When is flea treatment necessary?

[Hector]

When my wife woke up this morning she had three small bites on her skin, of the type that could be from fleas. We have two dogs and one cat and they are not on any flea prevention medication. None of those animals is scratching or showing any signs of having fleas.

 

But I am wondering, at what point does it make sense to treat all three animals with Frontline? Should I do that now based on the bites my wife had, or would that be over-reacting? We have lived in this house for 18 months now and have not had any flea problems here. But I have had flea episodes in past houses, and it seems like it might be better to agressively go after the problem in the early stages rather than waiting until a full-blown flea problem develops.

[emmetteabrakai]

When the fleas start to carry you off Not really. Fleas in my area ( MO.)seem to be the worst in August.

I would treat all your dogs, I treat my dogs until December and start again in March. We have awrul fleas here in Mo. This year I didn't treat them soon enough, and I'm paying the price big time. I had to fog the house and bathe all the animals. And at my house that's quite a number . But it's much better now. I know some folks don't like Frontline but it has worked well for me.

Andrea D.

[BustopherJones]

Based on our vet's direction, we treat both dogs with Frontline on the first calendar day of each month year-round.

[bc friend]

If your house is carpeted, you really don't want to wait to start flea prevention - they're difficult to get rid of in carpet even with flea bombs, etc. I use Frontline on my dogs every other month from April through November. My cats, which are indoor only, have not been treated in over 10 yrs.

[smileyzookie]

I agree, if you think there's a possiblity I wouldnt wait. They can multiply super fast. We usually dont treat for fleas since we're in Idaho. However we do use frontline for ticks and fleas when we go camping, just because Riven thinks the quickest way to anything is directly through the thickest brush. When we lived in Missouri we didnt treat our cat and within days we were infested.. and I mean it took like amonth to finally get rid of them. Dont take your chances.

[Kitch]

I treat Dublin most months. (Sometimes I let it slide in the winter but not this winter as it was so mild the ticks never took a break).

 

I treat the cats once in the spring. They are house cats and until I got Dublin they had never even seen a flea. Now, they seem to get them in the spring when everything is first 'blooming' and then they are good for the rest of the year.

[Hector]

Okay, thanks for the advice. I will treat the three animals this evening with Frontline, which I already have on hand.

[INU]

I use Frontline on my dogs every other month from April through November

Is Frontline effective for more than a month?

[Willikers]

I wait until I see flea dirt or a flea. We have no carpets in the house and only just had to dose all the critters last week for the first time this summer.

[juliepoudrier]

Originally posted by INU:

quote:

---

I use Frontline on my dogs every other month from April through November

Is Frontline effective for more than a month? That depends on where you live, your flea "load," and probably a host of other factors. I am up to using Frontline every 2-3 weeks, sometimes with Capstar in between, and Advantage on the cats in an attempt to provide some cross protection. I am, ahem, one of those folks for whom Frontline seems to have lost its effectiveness, but I keep trying. I'm now planning to alternate with Advantix since I've been informed that as long as the cats don't come into contact with it before it dries, they shouldn't suffer any ill effects. (BTW, in this area, I have to have a flea control product that also includes some sort of tick control, regardless of how ineffective that control might be.)

 

J.

[bc friend]

Originally posted by INU:

Is Frontline effective for more than a month? [/QB]

My vet recommended every other month. A couple of years ago, the fleas here were really bad and I used it monthly so I think like Julie said it depends on your particular circumstances.

[Dixie_Girl]

I treat with advantix but only the dogs. I don't need to treat Sammy cuz, fleas don't stay on animals. So, keeping the dogs treated, keeps Sammy treated by proxy!

[Hector]

Update -- I treated the two dogs with Frontline but since the Border Kitty is indoors only I didn't treat him. One of the dogs spends a lot of time outside, the other dog is mostly a house dog. So I will see how this works. Based on some posts it doesn't sound like I need to treat the kitty now.

[Jordi44]

Even if you don't see signs of fleas on the cat, I would treat him too, otherwise, you might end up in a cycle of dogs no fleas, now cat, then dogs, giving them back and forth to each other. My mom has that problem - she treats her dog, but my dad (being cheap), won't treat his cats - or let her. She doesn't any more than get rid of them on the dog, then the dog has them again from the cats. You might also consider treating your house - at least spraying in areas the pets spend a lot of time, behind furniture, that sort of thing. At least give it all a good sweeping and dump you sweeper bag outside (gets anything you swept up out of the house so it can't reinfest). Good luck - we're having horrible flea problems this year - even the outside cats - or especially the outside cats, have them.