Has anyone had a problem with Frontline Plus?

[Ginny Nightingale]

Hi all! I have been using Frontline Plus for flea control forever and have not seen a flea for years. BUT, now both of my dogs have two or three fleas on their tummies every time I look!! I have been able to remove them by hand, but the next day there are a few on them again. I know my vet mentioned that, with Frontline, the fleas don't die until they bite the dog , but, since i never had any fleas around, I thought it would be fine. Now, i think I will switch to Advantix, but I just put the Frontline on last week. I am guessing i will have to wait three more weeks to apply Advantix. I am going to see my vet about this Monday, but i thought I'd see if anyone else has been dissatisfied with this product. I hate to see fleas on my babies!

[Jennifer Tramell]

I can't speak from personal experience but, it just so happens that I was talking dogs with my sister today. Her border collie wasn't responding to Frontline (don't know if it was plus or regular) and she changed to Advantix. I think the fleas are gone but her dog did have a negative reaction to the Advantix and messed ALL over her floor.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Our family members have been using Frontline Plus also. I know that my DIL and my D's dogs have had fleas and ticks anyway. They do seem to die but once I am out of my Frontline supply, I am going to switch.

[Ginny Nightingale]

Maybe the flea species is becoming resistant to the formula Frontline uses--it can happen, I suppose. I will also make the switch.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The Frontline is still working here, it's been almost 4 years for Jack and 5 years for my cat.

[Linny]

Hi Ginny,

Yes, we have the same in Australia, as the fleas have become resistant to the Frontline Plus. I've switched to using Advantage for the fleas (not Advantix), plus a tick collar. There have been quite a few reports of bad reactions to Advantix, and Bayer here say it's mostly with poodles and poodle crosses.

Best wishes,
Linny

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

I did have a problem with the Avantix on one out of 3 three dogs. As soon as I put it on, Ginger acted like I put a hot poker on her skin. I washed it off and she was fine, but I guess some dogs do experience problems with it.

I have had some concerns about these products for some time now and there are several old discussions on this topic. But one product I found that repels fleas, ticks, mosquitoes and a host of other critters is Cedarcide (cedarcide.com). It is all natural and can be used on people or sprayed around the house and yard, too. I used it all summer this year on 3 (now 4) dogs and have not seen 1 tick or flea.

It repels rather than waiting for the thingy to bite and die. I have been topical free this year. and so far so good.

[Tammy & Gracie]

I have heard several people mention in discussions in the past few weeks that they were also having the problems you describe. Fleas and/or flea reactions that they have not had in years with frontline. I am not sure whether it is a particularily bad year for fleas or whether the frontline has changed (maybe a manufacturing alteration) or if the fleas are becoming resistant.

[Kathy Spyker]

Lilly has been using frontline plus for a year and we don't have any problems.

[Ginny Nightingale]

Here is the response to the frontline question from my Vet school daughter--Matt is her boyfriend, also at Cornell vet school.
According to Matt who I just asked, it can take up to 12 hours for the fleas to die once they are on the dog (24 according to the website). So it kills any fleas they come in contact with, but it may not happen right away. He probably knows because he just went to their lecture, haha.

We haven't heard anything about resistance and it is pretty unlikely as the mechanism in which it works is via some channels in their nervous system, by inhibiting inhibition (spastic paralysis and death of the flea). I have heard that in some cases it does need to be applied more often though.

That said there are always reasons out there these products don't work as well as they are supposed to... The other possibility is that it has been a very good year for fleas, or the fleas are doing well in the environment and they are getting on the dogs and you are seeing them before they have died.

[Wendy]

My vet said Advantage was ok but not to use Advantix because of the tick medicine it uses causes side effects in alot of the dogs. So we went with Frontline too. I have seen a few fleas also but they haven't gotten out of hand other than seeing them on my pup... I could switch to Advantage I guess.

[Pat & "Tucker"]

Check out the web site. It says 48 hour- kill time once on your pet. Look under frequent Questions/ answers if the link does not work/ Pat
http://frontline.us.merial.com/hlp_faq.asp

[Jamie Petro]

Our vet suggested that we use Comfortis for fleas. It's a pill that protects against fleas and kills fleas instantly. There is also Sentinel which is flea + heartworm prevention in a pill. My vet recommended both of these. Since switching from Frontline, we haven't seen a flea!