Hello until recently I always used flea shampoo and a milbemax tablet every three months on my dogs. When I last went to the vets they said I should use a spot on as the shampoo isnt killing the fleas and eggs. They gave me ADVOCATE and told me not to worm them as it does ir all in one.
I went back for another pack the next month and it looked the same but was called ADVANTIX so I put it on and all was fine.
However I went back to the vets today and the receptionist gave me something completley different called ADVANTAGE. I asked what it was and she said has the same indegredients as the others.

I got home and looked and there all different.

So could someone please tell me what I should be using out of the three and also if I need to worm them aswell.

They get fleas alot from all the other dogs on walks.

]thanks

> They get fleas alot from all the other dogs on walks.

This is very unlikely, mien socialise a lot, go to shows, and don't get fleas.

The most likely way they pick up fleas is if you have a free ranging cat,a nd when you have had fleas the house has not been treated to stop them breeding.

Fleas only spend 20% of their time on the dog, the rest of the time and life stages are in your home.

There are products like RIP and Acclaim that contain insect growth regulator, and will first kill adult fleas in the environment (where most of them will be) and then stop any from hatching for 6 or 12 months.

I use the household one if I think there is the need and would treat the dogs themselves with an insecticidal shampoo bath at the same time.  My prefered shampoo for Baths is one anyway Vetzyme JDS.

If your dogs have fleas they will be almost guaranteed to have tapeworm.

I have to say though, like Brainless, I go to a lot of shows, also training classes, and we live in an area with a lot of wild rabbits, and I've not seen fleas for years and years. Hence I never treat for them. We don't have carpets though.

I'm sure I read somewhere that dog fleas are almost non existent and dogs that do have fleas are actually cat fleas!

My dogs mix with alot of dogs too and never have fleas, so I'd be tempted to treat your carpets/dogs bedding etc too and hopefully you can break the cycle.

There is a tendency to think that fleas are only active in the summer months but this is not the case.  They breed and lie dormant in your carpets and as soon as your heating comes on, they come alive, and so the cycle starts again.

I can not help you with the products you are using, however I have never had fleas at home, neither has my dog.
I use 2 products only from the vets -

Frontline flea drops, administered twice a year (just at the back of dogs neck directly on to on the skin)
Indorex spray, administered twice a year (throughout the home, on all soft furnishings, including bedding, and carpet if any).

I presume this is why my home or my dog has never had fleas. But I don't have carpets and I like the home to be cool and airy so I don't use much central heating, front door is always open, when I'm home (unless it's freezing). So maybe I wouldn't have fleas anyway. I just got into this routine, and stuck to it.

Mine sometimes pick them up usually from the vets but sometimes from our field I too also blame the cats that hunt in our field but do also wonder if it is foxes as well. They are easy to clear providing you do the house as well, in fact and in theory they should be cleared if you only do the house as adult fleas do not remain on the dog they only hop on the dogs or you for a feed so doing the house should do the trick.

Hi I work in a vets they are all very good stuff, advocate only does round worms not tapeworms so really you should an additional worming tablet, it's good as it does various types of mites, advantix you have to be v careful as the product is toxic to cats, I would personally never use in a household with cats it's not worth the risk imo
I have 3 dogs I don't treat for fleas unless I have a problem, I don't like the thought of putting chemicals on every month, I go to shows too, I also have 3 cats who I maybe treat for fleas 3 months??

just adding to the thread, not aimed at anyone in particular:
I thought modern spot-on treatment had a residual affect? ie they kill all fleas of all ages on the animal but they also kill any that come in contact with it in the next few days/weeks. otherwise unless they kill eggs then as soon as there is a new hatch you are back to square one. if this is true then is an environmental spray necessary as assuming they need to feed at least every 48 hours they will have to check in at the nearest host and get a belly full of toxic blood :) they can't survive without feeding for long surely and whilst I know humans get bitten I don't think I'd support a household flea population without noticing (yuck!) 

I never see fleas on mine but treat them with frontline if I start getting mysterious little red bumps on my skin.

I never see fleas on mine but treat them with frontline if I start getting mysterious little red bumps on my skin.

If you don't see fleas or flea dirt but get a reaction yourself, my bet would be on cheyletiella and not fleas.

Believe the juvenile stages can manage without food for months.

Never had a flea problem in over two decades with multiple dogs in the household, a thriving wildlife population passing through my garden and the dogs travelling the length and breadth of the UK to shows meeting literally thousands of other dogs.

I add a little minced garlic to their diet now and again, groom thoroughly and very regularly and keep carpets, soft furnishings, skirting boards etc well vacuumed.  Presumably that routine works as we enjoy a flea free environment and always have done despite foxes, hedgehogs, cats etc frequently 'passing through' :)

I don't like using unnecessary chemicals on my dogs and so don't use treatments that allegedly kill off all sorts when applied to the back of their necks - if I want to treat an internal problem such as worms then I use drontal plus or similar and even then wouldn't do so every 3 months.  Drug manufacturers and vets have fairly recently begun promoting prescription drugs be used every 3 months when not so long ago twice yearly was deemed very acceptable.  Methinks it's a way of clawing back a drop in income since boosters have been stretched further apart but that's only my opinion.

I agree that the flea problem you have is unlikely to be a problem with dog fleas - rather other animals in the environment or a need for a thorough steam cleaning of soft furnishings, carpets, cracks between floors and skirting and basically any little nooks and crannies that the horrible little critters find their way into.

HTH,
regards, Teri

pretty sure theyre different,dog fleas are black,and cat fleas are brownish and bigger.At least,the ones ive seen are.Ive also read that dog or cat fleas will bite other than their chosen host,including us,if its not available!Foul critturs!

I never see fleas on my 2 dogs either and they have garlic added to their food most days, regularly groomed and showered regularly with neem shampoo!

Hi Kanefizz,

Advantage - This is just for fleas and lice(No Wormer)
Advocate - This is for fleas and many types of worms(But not Tapeworm) - Need to add something like Drontal Plus with that
Advantix - This is for fleas, ticks, sand flies, mozzies and stable flies - So need a wormer for this too.

I use Drontal plus and buy it in bulk on offer from an online pharmacy and use Advocate on top of that, aside from that we've never had flea issues with our dogs, but the cats do - normally when they've caught an animal...

Like Teri I believe the drug companies are only interested in their own profits.

I feed my dogs a Raw Meaty Bone Diet as Raw Fed dogs are naturally much more resilient to fleas and worms and I haven't seen a flea on my dogs for 5 years.

I use a natural product called Diatomateous Earth as a precaution and a safeguard if I have youngsters around. Its a fine white powder containing the skeletons of microscopic diatoms which are found in all the rock layers where there has been water. It works by cutting the cuticles of parasites whether that be fleas or worms (or any other creepy crawley things) and dehydrating them.

For puppies I just add a teaspoon to their Raw Mince every day for 30 days from 3 weeks old in case of worms....and lightly dust their coats with it avoiding eyes and nose once a week from 6 weeks old in case of fleas. (I live out in the countryside and my home is frequented by all sorts of wildlife plus several wild cats who have made their home in the outbuildings....as they now know I'll put chicken mince and chicken wings out for them every day :)

I have to say the number of dogs coming into my salon with fleas seems to have increased dramatically this year,its been horrendous.Even dogs which I've been grooming for years and had previously never had fleas have come in badly infested.This is in spite of having notices stating we won't groom dogs with any signs of fleas-so owners are just not aware of them.
It does seem that Frontline isn't working any more in a lot of cases.http://hubpages.com/hub/Frontline-Does-Not-Work  There are some interesting comments after this article- most are from people in the States where fleas are generally more of a problem than over here.Interesting that some people are using food-grade Diatomaceous earth and find it works well-I've never tried this myself.Also a couple of people have mentioned Comfortis(does anyone know if this is available over here?). I have switched my Aussie(who is very allergic to fleas and has spent several weeks on steroids and antibiotics this summer) over to Practic so will see how she goes.I don't want to put her onto Advantge or Advocate which do seem to be more effective because of her breed(and she hasn't been MDR1 tested).She does have Capstar tablets if we get dogs with fleas in the salon.She also has Billy No Mates but to be honest this doesn't seem to help at all.
The situation does seem to be pretty bad at the moment.

Surely it's like everything else?  If you continually dose animals with chemicals then the fleas become resistant. 
Just the reason why doctors don't give out antibiotics like Smarties as they used to, but Vets are still prescribing wormers and flea treatment as a matter of routine.  :(

For the first time in 11 years, my dogs 'had fleas' this summer :( They have always had garlic added to their food and we don't have cats :) :) We have a large garden with the usual wildlife - birds, pheasants, hedgehogs, foxes, rabbits (and deer in winter). We noticed several fleas on the dogs - mostly on their faces - over several days. I am sure, purely down to rummaging in the undergrowth. Now, no 'treatment' is going to stop fleas jumping onto dogs . We had no idea whether the fleas were biting or laying eggs (fortunately we have no carpets), so the only reasonable thing to do was to Frontline (I don't do this routinely). I am afraid that I wasn't prepared to wait and see if the garlic prevented an infestation :) :) (My younger dog is also an Aussie, but doesn't seem to have any allergies :) )

Hopefully next summer won't be as bad, fleawise, as this year :) :)

Daisy