Doodle Pest Season

[Mallory]

We have to be so careful in Florida with fleas year around.
How much is too much when it comes to flea control: top spot, sprays, shampoos, fogs, collars, dust. What products are trust worthy and which are a waste of money. I thought we could open a discussion about remedies that work and ones that have failed us. Especially since summer is upon us and the rest of the country can relate again as well!
Personally we have not had a flea issue like others. One of our neighbors can't seem to get rid of them on their dog and I don't understand. They have tried multiple monthly spot treatments, Advantage, Advantix, Frontline, Hartz, etc. and none seem to work effectively. They have had to treat the home and eventually fog their house, while out bathe the dog, top spot and treat the yard before returning.
Natural remedies from garlic to B6 to Fish Oil are said to work, but what have you tried and seen results from?
Let's help each other and keep our Doodles safe this season (all year 'round in Florida)!!

[Sue, Murphy and Bella ()*o*()]

Mallory, I am so glad you started this discussion as we are on our way home to florida with our puppy that we got in Az. They don;t have flea problems there. So this will be all new to me. I will be getting set up with a new vet next week who is very holistic and supports raw food diet and I will be asking him what he suggests in way of natural remedies and will post as soon as I know something.
What part of Fla. are you in? We will be in the Jupiter to Port St. Lucie area.

[Mallory]

We live in the Tampa Bay area and travel down to the Florida Keys often.

[Adina P]

I've always (in my 3 years of dog ownership) just used Frontline Plus. No fleas yet..knock on wood. If you do a search in the main forum page for words like "fleas" "ticks" "Advantix" "Frontline" you'll come up with lots of stuff on this from recent and older discussions. I don't have too much to add as my experience is limited to Frontline Plus.

However, I don't believe collars are effective at all. And shampoos, etc are after-the-fact type of remedies. I personally prefer to use preventive applications to keep bugs off than have to remove them with all the other stuff.

[Deena Womack]

I use Frontline Plus as well on Cali, and it really seems to do what it needs to. I am super senstive to fleas (or they just really like me not sure which) but I can tell really quick where the fleas are as they will bite me like crazy. So if I am preventing them and I am not getting bit, then I will stick to what works. I have not found one flea on Cali, knock on wood as we will see what the summer brings....

[Mommy2Max]

Thanks Adina! I just bought Frontline Plus for Max because I've read some horror stories about Advantix. I have no clue if they are true but, it scared me enough to stay away from it. I was worried that Frontline wasn't strong enough for Washington State. You just put my worries at bay.

~Danielle

[Adina P]

Where I live is a bit different than other parts of Washington. For instance Walla Walla has ZERO heartworm (so far!). But I would think, unless there was a problem in the batch, Frontline plus should work the same everywhere. And yet I have heard of dogs on Frontline who got fleas.

[Stella]

We use Sentinel tablets in the summer (too cold to need to in the winter here!!), these stop any eggs from hatching. It also prevents heartworm and other parasites from developing.

[jane mccraw]

hi mallory
we just got 2 doodle pups, but have had dogs for years in florida. recently began using comfortis, it is a pill you get from your vet and the results have been wonderful. we have no fleas on our dogs, in our house, on our cats,or on us. our dogs live inside but play outside frequently, in the leaves, grass and sand. so far the comfortis has worked wonders.

[Mallory]

Great! Where did you get your pups from? Was the breeder local?
They are beautiful!!!!
I have been researching pills! Comfortis is not one that I have come across as of yet, but I will check it out!!

[jane mccraw]

yes the breeder is a local lady in spring hill. thanks we are absolutley in love with them. i will have more pics up later this week. bath time is great fun!!!!