Flea prevention, let's chat.

Tyson & LuLu get Interceptor once a month, and we use a natural Neem proctect shampoo/spray combination during the summer months.
http://www.onlynaturalpet.com/products/Ark-Naturals-Neem-Protect-Shampoo/121021.aspx

Mack and Mattie aren't on anything. They've never had fleas so I don't treat them for it. I try to keep them as chemical free as possible. They do get heartworm medicine every month because mosquitoes are so bad here and heartworm is rampant.

I use Sentinel for my girls. If they ever do have a flea outbreak (which we never have had) I'll give them Confortis. I'm sure many of you have heard about it already but it's a flea preventative that is taken orally. I try to stay away from the liquid stuff, especially how harsh some of that is on their skin.

Pugs4me wrote:Mine get Interceptor monthly for HW and other parasites then I use Frontline plus every 2-3 months from April until October.

Me too although I may use the Frontline Plus longer than October - we don't usually get a freeze to kill the fleas that early.

My solution: move to Alaska!

Up here, there are no fleas, ticks, poison ivy, skunks, snakes or heartworm-carrying mosquitoes (Ok, plenty of regular mosquitoes, but not the bad ones.)

(We won't mention earthquakes, blizzards, volcanoes or 100-mph-winds...)

<<running to hide behind the couch now...

I've been reading Don Hamilton's Homeopathic Care for Cats & Dogs and he talks about various herbal rinses which can repel fleas - lavendar, eucalyptus and pennyroyal (on dogs but not cats). He also recommends a lemon rinse - "steep a cut-up lemon or two in a quart of boiling water and allow to cool. Use the liquid as a rinse or sponge it onto the coat."

The woman who runs the Music City Pug Rescue swears by this mixture. She is strictly a holistic person and does not use any chemicals.

Take 1 lemon and cut in thin, round pieces and place in bowl

Add 2 tsp of either dried or fresh Rosemary and add to bowl

Take 1 quart of water and pour in bowl and let sit overnight.

Strain and pour into a water bottle.

You will then squirt the fur on the animals.

I haven't tried it as I am just too afraid of getting a flea infestation.

Mel wrote:good thing about living in the desert....no fleas.

Amen, Mel! Penny gets the Heartguard May through October (there actually have been a couple of cases of heartworm in Nevada)(!), and she gets Frontline when we are going to flea country. She got it before we did a California vacation in April, and she's gonna get some before we do the Colorado/Ohio/Connecticut/Indiana/Utah trip this summer. She got fleas right before we left Ohio - I'd been doing the natural thing with citronella and lemon oil, and poor baby got infested.