Oh, Fleas !

I'll tell you, coming from a pet professional, these last few years have been a heck of one for fleas. It seems flea and tick treatments have become less effective every year. And flea and tick dips seem to be so watered down that they don't even kill on contact like they did in previous years. I don't know if we have changed the chemicals or if the bugs are just adapting to what we are using but here are a few things I've changed up in my personal home to combat fleas/ticks.

First off, oral flea medicines are still one of the best lines of defense against fleas if you are seeing an active flea problem. You can argue about the ingredients/toxins but when my pet is red/itchy/miserable with fleas, the number one way to give them relief is going to be oral mediciation. This year, I'm using Simpartico trio for my pets.

The second thing I'm going to address is the yard and home. Treating all sleeping areas, washing all bedding, vaccuuming carpeting, and spraying all grass and yard areas is going to be important if your finding fleas on your pet. I've used PetArmor and Vets Best Sprays for the Home and Yard. Essential oils such as peppermint, lavender, and cedarwood can all be effective natural alternatives to use just be mindful of using them properly.

Third, I'm going to be using a flea comb and checking for fleas even if I'm doing the above two items because fleas can occur in cycles and doing daily or every other day checks just to make sure your ahead of the problem is going to be important. Fleas tend to be visible on the tummy/base of tail but don't trust just parting the hair and being able to see them.

Forth, I'm going to use some food addatives. Years ago when I had an epileptic dog who couldn't be on any oral flea medication, we instead used garlic and brewer yeast tablets in combination with seresto flea collars. This year I'm using Vet Treat brand chews but specifically looking for something that includes Brewers Yeast and anything that boost the immune system and helps treat the symptoms of flea bites (itchy skin, etc).

Fifth .... flea dips. Flea dips are something I'm a bit on the fence about. I grew up working in a groom shop where a flea dip would bring all the fleas to the surface and bring the pet instant relief to where oral medications wouldn't always be necessary. These days, the concentrations seem... well... worthless. During a recent trip to a petstore, I couldn't find a single dip with any active ingredients worth a darn. I purchased two types to test out, allowed it to sit the proper amount of time and still found the fleas active in the dip solution. I'm typically of the opinion that something is better than nothing but in the future I'm probably going to use a flea comb and Chlorhexedine shampoo for itch relief rather than worry about a flea dip.

Finally, the one thing I'll ultimately avoid .... any cheap flea and tick topicals. There are a lot of imitation and knock off version of flea and tick products to beware that you are getting the REAL things. Serresto has had many knock offs sold of their collars on discount websites. Rule of thumb is if the price sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Avoid any discount flea products (yes the dollar store use to sell flea meds!) ... thats one place I'll invest in good quality products for my pet.