# I think Frontline Plus is not working properly...



## galaxie (Dec 1, 2009)

So far, we have found 2 ticks, 2 fleas, and today we found 2 miscellaneous bugs on Roscoe. I think they might have been cat fleas, but they didn't jump. I caught one and stuck it in a ziploc bag in the freezer, so once it freezes I will examine it further.

Anyway, he is on Frontline Plus, and needless to say, if he is bringing home 6 unwanted pests I don't think the medication is doing what it is supposed to!!

I need some suggestions as to what we could try instead. It needs to have flea and tick prevention for sure. I'm so frustrated, and seriously grossed out. I have a thing about small bugs that totally disgusts me - give me a giant tarantula over a flea any day!

Also, I'd like to note that I have been getting mysterious bug bites for awhile now, but Tim doesn't get them. I thought maybe it was something in my lab at work, but since my job ended for the summer, I haven't been to the lab and I am still getting bit!


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

How long have they been on Frontline?


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## galaxie (Dec 1, 2009)

6 months...


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## rdanielle (Sep 2, 2008)

Yeah, I'd say that its not going to work after 6 months of use. I read somewhere that supplementing with cinnamon helps deter fleas among other insects. Good luck! I know after living in Tampa for 5 years that its a never ending battle.

http://animalwellnessmagazine.com/art/aV92_40.htm

http://animalwellnessmagazine.com/art/aV53_19.htm


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## CapotesMom (Apr 3, 2007)

I use revolution and it's always been really good.. it helps that it prevents heartworms at the same time too!


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## trueblue (Jan 22, 2008)

Natalie, we switched when frontline plus stopped working for us. I don't know if the fleas have become immune to it or what, but it got bad. We use advantage for the cats & comfortis for the dogs. I don't think comfortis deals with ticks though.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

We had to switch to Advantix to to control the ticks. I know some people have had trouble with it, but Kodi has no trouble with it at all, and it does a MUCH better job of keeping the ticks at bay. I can usually even stretch applications out to 5 or more weeks apart.


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## Pixiesmom (Jul 31, 2008)

I love essential oils for this. When we traveled and had to use the rest stops with who knows what lurking in the grass, I spritzed down mine and my mom's tzu's legs and bellies and they never picked up anything. 
I'm far from a granola girl, but this stuff works. You just have to spritz before they go out. I love the smell too.http://www.thewholedog.org/EOFleas.html


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

It may not be the Fontline, it does not keep them from getting fleas and ticks but keeps them living on them and reproducing. The flea and tick have to bite the dog for control.
My girls pick up fleas and tick in the woods from the deer, squirrels and other critters but they never live on them. 

Recently I watch one of the 60 Minutes or 20/20’s that discussed if you or someone in your household has done any traveling or staying in motels and you’re getting strange bites you may have lice or bed bugs. Apparently they are rampant especially with all the international travel. Even some of the higher end motels and hotels had the little bugs and had no idea. Anything I have near a bed or furniture in motels is now put in a plastic bag to come home. Over kill I know but the thought of these things makes me itch.


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## Mraymo (Oct 30, 2007)

We have a big tick problem in our area so unfortunately I don't think the oils would work. I thought you couldn't use Advantage on cats? I thought the vet told us that they wouldn't recommend Advantage for Izzy and Rascal since we have a cat at home and it's toxic for cats. We use frontline it works pretty good but I did notice last year it doesn't last a full month anymore.


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## trueblue (Jan 22, 2008)

Mraymo said:


> We have a big tick problem in our area so unfortunately I don't think the oils would work. I thought you couldn't use Advantage on cats? I thought the vet told us that they wouldn't recommend Advantage for Izzy and Rascal since we have a cat at home and it's toxic for cats. We use frontline it works pretty good but I did notice last year it doesn't last a full month anymore.


I think the stuff that's harmful to cats is K9 Advantix. I remember my vet saying the same thing, but they make advantage specifically for cats.


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## Pixiesmom (Jul 31, 2008)

http://www.natural-dog-health-remedies.com/aromatherapy-recipes.html#tick

Here is one for ticks. I'm not an expert, but you may want to give it a shot.


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## ama0722 (Nov 28, 2006)

I really try to stick to more natural remedies. I know FL is really bad for this but you may really want to consider doing the apple cider vinegar after each bath. I just take like 10:1 of water and pour it over the dogs and leave it on.


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## Mraymo (Oct 30, 2007)

Kim - I think your right I was getting the "A" confused.

Beth - I'll have to give it a try. The only problem is with Izzy because she's so dark it's really hard to find ticks and I'm always afraid I'll miss one. I really hate using chemicals on her though.


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## Pixiesmom (Jul 31, 2008)

I know-I've been spoiled with Pixie being white-now Mig is very dark and it's going to be tough! Good luck!


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## Pixiesmom (Jul 31, 2008)

ama0722 said:


> I really try to stick to more natural remedies. I know FL is really bad for this but you may really want to consider doing the apple cider vinegar after each bath. I just take like 10:1 of water and pour it over the dogs and leave it on.


I like this idea!


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## hav2 (Feb 26, 2010)

Our vet has been carrying Vectra. It handles everything. We had to use it when we got back from the Farm in South Carolina. It got rid of all the fleas, and I never saw one tick on Izzy. It has more product in the tube than Frontline, so it does take longer to dry, but it works for sure. My Mom lives in Southeast GA, so I know what you are dealing with. Hope this helps!!


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

I switched to Comfortis last fall after Frontline and Advantage didn't last over two or three weeks. No problems after that. I haven't started Rosie on Comfortis yet this year, it has been too cold and She is not allowed anywhere but in my back yard--which I treated with insect control last fall and if it ever stops raining am going to treat again. I have gotten two ticks off of me from mowing in the back woods part of my property. One of them was stuck and starting to swell. I wish that I could treat the whole property but the cost is to much. A flea expert told me that fleas don't typically live in sunny places--just in the shade. That is something to think about when walking your dog.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

SMARTY said:


> Recently I watch one of the 60 Minutes or 20/20's that discussed if you or someone in your household has done any traveling or staying in motels and you're getting strange bites you may have lice or bed bugs. Apparently they are rampant especially with all the international travel. Even some of the higher end motels and hotels had the little bugs and had no idea. Anything I have near a bed or furniture in motels is now put in a plastic bag to come home. Over kill I know but the thought of these things makes me itch.


Bed bugs you'd probably know about right away... I haven't had to deal with them, but my Dad had to when he was young, and he says that they bite HARD, and at night, as soon as the lights are out. So it's very very obvious pattern. Lice too... they bite and cause itching in the hair.

It's definitely true about traveling though... My MIL came home from a trip to the islands and inadvertently infested her house with cock roaches!!! Since I travel to the tropics fairly frequently, I am just like you... over-cautious about what "wild life" I might bring back. ALL clothing, whether I think it's dirty or not, IMMEDIATELY goes into the wash, set on the hottest setting, and all luggage stays out of the house either in the garage or better yet, out in the sun if the weather is nice and dry, for a good week before it gets stored away in the attic again.

On my last trip to Thailand, on our last day we saw a cockroach in the hotel. Now on a rational level, I know that in ANY hot, humid environment, you are going to have a certain number of roaches whether you happen to see them or not... in Florida I believe they euphemistically call them "palmetto bugs".<g> But I still couldn't WAIT to get out of that hotel!!!

Also, as far as the Frontline is concerned, it WASN'T killing the ticks on Kodi. (it seems to work fine for our fleas, I've never seen a flea either on our cat or on Kodi) Deer ticks (which are the more worrisome sort up here in N.E.) are TINY before they've fed for a good long time, and almost impossible to find in the black areas of a long haired dog... they are too small to feel with your fingers or find with a comb. I was finding heavily engorged deer ticks on Kodi on a regular basis. The vet said that they were having that problem with many dogs in our area last year. That's why we switched him to Advantix. Advantix has something in it that is supposed to repel ticks as well as kill fleas and ticks.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Mraymo said:


> We have a big tick problem in our area so unfortunately I don't think the oils would work. I thought you couldn't use Advantage on cats? I thought the vet told us that they wouldn't recommend Advantage for Izzy and Rascal since we have a cat at home and it's toxic for cats. We use frontline it works pretty good but I did notice last year it doesn't last a full month anymore.


I don't know about Advantage, but it's true that AdvanTIX is toxic to cats. We were told to make sure Kodi and the cat had no contact for 24 hours after applying the Advantix. In our case, that's not a problem... Snowbelle stays as far away from Kodi as she possibly can!!!


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## Pixiesmom (Jul 31, 2008)

Karen, palmetto bugs are huge roaches. We have small, medium and large-lucky us!!


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

Galaxie-

Tell us how you apply the Frontline - 

Where on the dog?

What day EACH month?

When do you bath the dog after you apply to Frontline? 

I use "Frontline TopSpot." When I was checking Dexter last summer, I did see a tick on him, but it was withering away because the tick was biting the skin and therefore being killed.


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## galaxie (Dec 1, 2009)

I apply the frontline between his shoulder blades (exactly how the vet showed me), once every 3 weeks. We were doing it monthly but then we found a couple of fleas about 5 days before he was due for his next application. Talked to the vet and she said it was OK to do it every 3 weeks. He doesn't get a bath for at least 4 days usually, sometimes longer. I generally try to bathe him a few days before his frontline "due date".

As for my bites, they are definitely not bed bugs or lice. We have zero evidence of bed bugs, and when I first got a few bites I was paranoid about lice so I had Tim examine my head and I did the same to him. Found nothing. I have also completely taken apart and put back together our bedroom and found ZERO bugs. I'm talking even to the point of taking our bed out of the frame!

It's so weird. And I got another bite last night. Always on my chest or upper stomach. So annoying!!


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## Pixiesmom (Jul 31, 2008)

Natalie what does the bite look like?
http://biteremedy.com/ Any of these? I know we can have little house spiders in FL-wonder if that's it or not....


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## Mojo's Mom (Jun 6, 2009)

I have just been through an horrific battle with ticks, and we are in coastal central Florida. Here is what I learned, after consultation with vet, and two different pest control professionals:

Frontline is now nearly useless. Frontline Plus is now nearly useless.

Comfortis seems great for fleas but does nothing for ticks.

Revolution works well for fleas but stops only one kind of tick, and not the tick we have the most of in Florida. Mojo was established on Revolution for 10 months when we became infested with ticks.

Preventic collar stops ticks. It's awful to put a collar on a Havanese, but desperate measures for desperate times.

Vectra 3D is the only thing that will work well for all ticks and fleas. You must use it for 3 months before you get full protection, though. It's a pain to use, tons of liquid, but if it works I don't care.

If you see more than a couple of ticks you must spray your yard, and if they are in the house you must spray the house, too, and it's a big expensive job.

Mojo was so infested that he was covered in seed ticks. We had to throw everything at him, including a pesticide bath at the peak of the problem. It is the worst thing I've ever been through with any dog, and my last dogs were constantly out in the brush, which Mojo isn't at all.

Jump on the problem early, don't wait, like we did. If you find several attached ticks, do everything and do it fast.

I am against pesticides on dogs, but all that went out the window when I saw seed ticks all over Mojo's body and ticks crawling in my bedroom. What we have to contend with in Florida is way beyond what natural remedies can control. If anyone has done it they are just plain lucky. The ticks are EVERYWHERE this year. Mojo is supposed to be confined to treated areas for a month, but I have to walk him somewhere and I've been taking him to a riverside boardwalk where he never touches anything but wood deck or concrete, he is never closer than three feet from any grass, bush or anything else green. Even so, when I check him upon coming home, he will have a fresh crawling tick somewhere. It's crazy!

My girlfriend was using no flea/tick products, lives nearby and "never sees a tick or flea" and was feeling pretty comfortable while hearing my horror stories, and we kept the dogs apart...now she has fleas and has found a couple of ticks and is now starting Comfortis and had her yard and house sprayed.

Mojo is now on Vectra 3D and wearing a Preventic collar which I have to take off to brush out the mats caused by the collar at least every other day. I should be able to give up the collar after three months and rely on the Vectra 3D. I now spend at least half an hour coming/brushing him and visually checking every millimeter of skin every day. I also cut him for the first time, in a three inch long puppy cut so that it was easier to inspect him.

I'm told things will get better once the summer rains start. I hope so.


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## hav2 (Feb 26, 2010)

Beth~ EEEEEWWWW.........all you have to say is palmetto bug and I cringe. I know all about those, growing up in Southeast GA. You know what worse is when they fly.....okay freaking myself out!


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

You are doing it right for sure.

I found a link for Bed Bugs just in case this might be the problem. 
http://www.getipm.com/thebestcontrol/bugstop/control_bed_bugs.htm

As for fleas around the house (carpet areas) - I found using "Ten Mule Borax Detergent Soap" work wonderful. Pour some of the soap in a jar and poke lots of holes in the lid and sprinkle very lightly on the carpet areas. DO NOT APPLY this soap to your dog.


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## hav2 (Feb 26, 2010)

Mojo's Mom~ You are right, Vectra 3D does have a lot more liquid, but it does work. The Preventic collar is an oldie but still a goodie, if you can put up with your Hav wearing one. The last thing I agree with you on is that the natural remedies just don't hold up in the Southeastern part of the country. I am sorry for your battle with the ticks, they are big pain.


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## galaxie (Dec 1, 2009)

Pixiesmom said:


> Natalie what does the bite look like?
> http://biteremedy.com/ Any of these? I know we can have little house spiders in FL-wonder if that's it or not....


I'm allergic to bites from literally every bug possible (spider, flea, mosquito, fly, etc.) so they all swell up pretty big and end up looking the same  Tim has no bites, hasn't had one ever in our place, but I wish he would get bit just once so I could see what kind of bite it was!!

I tried the Borax idea once already, didn't help, but I'm planning to do it again. So frustrating!


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## galaxie (Dec 1, 2009)

Anyway, with the frontline I think it works fine for the ticks and fleas. The time he got 2 ticks, he was 2 days overdue on his frontline and both Tim and I thought that each other had done it. Meanwhile, he can't go a whole month and still fend off the fleas, so every 3 weeks seems to have been fine.

But I don't know WHAT these two little bugs were that I found on him. I froze one, I think I am going to drop by the vet today or tomorrow and ask her what the heck it is!


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

Galaxie your bites are probably fleas. When I was trying to rid Rosie of them last fall, I kept getting bites also. Course I went straight to the bed bug thing--thankfully that wasn't it. I sprayed my bed, rails, mattress (top and bottom), the carpet under it and had all the bedding cleaned. That took care of the problem. I believe in pesticides!

Once we stayed in a hotel and I woke up the next morning with more bites on me than I could count. Didn't think about bed bugs because we had eradicated them in the US before all this international travel. But it was fleas. I can see why hotels don't want pets in the room.

My husband travels all the time and now I am afraid he will come home with the bed bugs. I constantly inspect the bedding every day. When I was a little girl, I and my playmate were playing in an abandoned house next door and mother got all upset because there were bed bugs in it. That was 1950 or so. Now as a senior citizen, I have to worry about them again--not fair.


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## galaxie (Dec 1, 2009)

OK so maybe the two "unknown" bugs were fleas after all...

I just took the frozen bug out of the freezer and examined it while comparing to google images (LOL), and it looks like a cat flea. I didn't think it was a flea because neither of them even remotely tried to hop away when I was trying to pull them off Roscoe. And they looks really reddish, whereas I have only ever seen fleas that were almost totally black. The other 2 fleas I found a couple months ago jumped all over the place and it was a fiasco to make sure that I got them off Roscoe and thoroughly killed the little buggers.

Looks like my bedroom is about to meet a lot of hot water and pine sol. So much for my lazy afternoon by the pool. Sigh.


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## irnfit (Nov 21, 2006)

Frontline Plus wasn't working for us either. Our vet switched us to Vectra and it seems to be working better. But you have to be consistent and use it every 4 weeks.


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## pacehavi (Oct 20, 2008)

Since I also live in SFL I feel your pain as we too are always battling fleas. Frontline Plus still works for us but we live in a complex with a lot of dogs so it's very easy for us to track fleas inside. If you have fleas in your house, you will need to dust your carpets/bedding with something. I use Sentry All Natural flea powder--no pesticides but it has essential oils so it makes the carpets smell very very strongly lemony for a few days. But after that the powder dehydrates the fleas so even if one is tracked inside it will die. You can also call 'FleaBusters' and they will dust your house for you with something similar.


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## Pixiesmom (Jul 31, 2008)

With bedbugs you should never leave your luggage, clothing or anything on the floor that they can crawl into and make their way home to you. Also if you move, encase your mattresses in a plastic protector, and never buy a mattress from a company that takes away old bedding-bedbugs from an old infested mattresses they took away are hanging out in the truck and will crawl into the new bedding and into your house. TMI, TMI!!! Why do I have to research everything into ridiculousness!!


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## HavaneseSoon (Nov 4, 2008)

The borax soap will take at least a month to work. Sprinkle it in the carpet and let it stay there as long as possible. 

Do you have fleas jumping on your legs?


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

I thought fleas were fleas and didn't know there was a difference in dog and cat fleas? Is there a difference?


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## Narwyn (Jan 24, 2010)

The hands-down best remedy I've found for bug control is Garlic.

"There are over 51,000 sites on the web devoted to warnings about the "toxicity" of garlic, even though there is little scientific data to back the claim other than the fact that thiosulphate is found in garlic. Yet, there are also upward of 4000,000 internet sites, many of which are reputable holistic veterinarians who have widely used garlic in their practice for many years! In regard to this miracle herb and its hundreds of years of "proven use" I would recommend trusting history over mass hysteria and half truths any day."
- http://www.articlealley.com/article_1527088_54.html

Clover's been on it for almost four years now. Down in Cape Cod, he's had doggy buddies load up with fleas and ticks over their topical pesticide treatment and he's had maybe one stray tick that wasn't attached.

http://www.springtimeinc.com/ "Bug Off Garlic" -- they also have tons of references to independent research about garlic and dogs. Clover is also on their Longevity supplement which I call his magic green powder.

Just another thought!

~Karen


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## hav2 (Feb 26, 2010)

Be careful with the garlic. Some dogs are more reactive to garlic than others, that is why vets keep it on the no-no list. I found this out the hard way. Harry, my Tzu, is extremely reactive to garlic and he had a tough episode when he was young and got a hold of some garlic powder. I think he only got a teaspoon out of the package, but he threw up so many times and ran a fever and had to have IV fluids. It was scary. It was straight garlic powder, nothing else added. So please use with caution, because some pups don't tolerate it well.


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## pixie's mom (Dec 27, 2009)

They told me at Petsmart that the reason you can get some of these flea/tick products over the counter now is because they aren't working as good and they are still trying to push the product. The fleas and ticks have gotten used to them. Mojo's mom are you in west Palm City? Here in Jensen we haven't really had a problem. We are on an acre and my pups don't leave the yard. Maybe I should have it sprayed anyway. We are on FrontLine from Petsmart.


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

Okay, fleas are not fleas. Dog and cat fleas are the same; but there are those that are on squirrels. I know because a cat of mine brought up a baby squirrel and tried to nurse it. It was covered--i mean covered with what I thought were fleas. But, they are really lice. Obviously not those that children get on there heads. They don't jump; but look just like fleas and are the same size. Then pigs have hog lice. Look the same but are much bigger. So one that doesn't jump is probably a louse from a squirrel or other wild animal. Just think our ancestors just took lice with a grain of sand. There is a good book called "TIS" by an irishman that because of senility, I can't remember his name. Anyway it tells about growing up in Ireland in proverty and sleeping with lice. The Civil War soldiers talked about the lice ion there bodies and in there food. We don't know how good we have it now. That is why I believe in soap and pesticides. I have no desire to go back to those days.


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## Mojo's Mom (Jun 6, 2009)

pixie's mom said:


> They told me at Petsmart that the reason you can get some of these flea/tick products over the counter now is because they aren't working as good and they are still trying to push the product. The fleas and ticks have gotten used to them. Mojo's mom are you in west Palm City? Here in Jensen we haven't really had a problem. We are on an acre and my pups don't leave the yard. Maybe I should have it sprayed anyway. We are on FrontLine from Petsmart.


Yes, I'm in Palm City Farms. 5 acres, lots of wild stuff, lots of wild animals, too. I like to be able to take Mojo places, because he's our only dog and he doesn't have a playmate every day. We usually walk twice a day, but not since the tick problem. The ticks are everywhere out here.

I wouldn't spray anything unless you see a problem.

Petsmart is right about the older products. And we stopped using Frontline over 5 years ago when our two dogs that had been on Frontline, applied monthly for years, turned up with fleas.


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## The Laughing Magpie (Aug 20, 2009)

Every year at this time I have problems with mites. Here they call them no see ums. The mites I get are often from all the birds. There are many diffrent types. I often spray mite spray every few days and I put out ceder mulch in areas with heavy birds, wild furries and my dogs go. It has helped so much. My Lhasa has flea saliva allergy. The Frontline still works for me....but, there are those times extra is needed. As for me I alway have several chigger bites from working in the woods, yuck!


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

I put out sevin powder for the mites in the chicken house and on my porch. I just throw handfuls around. I have put down sulpher powder around the chicken house and fenced area for snakes. I have one hen setting on a dozen eggs under a bush near my back door. I really put down the sulpher there. It would make me really angry for a snake to get her eggs. 

As to chiggers. They are in tall grass and weedy areas--rarely ever in the woods proper. I used to actually survey and hated it when we were set up on the side of the road in the tall grass--chiggers for sure. But never got one on me in the woods. Sometimes I will get one or two from mowing. Guess the mower throws them up in the air. I get tickled everytime I see stranded motorists sitting in the grass along the interstate waiting for the tow truck--knowing they will be eat up with chiggers. Do they have these in the north?


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## galaxie (Dec 1, 2009)

I don't think there are chiggers up north. Ticks are pretty rare, too. When I still lived in Vancouver, I had never seen a tick, flea, chigger, bed bug, or cockroach. I moved to Miami 2 years ago, and now I've seen them all. YUCK.


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## Luciledodd (Sep 5, 2009)

Besides being very pretty, no chiggers is a great recommendation for moving north--but I would hate the winters.


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## pixie's mom (Dec 27, 2009)

The Palmetto bugs (roaches) in Miami are equipped with landing lights they are so big! Our no see ums are biting gnats that come out at sun rise and sun set closer to the beaches and wetlands. If your on the beach at sunrise or sunset during the summer you will want to jump in the water and stay under as they can be so bad!!!! I don't know how the indians and settlers did it.


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## Narwyn (Jan 24, 2010)

hav2 said:


> Be careful with the garlic. Some dogs are more reactive to garlic than others, that is why vets keep it on the no-no list.


I'm sorry you had such an experience. Bear in mind human products and dog products are different. Human "garlic powder" for flavor vs a specific for-dogs powder, carefully dosed for a supplement - very different.

It's most definitely true some dogs "handle" things better with EVERYTHING. Some dogs (some cats, horses, people, etc etc) do really well on some things, handle some things well, others can't or don't. It is like ANY other supplement, medication, etc etc. Penicillin will kill some people. Other people, it saves their lives. It would be a crying shame if we stopped using penicillin on everyone because some people react badly to it!

My parents used topical flea/tick (frontline/advantage/advantix) for years on their Poodles. One day the dog got bright red, painful, flaking *chemical burn* down his back, where it was applied, and *lost ALL of his hair*. Same product, same dosage, exactly like always. It was used correctly. It caused significant pain and suffering. That was the end of that. These are toxins on your pet's skin. That's important to remember.

*I would highly recommend caution with ANY supplement/medication/food change. Every patient is different. You have to weight risks and benefits of ANY treatment and find out what works best for you and your dog. *

And let me tell you, I had Lyme disease a few years ago. I'd rather wear a flea collar than go through that again!!

~K


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## The Laughing Magpie (Aug 20, 2009)

I got such a big laugh....Roaches with landing lights (hehehe). We go to Miami a couple of times a year even in the really nice hotels there can be roaches in the bathroom at night. It is bad here in NC also. Yuck!!!!! Thailand, Miami east.....Bugs.
Lucile, the woods here in NC are full of invasives and tall grasses... that is why we have so many red bugs lots of edge woods.
Galaxie try the mitacide, it can't hurt. I spray and vacuum later. When I came here from CA I use to itch all night....now only sometimes do I need a Benadryl. I hate bugs...Yuck.


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## galaxie (Dec 1, 2009)

I used the Sentry Naturals stuff mentioned above, the spray not the powder, the only pet store around that sells it was sold out.

Sprayed the carpet, our mattresses, behind and under the bed, and around the perimeter of the room. Didn't get bit last night.

Roscoe picked up two new "friends" at the park today, but I've become wise to their attacks! As soon as we got home he went up on the counter in his bathroom (yes, Roscoe has his own bathroom...), and searched every inch of his little body. Found 2 fleas. It's weird, he always picks up pests in twos. Unless you count the pine needles that were stuck to him today, he picks those up in 20s, LOL!

Roaches are so gross, but we are lucky to live in brand new construction. I have seen a dead roach on the first floor in the fire stairs, but never seen one elsewhere in the building. Phew! I have always known noseeums to be smaller (but equally annoying) versions of mosquitoes.

As for the topical preventatives being chemicals, sure. We use chemicals all the time in our daily lives, most are derived from natural sources and then synthesized for efficiency. I generally do not have a problem using chemical products unless they can pose great health risks. It's unfortunate what happened to your parents' dog, Narwyn, but that is quite uncommon. A flea collar emits a toxic gas and is absorbed into the dog's subcutaneous fat layer, which runs throughout the body. This is basically the same as a liquid treatment applied between the shoulders.

In terms of the garlic, I wouldn't give garlic to my dog ever. It's not about the flavor or whatever, it's about the fact that garlic can cause dogs to develop anemia. It has also been thought to cause gastrointestinal problems. The more garlic a dog ingests, the greater the possibility of the aforementioned issues.


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## Eva (Jun 20, 2008)

Todd is allergic to flea bites and so I've had to get creative to keep the little buggers away..I started him on Advantage as a puppy(which did absolutely nothing!) 
Once he had lost most of the hair on his chest and back end from scratching I started researching...I ended up using Revolution since it repels fleas and doesn't wash off.
I also dust the house with a mix of Diatomaceous Earth (DE) and Borax powder at the beginning of the flea season which has made a HUGE difference!


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## motherslittlehelper (Mar 18, 2010)

Oh, my goodness! Reading this thread makes me itch all over. Think I must live in a bubble and I hope I don't jinx myself by saying this, but I don't know that I have ever seen a chigger, bedbug, or cockroach. And I will be perfectly satisfied if that remains the case!! What kind of ticks are you from the south talking about? I grew up in Montana and we had wood ticks. In the summer, before bedtime, it was a ritual to check all over to make sure we didn't have any on us as they are the kind that could lead to Rocky Mountain spotted fever. Do these ticks you talk of attach themselves to humans as well as your dogs and cats? We do get mosquitoes here, usually in the evenings, though I haven't noticed many yet - probably because we have been having so much rain. There are fleas in this area, but so far, so good. Wow, please keep those jet-sized roaches in your areas...please!


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