How safe is Frontline?

[Pomp]

Sometimes I wonder if Frontline is just a big marketing scam. I hate putting it on my dogs, since it's technically a chemical pesticide. I've read that over the long-term it can cause neurological problems.

I've used it for years, but I'm starting to question it.

Curious what other people think.

[JPuckett1989]

Any flea medication is going to be a pesticide.

As for me, I may not like using it, but I don't have much a choice. Sand fleas are pretty bad down here in south georgia, and they tear Sadie up. She bites and chews, and her hair falls out.

Not sure which is better. Pesticide on her skin, or my dog in constant agony.

[Kat09Tails]

For me it's a no brainer. It's a flea treatment that works and the risks are relatively minimal for most dogs.

Happily we only have fleas as an issue here maybe 2x a year but when I spot one everyone gets treated before I have a complete infestation.

[JustaLilBitaLuck]

I prefer a more natural flea/tick preventative (such as Vets Best or Pet Naturals - both are essential oils blends) but I understand that in some areas, you really do need the stronger stuff to keep the little buggers off. If I needed to use a chemical preventative I would use Frontline first, Advantix second - I think those two are the safest on the market.

[Southpaw]

Guess it depends on how high your risk for fleas/ticks is. Juno gets it like twice a year. I don't even know why I bother doing it that often. Because yeah, the fact that this pesticide that kills things is being absobed by my dog, is pretty terrifying.

[elegy]

I think it's as safe as you're gonna get when it comes to chemical flea/tick treatments. I only use it when I need it, but with the heavy tick population and high incidence of Lyme disease in this area, that's more frequently than I'd prefer.

[sassafras]

Originally Posted by Southpaw

Guess it depends on how high your risk for fleas/ticks is. Juno gets it like twice a year. I don't even know why I bother doing it that often. Because yeah, the fact that this pesticide that kills things is being absobed by my dog, is pretty terrifying.

It's not absorbed, or at least in any appreciable amount (according to blood and tissue level data, admittedly done by the company). It would be useless if it was, since it kills fleas and ticks via direct contact with them.

[Ratboy]

I have a lot of friends that live out in "tickville", and their dogs have been on it since it came out, and they have all lived to be quite old, and what they died from was the usual heart/stroke/cancer that they died from back when they dipped them with some much nastier stuff. I don't have any real fears about it. I wish it had been available when I lived in Las Vegas, the ticks were amazingly bad out there, and my dogs would have to be dipped constantly. Flea collars were a joke, they just made the ticks move back away from their heads. I tried putting one on their tails too, just to see what would happen, and you can probably guess, the ticks just moved to the middle!

[~WelshStump~]

All I can add is, I HATE having to use it, but I have to, we are in tick war zone . Even worse though, I've been using it for years now for ticks, but after the last application all mine became very itchy, the boys don't seem as bad, but Enda has gotten to the point she's chewing herself up. I've gone over her numerous times and can't find any trace of a flea on her or the boys, but I've gone through everything else and can't come up with another solution for it. So, I put Vetguard plus on her yesterday afternoon, we'll see how it goes, I'm more worried even if it's a flea problem and this takes care of it, if it's really that much like Advantage I don't hold high hopes for ticks. If it's not working well for ticks I'll go right back to Frontline in a heartbeat.

[Renee750il]

Here, I've found it to be quite safe . . . for the damned FLEAS.

It's totally quit working on them here. The Advantix has worked okay though, but I don't like using it and only apply it a couple of times during the summer.