Question about Spinosad (Comfortis)

[Little Bo Boop]

The active ingredient in Comfortis is Spinosad, which is basically a fermented bacterium (interesting read, discovered in the soil of an abandoned rum distillery in the Caribbean) Anyway, Spinosad is available in most lawn and garden stores, and fairly cheap, as opposed to Comfortis, at $100 for 6 tablets. I did a little research, and found where they use a mixture of spinosad and hair condtioner as a topical treatment for people with lice (very effective evidently) So my question is, think you could use it as a topical on your dog to rid them of fleas? Any thoughts?

 

Betty

[Journey]

Betty,

 

Have you read the very fine print on the comfortis? I had looked into it until I read the warnings, that scared me off. Not sure "what" active ingred was the culprit though.

[bn_here_b4]

I have been using Comfortis for about six months. For the first four of those months I would have told you it was the best flea control ever. Last month both dogs threw up their pills. Hmmm. Maybe I didn't make sure they ate enough

before giving the flea pill. Maybe they shouldn't have the heartworm and flea pills so close together... So fast forward to this month. I gave the heartworm pill to both dogs on 7/31, the last day of the month as usual. No ill effects. I gave the Comfortis yesterday, 8/3, after dinner. Jodi (15 month old BC) is fine. Bella, our 3 year old golden retriever has been throwing up everything she tries to eat today. She is keeping down water and she has been going out to pee like usual. She had a bowel movement on her morning walk but breakfast, snack and dinner all came back up.

 

If she's not better tomorrow I'll take her to the vet. I can tell you one thing ... We are switching back to the external flea control. I'm sure her problem is from that pill.

[Little Bo Boop]

Well I have heard several stories of dogs having adverse reactions to the Comfortis (I'm not sure if Spinosad is the only ingredient in Comfortis) So that's why I hesitate to give the spinosad orally. But if it's used as a topical on humans...and there doesn't seem to be any reactions from the folks using it...I just thought that topical might be an alternative. I have to do sometihng to get rid of these fleas! Driving me and the dogs nuts!

[Journey]

DE sprinkled in the yard area will help. You can get it at any pool supply store.

[Little Bo Boop]

DE'd the whole joint ;-) nada ;-(

 

Edited to add, you shouldn't use swimming pool DE, you need to use food grade DE to be safe to sprinkle around pets and people....most lawn and garden shops carry it now.

[Journey]

Man, you got some hungry fleas Thanks for the tip on DE, didn't know the difference. What about nematodes?

[Little Bo Boop]

Man, you got some hungry fleas Thanks for the tip on DE, didn't know the difference. What about nematodes?

 

 

Ya, it's been wet and hot...guess fleas dig that ;-( I've never used nematodes, but I hear they are really good for fleas..but then again the same folks swear by DE ;-) so who knows..I may try the nematodes, not that expensive...sheesh! I hate fleas ;-( not had them in 10 years, sure does suck.

[juliepoudrier]

Hey Betty,

How about trying Program, if you can find it? It was like the first oral flea control product to come out way back when and back then I had a serious flea problem and it cleared things right up. Used it for the cats, don't remember if I even had a dog yet (that's how long ago it was). When the topicals came out, it seems most everyone quite using Program and for a long time it was hard to find. But I think you can still find it. My thinking is that if it hasn't been used much, then flea resistance should be pretty low. I know I was thrilled with it when it came out and I started using it and bye bye fleas! And I don't remember the cats ever having an adverse reaction to it. (I'm not having a flea problem, but I sure am having a tick problem and Advantix no longer seems to be doing the job either. Frontline quit working for me ages ago, but I'm going to give it another try, probably alternating with the Advantix, to see if I can get some control over these dam*ticks! <--Sorry, just needed to rant a bit!)

 

J.

[Little Bo Boop]

Hey julie, I think I used Program before (isn't that a growth inhibitor (sp) type deal? Never had much luck with that. I used frontline forever and it worked great, I did go with advantage for a couple of times, when the frontline seemed to falter...I may just get a dose of it again and see if it works....thank goodness no ticks! ;-) My poor Liz, her fur is so thin, I'm sure she has flea alergies ;-( sigh....Come on Fall!

[juliepoudrier]

I have a couple of dogs with subtle not-quite-right issues and it's got me worried about TBDs. :-(

 

J.

[rushdoggie]

Hey julie, I think I used Program before (isn't that a growth inhibitor (sp) type deal? Never had much luck with that. I used frontline forever and it worked great, I did go with advantage for a couple of times, when the frontline seemed to falter...I may just get a dose of it again and see if it works....thank goodness no ticks! ;-) My poor Liz, her fur is so thin, I'm sure she has flea alergies ;-( sigh....Come on Fall!

 

I feel your pain.

 

I Frontlined on Friday and on Sunday DH picked a live flea off of Swiffer's white face, and my flea allergic Ross has started ripping his hair out! I'm not sure what happened in the last 3 days but I had to give Allergy Boy a hydrocortisone bath and use some spray, and I have yard and rug treatment. We vacuumed tonight, tossed the bag and I just threw the dogs out while I powdered the rugs. DH mowed today and tomorrow he will treat the back yard.

 

Yuk.

[Journey]

I'd forgotten all about Program. Haven't had a real flea issue but we are in Tick Haven here ...I think the only bug we have more of are CHIGGERS!

 

JP, hope your wrong about a few of your and possible TBD's.

 

BH4 - how's your girl doing today?

[Cindy Evans]

Frontline is history here. I've been using Program for about four months now along with the Frontline. I put the Frontline on every other week now, and I'll switch to Advantage when this last box is gone.

 

If you use the Program, and you have fleas, you need to keep something to kill the adults on the dogs until all evidence of fleas are gone. Program is just a birth control for fleas. It won't kill existing fleas or eggs that are already laid.

 

I'm down to tiny fleas now, but out here in the woods the critters keep bringing them back. Also I think I read somewhere that the eggs can live in the soil for over two years. Never ending!

Cindy

[bcnewe2]

Be careful about over dosing while trying to get things under control.

I was using frontline, wasn't working, vet said redose earlier than the 4 weeks. Then I used something (can't remember)else cause they were so bad. I remember throwing comfortis in there too. Finally used Advantix and it worked but with all the products (in a matter of a couple months) Raven started having seizure issues. Since living in CO and not having to treat with anything Raven hasn't had any issues.

[Malvie]

I've been using Comfortis for 4 years now and have noticed no ill effects whatsoever in the dogs. They feel much better because they have no fleas; I feel much better because *I* have no fleas in the house or on me; the vet feels much better because he has my ca$h. Everybody wins something.

[juliepoudrier]

Be careful about over dosing while trying to get things under control.

This is my biggest concern. Advantix isn't even lasting two weeks for me now, and the standard answer seems to be "apply more often." Well, I personally don't want to overload my critters with all sorts of chemicals. In fact, I'm beginning to think that I'd have just as much luck using nothing and just pulling ticks daily, which I'm pretty much doing anyway.

 

J.

[bcnewe2]

Be careful about over dosing while trying to get things under control.

This is my biggest concern.

 

I think it was that standard answer that got us into trouble.

 

A friend of mine had a little mix that had allgeries to flea meds. But she did find a flea collar that worked. I think it was preventic collars. It was all she used for years and she was in tick heaven.

 

I hear that frontline is working in places where it had stopped being useful. Have you tried again?

I'm going home for a visit soon and I'm scared to use anything. I'm leaving Raven here so at least I don't have to do her.

Damned if you do damned if you don't.

I'd be keeping Doxi on hand for the just in case but that scares me too, could TBD's become immune to Doxi?

 

If I remember right Mick threw up with the comfortis but I think that is what broke the cycle of the fleas. Is it supposed to work for ticks too?

[juliepoudrier]

Hey Kristen,

I'm actually ordering Frontline next time in hopes that it will work since parasites haven't encountered it in ages on my dogs. I'm thinking I may alternate the two (Frontline and Advantix) to see if I can't get some better control that way. But if the Frontline actually appears to work again, I may stick with it for a bit (although I'm still using Frontline on the cats--a choice I made when the Advantix/Advantage seemed to be losing efficacy, in the hopes that any fleas that were resistant to the Advantix on the dogs might eventually jump on a cat and get zapped that way).

 

J.

[bcnewe2]

Julie

so is the frontline still working on the cats?

Right now we are a cat free house, we'll stay that way till Mick time here on earth is up. But I like the idea of the fleas jumping onto the cats getting zapped that way.

 

I think it was my outside cat that had us so infested the last time. That and my belief that we wouldn't have fleas cause I hadn't seen them in so many years. I was shocked when I first found them.

 

The first summer in AR I would pick ticks (with frontline applied) every night. About 20 or more off each dog every night. I kept a can of oil to toss them in, easier to drop them in the can than try and kill them. The oil smoothered them. One day I was dog sitting Pach the iron stomach dog my daughter owns. I found him with the can pulled off the mantel (how the heck he got it down is still a mystery) he got the lid off and had eaten all the ticks while consuming the oil. GROSSEST thing ever! He didn't even get sick. No TBD's either.

 

Good luck and let me know if frontline works again. I still have tons of it.

[juliepoudrier]

I really haven't had much in the way of a flea problem, so I don't know if it's working. I think I was using Advantage on them and when I realized that the Advantix on the dogs was becoming less effective, just switched the cats over to Frontline hoping for a crossover effect. But I haven't really seen fleas in any great numbers on any of the critters.

 

J.

[timberviewfarm]

My little dog has side effects with comfortis and it didn't appear to help her flea allergies. Problem I am having is that I have dogs itching but don't see flea's on them. Vet recommended me bathing them all 3x a week (hah, hope she's coming to help!). I haven't found any ticks on the dogs this year but have found a TON on myself.

[bcnewe2]

If they are sensitive they only have to have one flea on them and that's hard to notice for anyone!

[diane allen]

This won't answer any questions, or seriously contribute to this discussion...but it SURELY makes me soooooo glad I live where I do. Once about every five years, I find a single tick, less often a flea. Heartworm is a vague possibility, so dogs get that nastiness monthly. OK, so it can be 100 degrees, and our humidity, which is normally about 10% has been up around 75% for days now...and all we have for cooling is evaporative coolers ("swamp" coolers), which don't work well at this level.

 

We traveled to Tennessee last year, and picked up deer ticks; youngster had literally thousands of 'em. Did one dose of Frontline, hating every moment of doing it and for days afterwards. Later both dogs were both tested for every TBD known to vet-kind, came back negative. But I still can't help but wonder if some of my oldster's "issues" aren't tick related (but at 14.5 yr, probably not?).

 

My sincerest sympathy, empathy and best wishes to y'all in tick/flea country! (someday I'll probably have to come back and follow this thread more closely.....argh!)

 

diane

[Little Bo Boop]

Just an update. After doing some more research I decided to try the topical approach. I got the Spinosad and mixed a very small amount of it with some coconut oil ;-) then I rubbed it in to their coats and on their skin (Liz's hair coat and skin is pretty crappy right now because of the fleas, so the oil really helped her) Anyway it would seem that this has helped quite a bit! Not nearly as much itching and no adverse reactions either....we'll see how it goes.