A week following application of Frontline on all three cats, all are scratching like nobody's business, and leaving behind flea eggs and dirt. And I know a flea egg when I see one—or rather, when I see one, I see hundreds. A call to the vet's office, who once a month knows that $50+ is coming her way for three vials, brought this response.
"We've had lots of complaints that Frontline doesn't seem to be working this summer."
[!#**@]
Well, should I switch over to something else??? hmm??
"Well, lots of people are switching to Advantage."
Could the fleas have built up a tolerance/become resistant to these medications??? That didn't seem to have occurred to anyone there at the vet's office.
How is Advantage? How about something else, called Revolution, that a friend's vet seems to swear by?
From PetMed's Web site:
Frontline Plus contains fipronil, a broad-spectrum insecticide and slow-acting poison that disrupts the central nervous system of fleas and ticks and S-Methoprene, an insect growth regulator that kills flea eggs and larvae.
The active ingredients are stored in the sebaceous glands and are wicked out of the hair follicles and continuously re-applied to the coat for long-lasting, waterproof protection.
The active ingredient [in Advantage] is imidacloprid, which acts on the nervous system of the flea to cause paralysis and subsequent death. Within 12 hours of application, 98-100 percent of fleas are dead. Advantage kills fleas before they lay eggs, so their life cycle is broken at multiple stages. It also kills flea larvae within 20 minutes of contact.
Revolution works by penetrating the skin and entering your pet's bloodstream. Concentrations of selamectin, the active ingredient, in the tissue and bloodstream prevent heartworm disease. Selamectin also redistributes into the skin from the bloodstream and kills adult fleas, American dog ticks, and ear mites, and prevents flea eggs from hatching. Its also an antihelminthic, which means it fights to expel parasitic worms. Parasites ingest the drug when they feed on the animal's blood.
10 comments:
No fun.
I use Advantage Plus. Works fine on the dawg and prevents ticks! And believe me fleas thrive over here! Perhaps it was a dud batch. I'd be writing to the manufacturer and have a little moan. They might send you freebies. Seriously, that stuff's expensive not to work. I wonder why horses don't get fleas?
Hmmmmm I don't use any stuff on our lot; I groom them regularly with a flea comb, and leave the rest to nature; they are (all 4 of them) totally healthy, have had no illness over 11 years, and dustbath themselves. And we don't suffer from any flea infestations. I'm not a big fan of chemicals, and I think that cats have survived for many hundreds of years without the recent 'advances' in vetinary medicine. Just my input. :)
My sister, the veterinarian, says "I don't know. I'm a large animal vet."
tut-tut, we couldn't use any of this stuff on Mom's dog, Hunter( of course, I'm referring to doggy anti-flea meds ), as he developed bad reactions to them. She found a sure-fire flea killer...garlic! No kidding! Some minced garlic once or twice a month( wrapped in cheese ), and no fleas. Don't know if it'll work on cats, tho'...unufortunately, ticks were a whole other problem!
I seriously flea-bombed my house today and bathed both of my cats with flea shampoo (that wasn't fun).
I was oh, so very happy to spot two fleas hopping around as I was reading a book a few hours later.
The bastards are getting smarter!
ack. so glad our cat steers clear of the fleas...never had to treat her either.
I'm so sorry for you and your kittehs. Move to the Great Frozen Tundra? Fleas are really not much of a problem 'round these parts. (Let's not talk about the ticks and mosquitoes, though...)
fleas - yuck!!!
I don't have to worry about that anymore since I have all the cats stay inside now.
our kitties are content watching the world from their lofty window perches on occasion I will take tsuki onto the front or back porch he stays put....he has learned if he wanders off the porch he will be taken back inside.
best of luck, I hated those days of battling fleas.... there was a time I thought it was cruel to keep cats inside and all our cats were indoor-outdoor cats, but then I changed my way of thinking.... along with not having to deal with fleas and tics, I also don't have to worry about my cats killing the birds I love to feed.
good luck to you!
Fleas!! EWWWWWW!!!
Hate them. Makes me itchy just to think of them. Hope your problem is resolved ASAP!
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