June 17, 2008 FLEAS!!!

June 17, 2008

FLEAS!!!

It’s summertime and fleas are in full force again this year. What I’ve noticed last year and again this year is that the normal topical products such as Frontline and Advantage don’t seem to be having the same effect on the fleas as before.
I’ve heard from several of my clients who have always used the topical products that their dog is suffering with fleas even though they have faithfully used the products as directed every month.

Anyone who knows me knows how anal I am about fleas. I can’t stand bugs of any sort, but especially not fleas. They end up giving your dog or cat tapeworm which is even more gross and disgusting, and I make it a firm policy that all pets must be on flea control before they enter my salon, reason being it’s part of my house, and who wants fleas in their home? I am a groomer and I certainly don’t want fleas jumping onto my dogs or my clients dogs and getting a reputation of “I took my dog to the groomer and he came home with fleas”. This is WHY I am so anal about fleas. Talk about a business killer!

Do fleas become immune to certain products? Well to me, it makes sense that after a while bugs can become immune to things that kill them. Whether that’s just my opinion or fact, remains to be seen. What I do know is that science is always making improvements trying to combat the bugs on our faithful pets and there are new products out now available only from your veterinarian at this point. One product is a once a month pill called “Comfortis”.

I’m always leery of new products until I hear others opinions of them, but I was not in a position to wait any longer. Bogey, my almost 14-year-old Bichon is sadly, a flea magnet. If there is a flea to be found, it will find him. None of my other animals can have a flea, but no matter how faithful I apply the topicals they just don’t seem to have much effect on him. A week after I apply it, he will start scratching and I know what that means.

There have been enough scares with medications for people and pets and I’m not about to jeopardize the health of my animals by guinea pigging them, however, I was getting rather desperate and nothing else was working on poor Bogey. I thought I would try it once, one pill and carefully observe him for ANY signs of a bad reaction to it. I’m happy to report, he had no adverse reaction at all, and believe me if any animal will have a reaction to anything, he is the prime candidate with his advanced age, and being a fair skinned white dog that has flea allergies. The best news is he took the Comfortis pill a month ago, and when I bathed him yesterday; I’m thrilled to say not one flea! Hallelujah! I think I’ve found the solution for him!

While chatting with another groomer she mentioned that the new flea pill is working wonders on her clientele as well, she couldn’t remember the name, so I said, “um, Comfortis?” and she said , “Yes! That’s the one!” She runs a boarding kennel too and of course has the same rules for her clients, no fleas allowed.
Another thing I’d like to mention when you are combating fleas is to be sure to treat all of your animals at the same time, and treat your house, car, pets bedding and especially your yard for fleas. If you want to kill bugs, you have to get them at the source right? Many yard sprays available will kill bugs, just be sure to let it dry before allowing your pets outside on the grass. You don’t want your dog to come in, lick his paws, and ingest yard spray.

Comfortis is only for fleas and not ticks, so you may need to use a topical if you have ticks. Ticks carry Lyme disease and cause many other problems, ask your vet for recommendations. However, for fleas, Comfortis seems to be the Holy Grail this year, so I am going to use it. Put down the paper, call your vet right now, and go get some flea control for your pets. They’ll love you for it!