Fleas, ticks and heartworms

[Kelly & Cole]

Hey everyone!

I was just wondering what you all use to prevent fleas, ticks and heart worms. Right now marley is on Revolution (its everything in one topical treatment), but I am not totally thrilled with it. It seems very early in the season and we have already found 2 ticks on Marley, both of which were latched on, and the first one was HUGE!!!!!! I am worried that its not working the way its supposed to and thinking of trying something new. We live downtown and have a fenced in yard, although both times we have found the ticks its been after he visited either of our parnets, who have more land.

Any help or thoughts would be great!!!!!!

Thanks and hope everyone is doing well!

Kelly, Cole and Marley

[03pilqobzlvp7]

Hey Kelly! I have Duff on Revolution also and we too found 2 ticks on him after taking him down to the river. I read that Revolution only prevents the Brown Dog Tick (I think that is what it is called). I just think that is unacceptible. I was thinking of switching him this week to Frontline and a seperate heart work pill. I also have been thoroughly checking him for ticks everyday. They like the spots that are easy to get to the skin (belly, nose, mouth, ears, etc.).

[Kelly & Cole]

Yea I am really not happy with the Revolution! The first one was right between his eyes (we first thought it was an eye bugger, then looked closer and it was a GIANT tick!!!) the one this morning was on his belly.

Maybe we will try frontline!

Thank!!!

[Kristen and Ziggy!]

Advantix is a great one because it does fleas, ticks, mosquitos, and all other biting insects. You then have to get a heartworm medicine like Wormshield which is generic for HeartGuard or TriHeart Plus which is the generic of the generic, if that makes any sense haha. I haven't heard too many good things about Revolution....the vet I work at doesn't carry it. There is also Advantage which just does fleas and ticks. I hope that this helps! You can get these products at Banfield the Pet Hospital in glen allen : ) or any Banfield but then I wouldn't be there! haha

[Valerie and Cody]

Hey Kelly! I use Frontline for fleas and ticks and Heartguard for heartworms. It seems to be working really well. Oh, I should mention that I get the one spot treatment and not the spray. That being said, we have found ticks on Cody, but they've always been dead or near death and never latched on. I figure that he picks them up in the field, and then they die. And even then, we only found a couple last year, and haven't found any this year. Good luck!

[03pilqobzlvp7]

Hmm, now I don't know wheather I should ask for Frontline or Advantix. My vet for some reason doesn't use Frontline. They probably had a bad experience with a marketing rep or something, but they'll give me a prescription to get it somewhere else.

[Belinda Stevens]

Well I will add my 2 cents. I have always used Frontline up until last summer where it just seemed to stop working. I switched to Advantix and haven't had a problem. I am sad to hear about the ticks with Revolution because I just took Seattle to the Vet this afternoon and he talked me into Revolution. At least I am glad to have your input though. I will probably just stay with the Advantix. There are however two new products on the market as well, I forgot the names off the top of my head but the Vet I spoke to said that they work very well too. I guess different things might work different on individual dogs. He had also heard lots of remarks about Frontline not working as well anymore.... kinda weird how that is happening.

[Jazz & Jane]

Check out Comfortis. It's a chewable tablet (Jazz thought it was yummy) that kills fleas within 30 min. MUST be taken with a FULL meal. Jazz got a flea allergy right around her tail (and she was on Frontline Plus). The vet did say this breed is prone to flea "allergies" (ugh !!) so you must stay on top of it (treat your yard, etc.) He prescribed it as a "supplement" to normal flea treatment -- meaning when things get REALLY bad, give it half-way thru the monthly treatment. WARNING..... extremely expensive !!!!

She did stop itching in about an hour, and cleared her up completely. This was at the END of last year's flea season. I've already gotten my vet to write me an RX for it to supplement when the weather gets really hot.

I'm beginning to think it's good to "switch around" your flea & tick prevention -- do they get immuned? I have found small ticks crawling on her, but NONE were attached, so I think they have all just "jumped" on like they do on me after a long walk (we are very wooded and she is a scavenger in the woods).

[Deb, Connor & Simon]

I have found I can save large amounts of money from buying the flea/tick meds online. It's good to shop around to several online pet med stores because the prices differ. Also if you need a prescription to get the meds you need, you can just fax it to any of them.
As much as I like the spring, I do hate these little blood-sucking critters!!

[Barbara Burrows]

I am using Frontline Plus and Interceptor for heartworm, and have not had any problems. The vet said some dogs were having problems last year with Frontline.

[Shannon and Oliver]

HI there--

Oliver is on Frontline Plus and Heartguard. I had Ollie up at my folks house and they live in a heavily wooded area. When we were brushing him out we found a few dead ticks and one that was dying--and this was at the end of the month long treatment. Very pleased with the product, but I have been warned to not buy the product through online sites as many of their products are very real looking knock-offs of the original. Products like Frontline can only be gaurunteed through your vet. Though the nice thing is Pet's First will price match their flea and tick products with the prices in Pet Edge.

Hope that helps!
-shannon

[03pilqobzlvp7]

I got the same warning from my vet. However, if you want to do a little extra work by sending in documents from your vet that she pup is free of heartworms/fleas/ticks/parasites/etc., Dr. Fosters will guaranteee their product. I'm sure others have similar guarantees. Still, I do get some comfort from having that actualy vet office support the manufacturer guarantee.

[Kelly & Cole]

Wow!!! Thanks everyone for the feedback! I just got off the phone with the vet and they are going to have the doctor call and help me decided what to switch him to. She did say I was not the first person to call and complain about the revolution. They are also going to take back the two unopened packages I have at home, which I am very happy about! Thanks again for everyone input!
Oh I have never ordered any meds from internet sites. I might check petedge (our breeder did reccomend them for other supplies). It kind of makes me nervous getting medicine for him from a web site...
Thanks agian!
Kelly, Cole & Marley :-)