Hi, just thinking ahead.  I currently use CSJ Billy No Mates, but it's not advised for a pregnant bitch.  Anyone use anything similar that is OK?
No suggestions for spot-on treatments though please, I will never, ever use these again.

Hi

Frontline is apparently safe to use in pregnant bitches, although i would use it before and after pregnancy where possible x

Just re-read your post and am sorry ......you didn't want 'spot on' info, hope someone else can help x

Frontline Spray - though do check first with a vet. It is more versatile and less heavy than the spot ons.

EDIT: found a previous thread:
http://www.champdogsforum.co.uk/board/topic/42647.html

Sorry, should have said spot-on or Frontline spray!  I know one of the 5% of dogs in which the chemical gets into the bloodstream ... will never be used in my house again.

Ta for replying though :-)

Must admit I used the Frontline spray every three months on my lot (my oldest at that time got hot spots in summer, and vet suspected reaction to fleas, even though we never found evidence of any on her) until the end of 2005.

When two of mien had a reaction and were very itchy and chewed their coats to bits, which meant they looked moth eaten and then had dark spots  when the coat grew back for months.

So now I don't routinely use any flea treatments and instead bought a gallon of Vetzyme JDS insecticidal shampoo, the one with the old pyrethrum extract.  My dog s get bathed for shows a couple of times a year, and none have had fleas in all that time.

I bought a can of Acclaim to treat the house as if you do get fleas that is where most of the problem will be, but have yet to use it, as have had no flea issues, in all the time I have owned the Elkhounds, and if there are fleas I am the first to be eaten alive, and had to point out to step Mum that Sheba their cat had them..

I probably don't need to worry about it I guess, it's not forever. We haven't got/had fleas, we do get ticks but they're easy to deal with.  I've got a cat but she's an inside cat so she's not a problem.  I'll maybe just get a shampoo to have by me just in case. 
Actually I did remove a flea from my girly last year, I was a bit horrified.  We'd just been chatting to my neighbour who'd asked me to look at her young dog's very red belly. It was a flea allergy, though she didn't like me saying so :-( ... we know where we got the visitor from!  Fortunately it was only the one visitor!!

Advantage

Ta for post, but wont go anywhere near that one either. It's another spot on that works by the chemical spreading itself through the lipid layer of the skin, throughout the body. Don't know the figures, but guess a similar amount to Frontline, and the others, in that some will get it into the bloodstream :-( :-(  That's not good by the way!
It's not for use in pregnant bitches - no studies even carried out.  Plus it's another one that caution is drawn if you have a collie, old english sheepdog or those crosses.

Why do you need to flea treat a bitch when pregnant? I never flea treat my dogs unless they get fleas -and that hasn't happened for many years now, despite us living in a rural area full of wild rabbits with fleas. I don't agree with treating for the sake of it, and especially not when pregnant.

www.karenruggles.co.uk (you will have to check re- pregnant bitch thought)

> despite us living in a rural area full of wild rabbits with fleas.

Rabbit and Hedgehog fleas are host specific, as are dog fleas.

The fleas most commonly found on our household pets and that are most likely to bite us are Cat fleas, as they happily feed of anything warm blooded.

I regularly just put a nit comb through my dogs and drown the litter bu**ers ;-) The fleas, not the dogs :-p I suppose it would depend on your breed. I wouldn't like to try doing this with an Elkhound :-D

I don't think the little blighters like the Elkhound coat

Rabbit and Hedgehog fleas are host specific, as are dog fleas.

Wouldn't have thought so, as our CATS got fleas as soon as we moved here and it could only have come from the wild rabbits.

The first house we bought was infested with fleas because the previous owners had a cat.

But rabbit fleas certainly leap to a new host a feed, even if briefly. Harry's head (and my hand!) were brown and crawling with fleas from one rabbit he caught, and the little perishers transferred their 'affections'!

Like you Barbara we also use Vetzyme JDS shampoo & don't have a problem.

Like you Barbara we use Vetzyme JDS shampoo & don't get any problems.