Flea, tick & worm preventatives....how to choose?
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| Most heartworm preventatives will keep most of the other minor worms away, too, so you shouldn't need to worry about worms too much if you're already using a preventative for heartworm.
I don't normally give flea and tick preventatives but this year we have some mangy looking dogs next door. They get next to our guys at the fence line and, of course, our yards touch so, for the first time, I'm a little worried so we're starting Frontline. It's more for my Komondor because after 2 years of growing his cords, I don't want anything to jeopardize them! |
| I use the once a month chewable tablet of Interceptor for heartworm, May thru December. I have used the regular Frontline ever since it came out over 10 years ago. I apply it once every other month April thru Dec. And I worm my dogs once a year orally with Panacur. I have been very happy with all 3 of these products. I have yet (knock on wood) to see a flea or tick on any of my dogs since using the Frontline. They have all been in various stages fo coat growth too....shaved, puppy cuts, full show coats.....any combination you can imagine. And I live in the country surrounded on 3 sides by farm fields. |
| I did a little research & spent WAY too much time creating a spreadsheet that compares all the popular products. I got this information from the specific websites of each product.
I've decided that I am going to use Revolution for both my dog & cat. My 2nd option would be to use Frontline Plus combined with Interceptor tablet for heartworm - but that is significantly more expensive than Revolution which does the same job, with the added protection from mites! View my comparison spreadsheet: http://www.lostinclouds.com/FLEA%20MED%20COMPARISON.xls |
| All the prices I listed were for 6 dose packages - I was surprised how much the prices vary among different online stores. I am going to check how much my vet sells them for. |
| after years of sucess with front;ine last year we picked up what appear to be resistant fleas. we switched to advantage - which is supposed to be better at fleas and finally seem to have mostly cleared them up. we are switching to premeris for the summer to ensure no more resistent fleas.
I also have been told two new products are coming out in the late summer early fall. if your dog gets tapeworm I would suspect you have an uncontrolled flea problem - sometimes it isn't all that noticeable. One other thing - I know the online products are supossed to be the same as whatthe vet sells but I never find them to be as effective. Oh we also use heartguard (I think I always forget which one I use and the receptionist has to show me the boxes) |
kerry wrote: after years of sucess with frontline last year we picked up what appear to be resistant fleas. I've actually heard of a few stories about fleas becoming resistant to Frontline products. kerry wrote: I know the online products are supossed to be the same as what the vet sells but I never find them to be as effective
I've heard this before as well, including from my vet, who said that online products are weaker and sometimes "placebos", but I find this hard to believe - aren't all the products of a given brand from the same manufacturer? I highly doubt that online websites get knock-off forumulas from an underground warehouse that slaps the brand name logo on its box....but hey, I could be wrong. |
| Great spreadsheet, Zooba07! I like the side-by-side comparison. I've used both Frontline and Advantage in the past. I stopped using Frontline because it just doesn't do enough for fleas. The Advantage works significantly better on the fleas. Of course, it does not kill ticks. But hey, I figure, I can SEE a TICK and get it off, but I can't do that with those pesky fleas.
I currently use Triheart for HW preventative. I'm going to look into the Revolution now, though. I have price checked my vet's prices against all the online pet meds sites (that I know of) and my vet is as cheap as any of them and cheaper than some, especially considering I don't have to pay for shipping. So, I'm fortunate in that regard. I'm planning on stopping by there at lunch today to pick up both Advantage and Tri-Heart. Unless.... Has anyone used Revolution? How does it do on fleas?? We usually have a terrible time with them since it never gets cold enough here to kill them. If someone has used it and had great success in the southern climate, please speak up and I might buy that today and try it instead. Have to check to make sure none of this will bother Genevieve under the current circumstances, though.  |
| I don't know why but my sister's vet refuses to prescribe revlution (she is in the south too and has your issues with weather plus!)
I have something in the back of my mind about safety issues with revolution as well. |
| Ya know? I thought I remembered something about that, too, but wasn't sure what it was. |
I used Revolution on my cats 2 summers ago, before I had a dog. It seemed effective for fleas - we never got any. It is what my vet was promoting at the time and I got a couple free samples. I stopped using in the winter because my cats were indoors and in MI we are too cold for fleas. When we moved, and once I got a dog, I used Advantage because that's what the vet had, but again I was only using in the summer. I never really payed very much attention to the difference in the products, hence my spreadsheet 
Now that I live in VA in a warmer climate, I want to make sure I do a better job of keeping up on it. Espcially after the one month I skipped the flea preventative....guess what, we got fleas, and I DONT want to deal with that again. Anyway, I haven't heard of health concerns with Revolution, but i will look into it. anyone w/ info on Revoultion, please post. |
| My vet doesn't sell it for dogs - only cats - wonder if that's related to the problem there was with the product. Need to do some research. |
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