecosystem.

By weight, imidacloprid is one of the best-selling veterinary parasiticides in the UK. Immediately before the ban on crop use, a combined total of over 4000 kg was used for agriculture and sold for veterinary use in a single year in the UK. After the chemical was fully banned for all outdoor use in 2018 this dropped markedly, but over 2500 kg was still being sold in the following year, all of which was destined for the domestic pet market as a parasiticide.

All I know is my dog just looks at the tablets and says, “**** you, thats not a treat”!

Wrap it in ham, stuff it in cheese, whatever she just spits it out. We have to break it up it tiny bits and give it her in the strongest tasting stuff she’ll actually eat.

Shes quite happy eating all sorts of other shit she picks out of bins, but fea tablets, NOPE!

One monthly flea treatment for a large dog contains enough imidacloprid to kill 25 million bees. In aquatic ecosystems, insect larvae are particularly at risk, such as those of mayfly and dragonfly.

But is it going to get into the ecosystem from my dog’s neck, assuming I don’t put it on him and send him straight into the garden?

That’s a genuine question, because I don’t know how bad it actually is?

We use Frontline because that’s what we’ve always done. We’re very bad at actually using it though so often goes for 6 months+ without although in the summer we try and remember as it’s supposed to work for ticks too.

He’s never had fleas but does get the occasional tick which we pull off, I have no idea how many ticks he gets that we don’t find and the treatment actually kills though?

The question to ask when giving your dog/cat something is would you use it on yourself.  Do you take regular worming tablets just in case you have worms or would you only treat IF you had worms

I don’t go licking other dogs arseholes or play in areas where I’d easily get fleas, I also where clothes so my risks of ticks is greatly reduced. I do however have a vaccine as prevention is better than cure.

I know nothing about dogs. In the cat world, the only thing which I found effective was Advantage / Avocet.

We use Frontline because that’s what we’ve always done

Frontline (again, in cats) used to be the best but it doesn’t work anymore.

One monthly flea treatment for a large dog contains enough imidacloprid to kill 25 million bees.

Do you get many bees on your dog?

There’s significant evidence of the chemicals used to treat domestic animals like Frontline is contaminating our water, never mind the damage that they can do to your pets – far worse than any effect from fleas or ticks. Our dogs get wormed, Billy No Mates in their food but nothing else. A run through with a comb after a walk to get the ticks – we have deer come into our garden and they roam everywhere where we walk. Fleas get combed out and then a spray to treat any soft furnishings where the eggs are laid.

Bees landing on your dog isn’t necessarily the problem.

These chemicals have been banned for agricultural use on crops as evidence shows they impact bees and other pollinating insects important for our food supply.

 

However, they are still widely sold as pet parasiticides as it was thought they were not able to reach the environment in large enough doses. New measurements of invertebrates and of river water in the UK instead show they are present in urban environments, and often in concentrations that are known to harm aquatic life in lab experiments, which could cause knock-on effects on the wider ecosystem

Dr Andrew Prentis, Visiting Fellow in the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London and a member of Vet Sustain, said: “So far, our use of parasiticides for pets has focused primarily on the animal and human health benefits, but even these are not well evidenced. Chemicals that have been banned in one sector are used indiscriminately in another with seemingly little consideration of the possible risks”

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/243875/toxic-flea-tick-treatments-polluting-uk/

And I very much agree with this:

“Concerned cat and dog owners should talk to their vets about what is best for their pet, what is safe for the environment and whether such regular preventative treatments are needed. In the same way that we only take antibiotics when we’re ill – not every month – we may need to apply the same principle to parasite treatments for our pets.”

I have a friend who would get in a genuine state of panic if the flea treatment for her cat was due and she didn’t have any in stock. Her poor cat was regularly dosed with highly toxic chemicals whether it needed or not, she was devastated when it died earlier this year of cancer. I have no idea what the cause of the cancer was but I am certain that pesticides are not noted for their health enhancing properties.

IMO they should only be used when there are no alternatives and they are necessary, not for “prevention”

We use Bravecto on ours. Never any issues. Fleas not a problems but with milder temperatures, ticks are becoming a year round problem. Read a bit about it at the time, satisfied myself that on balance it is safe.

Used to use Advantix (imidicloprid/permethrin blend). Changed due to environmental considerations following lily jumping in a trough to cool down. Came back following day and all the water beetles were dead. Lily was treated a couple of weeks prior. I put two and two together – water beetles are incredibly susceptible to neonicotinoids. 

This is the key thing, spot-ons constantly leak into the environment due to them being contained in the sebaceous oils on the skin. Bravecto, so long as I pick their poo up, it’s controlled. Life’s about choices and our insect biomass is utterly screwed as it is without adding to it with my dogs.

I don’t go licking other dogs arseholes or play in areas where I’d easily get fleas, I also where clothes so my risks of ticks is greatly reduced. I do however have a vaccine as prevention is better than cure.

That is dodging the question. A vaccine is not the same as the toxic chemicals in flea/tick stuff but you know that.

Chemicals in treatments is not the same a toxic either

Plus people aren’t dogs aren’t cats aren’t fleas. As a random example, artificial sweetener xylitol (not hugely common in the UK) is fine for humans but incredibly toxic to dogs even in small doses. There are those who would scream “chemicals” at every opportunity, but as is often the case it’s a little more complicated than that.

The bee-killing pesticide is an odd one. It’s a specific class of pesticide (of which Imidacloprid is one as MrSparkle mentioned) which is banned in the EU but in widespread use in the US (I was on holiday in the US when the story broke). Of course, now we’ve left the EU we can – and indeed have on a “temporary” basis for the last few years – permit its use. One for the Brexit Benefits list?