why do my dogs have fleas when they're on frontline?

wcladymacbeth

wcladymacbeth

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They've never had this problem before. It must be a really bad year for fleas or something. A few weeks ago, I was 6 days late with the frontline, and I found a few fleas on Caesar, and then I found one crawling on me! (I pinched its ugly little head off of course.) At that point, we did a few flea bombs to the house, and dragged all the pets to Pet Supplies Plus to get flea baths. After that, everyone got a fresh supply of Frontline, including our indoor kitty, Sparky, who doesn't usually get it.

I thought we were ok for a while. Today, I was snuggling with Maggie, and I found a FLEA on her. Just one. And I searched, couldn't find any others. DH surmises that with the colder weather, the fleas are just jumping on any warm body they can find, but that they won't survive because of the frontline. I thought frontline was supposed to make them completely unappetizing to fleas altogether.

Should I flea bomb/flea bath everyone again, or am I overreacting? I despise fleas.

BTW, hi guys. :)
 
No, Frontline doesn't repel fleas, it just kills them when they bite the dogs.

I do believe that flea populations can build up a resistance to Frontline... and any other flea treatment. I had my pets on Frontline last year and we still had fleas. This year I switched to Advantage and we had NO fleas. :) But I still want to switch up every six months or so to make sure to keep them at bay.
 
I experienced fleas with front line and have heard about the resistance tho a vet or vet tech on another forum presented a publication saying that wasn't possible. Anyway, my dog is on the 2nd month, I think, of Comfortis - she is scratching about 2 weeks before she's due for the next dose... I haven't looked for flea dirt or fleas but I'm starting to wonder.
 
Either a resistance or you just happened to find the flea before it died.

No flea prevention, to my knowledge, actively repels fleas. They either sterilize the females so that they can't reproduce and eventually all die naturally (though you'll still bring some home from walks) or kills them after they get on the coat/feed (depends on topical vs systemic). But that won't happen until a couple hours afterwords, so if one gets on, feeds, and then you find it at 1 hour 30 minutes later, it doesn't mean the preventative isn't working, just that you happened to find the victim in its latency period.
 
My dad is having the same problem where he lives. He's done his dogs both twice this month and Bandit cannot seem to shake the fleas. I think they're thinking of switching to comfortis.
 
Frontline stopped working for us totally. I think the fleas in florida are immune or something because the dogs were getting quite a few!

They are on k9 advantix and im very happy with the results. also, we try to spray them down a bit with this natural flea repellent/killer spray before we hit parks
 
I had huge problems on Frontline, I switched to Vector 3D, vaccumed Borax into the carpets and washed everything and haven't had to deal with fleas since.

And then since moving out here to Colorado, I haven't even had to put on preventative. ;)
 
there is a vet who will pay big money for the first proven-immune-to-frontline flea. wish i could remember his name :p

if your frontline weren't working, you wouldn't be seeing one flea or even half a dozen fleas, you'd be seeing lots and lots of fleas. it takes time for the frontline to kill fleas once they get on your pet. and they have to be on your pet in order to die. it takes time for them to hatch out in the environment, especially if you've had a lapse, get on the pet, and die. if your dogs are going outside into an area where there are fleas, it takes time for the fleas that hop on out there to die.
 
The sad thing is we sprayed the lawn with this flea-killer stuff a month or 2 ago and that stuff was supposed to last at least 3 months. My yard has superfleas :( Unless they got them on a walk, but we typically stay on the sidewalk.
 
elegy said:
if your frontline weren't working, you wouldn't be seeing one flea or even half a dozen fleas, you'd be seeing lots and lots of fleas. it takes time for the frontline to kill fleas once they get on your pet. and they have to be on your pet in order to die. it takes time for them to hatch out in the environment, especially if you've had a lapse, get on the pet, and die. if your dogs are going outside into an area where there are fleas, it takes time for the fleas that hop on out there to die.
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I wanted to say, thanks for clarifying. A lot of people (myself included) would see half a dozen, and think :eek: its not working!!!
Unfortunately, the latter is the case for frontline and the fleas here. Lots and Lots and Lots of fleas... biting fleas, and multiplying fleas. On multiple dogs. In two separate households. :( :(
 
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Zoom said:
I had huge problems on Frontline, I switched to Vector 3D, vaccumed Borax into the carpets and washed everything and haven't had to deal with fleas since.

And then since moving out here to Colorado, I haven't even had to put on preventative. ;)
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^^ I'm glad to see this repeated. Our good friend SWEARS by this ... but remembered wrong and I ended up dusting the house with baking soda !!! LOL! That was a flour-ry mess of a cleanup! I haven't tried the Borax yet but I just bought some -- do you pretty much stick to carpets and under dog beds? Do you let it sit an hour or so before vacuuming up?
 
I had huge problems on Frontline, I switched to Vector 3D, vaccumed Borax into the carpets and washed everything and haven't had to deal with fleas since.
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I've heard that vacuuming....hrm, I think it was diatamaceous earth or some such into the carpet works. Diatomaceous is the skeletons of diatoms and supposedly shreds flea's exoskeletons. No idea if that's true or not but the thought of having all the fleas in the house shredding themselves apart as they scurry about makes me smile.

Hey where did you end up going for vet school GO?
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Unfortunately/fortunately my in-state accepted me so I couldn't justify the expense of going to Edinburgh. $140,000 vs $220,000 ($300,000 vs $500,000 after interest) won out.
 
My vet said that on big dogs he will sometimes recommend that you put 2/3 to 3/4 of the Frontline in the usual place between the shoulder blades and the rest on the back in the center above the tail. The reason for this is that sometimes the level on the back lower legs and paws the concentration on the skin is low (presumably due to the distance the med needs to migrate) and may not be lethal to fleas.

Anybody else heard this?
 
hankster said:
My vet said that on big dogs he will sometimes recommend that you put 2/3 to 3/4 of the Frontline in the usual place between the shoulder blades and the rest on the back in the center above the tail.
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Yep, I think that's what the directions on the box say. I usually get lazy and just put it all in one spot, but it probably would be better to spread it out a bit.
 
When we do our flea applying, we stick it all down the spine. But, that doesn't seem to help because apparently, fleas in Fl are mutant, like Fran said.

We don't get many on ourselves, but when I flea comb Suzie, I get so so so many off of her. :(
I really want to get rid of them, but everything we do isn't enough.
 
One natural thing I like to do is apply apple cider vinegar to their coat and also give it to them orally. It repels fleas from getting on to the coat and by the dog ingesting it orally it makes the fleas repel even more!!!! (along with many other benefits) some dogs you need to hide the ACV in food or treat, and people also put it in water.

Looking for a grain free treat? visit my website, Home Page
 
GlassOnion said:
I've heard that vacuuming....hrm, I think it was diatamaceous earth or some such into the carpet works. Diatomaceous is the skeletons of diatoms and supposedly shreds flea's exoskeletons. No idea if that's true or not but the thought of having all the fleas in the house shredding themselves apart as they scurry about makes me smile.
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It works, it was the only thing the kept them from coming through our walls from the neighbor's apartment. Just remember to wear a dust mask while doing it, and move all family/pets out of the area because you do not want to breathe that stuff.
 
oakash said:
When we do our flea applying, we stick it all down the spine. But, that doesn't seem to help because apparently, fleas in Fl are mutant, like Fran said.

We don't get many on ourselves, but when I flea comb Suzie, I get so so so many off of her. :(
I really want to get rid of them, but everything we do isn't enough.
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The fleas down here are horrible right now! I think they're coming inside because of all this cold weather.

All of our dogs are on Advantage, and I'm still finding fleas. They were all bathed and all their stuff has been through the washer multiple times, too.
 
Ok I asked 2 vets about this and the fleas have to bite the animal before they die, because my dogs also still had fleas getting on them.
 
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