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Flea medication?


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I have had dogs for years and of course faced this problem before. Always used the Frontline brand and thought that it was overpriced. Long story, recently lost El Duke who went to dog heaven because of old age. My maids had rescued a young one and found her very active (understatement) and since there was a baby in the house offered her to me. I immediately accepted and she has been a blessing and I immediately named her Kuka, and shortly after upgraded that to Kuka Loca for obvious reasons. She is out in my large yard running and rolling around and when I bring her in at night is scratching and biting herself, and obviously has the pulgas. I applied the Frontline but she resisted the application because felt the sharpness of the devise on her back. I then talked to the vet on the Libremiento in the mall behind the gas station and she recommended a pill named Simparica (80 mg.) priced at $195 and good for 5 weeks. My question...are there any negative effects to a pill versus a topical application? Just a little nervous and will see how it works. Chiquita Banana, my other rescue dog (maybe 5 years old) does not seem to have this problem...strange...Gracias      

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There can be side effects to any flea medication so watch carefully. I have been using Bravecto on my girls for 7 years now. No problems and it's a yummy chewy form that they think is a treat and they sit waiting patiently then gobble it down. Good for three months and kills both ticks and fleas. I like that the formulations are based on the weight of the dog. I used to  use Frontline but, imho, it's a two person job... one person to part the fur while holding the dog and another person to apply it properly. The chew tabs make it simple for one person. 

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1 hour ago, HoneyBee said:

I used Revolution for my first golden retriever (its applied directly to the skin)  but my current golden retriever had a bad reaction so I switch her to NEXGUARD which is taken orally once a month. Its expensive (380 pesos) but it also takes care of a whole array of other parasites and worms.

Yes, I've used NEXGUARD on our two dogs for the past four years with good results.

Between food, Vet visits, grooming and flea meds, dogs are expensive members of the family......but worth it to me.

SunFan

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I have 2 dogs and three cats. The dogs are outdoors all day, and the cats go out at night. My yard is totally walled or fenced off. On the other side of the walls are other homes, street, etc. On the other side of the fence is mountain side forest. So far, I have been lucky. And never have had to treat any of my animals for fleas or anything.

The only thing I do, is to keep them fenced in away from other animals.  

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21 hours ago, johanson said:

I have 2 dogs and three cats. The dogs are outdoors all day, and the cats go out at night. My yard is totally walled or fenced off. On the other side of the walls are other homes, street, etc. On the other side of the fence is mountain side forest. So far, I have been lucky. And never have had to treat any of my animals for fleas or anything.

The only thing I do, is to keep them fenced in away from other animals.  

I also have many dogs and cats and do not use anything at all on them. I do not like to use all these chemicals on them if not necessary. If one should get fleas then that one will get a bath with Dove dish washing detergent.  I will remove ticks by hand. Many years ago I had ticks here, had the yard sprayed and ended the problem. A friend in Riberas also had many dogs and did not use anything on them as they did not have any parasites. Saves much money and is better for the health of the animals.

 

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7 hours ago, SunFan said:

Well that clearly explains the intelligence of my Beagle. The lights are on but there's nobody home.

SunFan

In fairness to Beagles, they were bred for generations as hunting dogs. They were bred to run in a pack and follow the lead Beagle, not pay attention to the human who was running along far behind them. 

Some breeds, like Labs and Goldens, were bred to be slavishly obedient. Not Beagles. 

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6 hours ago, johanson said:

That YOUTUBE video is scary. So what should we use, should our pets get fleas and/or ticks?

I found that bathing my dog with plain (not insecticidal) dog shampoo to which I added some tea tree oil and giving her a spritz  regularly with some tea tree oil and water I put in a spray bottle worked. And when I bathed her, I would comb through her fur, removing any ticks or fleas by hand.  It also works great to dip a Q-tip in tea tree oil to clean out their ears, where I would find ticks lodged in the folds. The ticks would come out unmoving on the end of the Q-tip. I don't know whether it killed them or just stunned them.

And never squish a blood-swollen tick. Those are the females and they are full of eggs you don't want to spread. Drop them in a cup with alcohol or flush them down the toilet.

 

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4 hours ago, luvsdawgs said:

I also have many dogs and cats and do not use anything at all on them. I do not like to use all these chemicals on them if not necessary. 

So why the sad face on my post about my dog breaking out in ulcerating sores after the Bravecta? I was posting that as a warning not to use those products. I only did it once when she was loaded with fleas and I was at my wits end. And never again. It was almost impossible to use the topicals like Frontline on her, as she had a double coat and super dense fur- you couldn't get down to her skin.

She passed last Oct, at 13, and when I eventually get another dog, I would never use any of those systemic insecticides again. 

When it happened, I started researching online and found many accounts of pet owners saying that also happened to their pet, and much worse- perfectly healthy dogs going into convulsions and dying within hours of that treatment.

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As I said previously, every medicine has side effects and to watch carefully. I have had dogs that reacted badly to certain foods as well. Every dog is different just like every human being is different. Seven years without any problems using Bravecto. Each to his/her own.

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15 hours ago, MtnMama said:

In fairness to Beagles, they were bred for generations as hunting dogs. They were bred to run in a pack and follow the lead Beagle, not pay attention to the human who was running along far behind them. 

Some breeds, like Labs and Goldens, were bred to be slavishly obedient. Not Beagles. 

My Golden Retriever was reading this post and she can not stop laughing at the "slavishly obedient" (any way got to go she just instructed me to get her tennis balls 😊). 

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On 2/19/2022 at 6:06 PM, mudgirl said:

So why the sad face on my post about my dog breaking out in ulcerating sores after the Bravecta? I was posting that as a warning not to use those products. I only did it once when she was loaded with fleas and I was at my wits end. And never again. It was almost impossible to use the topicals like Frontline on her, as she had a double coat and super dense fur- you couldn't get down to her skin.

She passed last Oct, at 13, and when I eventually get another dog, I would never use any of those systemic insecticides again. 

When it happened, I started researching online and found many accounts of pet owners saying that also happened to their pet, and much worse- perfectly healthy dogs going into convulsions and dying within hours of that treatment.

The sad face was a reaction to your dog suffering with those sores. I am also sorry that you lost her, I know how painful the loss of a pet is. If this is offensive, I do not know. Should I have had a happy face?

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3 hours ago, luvsdawgs said:

The sad face was a reaction to your dog suffering with those sores. I am also sorry that you lost her, I know how painful the loss of a pet is. If this is offensive, I do not know. Should I have had a happy face?

Ah, okay, thank you. Those emojis can be confusing- people most often use the sad face to indicate the post was stupid or crazy. 

My dog actually had to be put down because she had a cancerous tumor in her spleen. At 12/13 years old, operating, while she might have survived the surgery, would have only prolonged her life by a few months. Better to end her suffering.

But I wouldn't be at all suprised that those flea medications and collars I had used on her were the cause of the cancer.

You might be interested in that guy's other video re "The forever dog". (Also the name of his book)

He interviews an old guy who has won the Guiness Book of World Records twice for having the oldest dog. His current dog is 34 years old! He has always fed his dogs real food, not kibble or canned dog  food, and they get lots of exercise and fresh air.

And the video presenter shows a chart which is shocking. Feeding a dog real food can double their lifespan. We are accustomed to thinking dogs naturally live between 8 and 15 years, depending on breed, but that may not be true at all. Instead, it is how we feed and deal with them that may be leading to what is actually premature death.

 

 

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29 minutes ago, Ferret said:

This is a slippery slope. It's about what works best for YOUR dogs. If I gave plain cooked chicken to either my Belgian Malinois or my German Shepherd, they would have diarrhoea within a day and then skin issues. 

Did you watch that video? As I recall they don't suggest feeding dogs plain cooked chicken or any other meat on its own. Maybe I missed it.

And of course dogs are individuals and breeds just as humans are. North American aboriginals tend to be lactose intolerant as an ethnic group, for instance, and within other demographics individuals can be lactose intolerant. What one animal's system can thrive on may be detrimental to another's. 

The point is, when we feed our pets commercial pet food, that is akin to us eating junk food, packaged food filled with who knows what- eating real food is what we and our pets are biologically designed for.

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On 2/21/2022 at 9:09 PM, mudgirl said:

Did you watch that video? As I recall they don't suggest feeding dogs plain cooked chicken or any other meat on its own. Maybe I missed it.

And of course dogs are individuals and breeds just as humans are. North American aboriginals tend to be lactose intolerant as an ethnic group, for instance, and within other demographics individuals can be lactose intolerant. What one animal's system can thrive on may be detrimental to another's. 

The point is, when we feed our pets commercial pet food, that is akin to us eating junk food, packaged food filled with who knows what- eating real food is what we and our pets are biologically designed for.

I cook a mix of brown rice, lamb, fish, green beans and or peas; supplement with occasional egg. As stated previously my 2 Great Dane cross dogs lived to 17 and 18 on a similar diet. I quit using kibble when dogs were dying (in the 90s) from Walmart and Costco Chinese made dog food. I recently experimented with Taste of the Wild but it made my dog sick.

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