What is anyone using to control fleas. I'm finding Frontline is no more effective than a pet shop preparation. In fact I am now trying the old fashioned flea collars and fingers crossed.

Garlic in the dogs food daily :)

>Garlic in the dogs food daily<

Couldn't agree more, IMHO there is no better deterrent :-)

the stuff from the pet shops is rubbish im afraid, a waste of money, and can often make pets ill as they overdose. the flea collars are infamous for causing skin problems at the area and also baldness. are you treating your house as well as the dog? if not, its a vicious cycle of re-infestation. there can be hundreds of them living in your carpets and skirting boards.

Thanks ice_queen. I've often thought of trying Garlic. What sort of dose would you recommend? I would feel happier using a natural product, as they are all BARF fed.

I agree with you wholeheartedly, but Frontline doesn't seem to last more than a fortnight and two of mine suffered bald patches from it last time. Yes I do treat everything. All bedding is washed very frequently and my skirting boards and corners get vacuumed every time and I spray as well. I haven't seen any fleas or flea dirt on them, but thay all seem to be scratching more than usual-unless it's just the warm weather and moulting causing it?

have you had them checked by a vet? its possible they have skin allergies or some form of mite if they are scratching a lot? fleas arent always seen, but generally if you look hard enough you will find some evidence of them, so possible not that.
if frontline isnt effective, you can ask your vet for other products that may be more suited to your dogs? also, have you any cats or other dogs that visit, it could be possible they are bringing them into the house?

I have suspected for a while it may be the latter. My partner visits with two dogs, and I'm not convinced they are treated as often as they should. However, it's hard to say because apparently they're not scratching. I'll speak to my vets and see what they suggest.

I'm using a natural product called Billy No Mates!!   It's a herbal mixture which you just sprinkle over the dogs food.  It contains a mixture of different herbs which are supposed to help repel ticks and fleas.  I'm using it mainly because of the amount of ticks mine seem to pick up and I think  frontline is useless against ticks.

You can get it from CSJ dog food site.

Looks like I've got a fair few options to try. I just think that fleas are becoming resistant to Frontline. I've used the 'spot on' and the pump spray with similar results.

How much garlic would you give a 25kg dog?  Is it just one clove a day?

I JUST USE ADVOCATE ON MY DOG WHICH COVERS WORMS AND FLEAS

My dogs are feed on BARF.When I chop up their veggies I add about 4 cloves of garlic which is shared between 4 dogs.In the past I have given then 1 garlic capsule each.Really cheap to buy in Asda or Tescos.No problems with fleas.

They've all had their garlic capsules tonight-stuffed their raw meat with them. I'm leaving the nasty collars on though for a week, to give the garlic chance to do its stuff. If not, then I shall seek some Advocate and give it a whirl.

The garlic will not kill the fleas, just deter them from the dog so I would advise you treat your house if you find any signs of them due to them living/breeding in carpets etc.

yes, I've treated everywhere after vacuuming. They have stopped scratching since I put the nasty collars on, but then I remembered today, that just prior to them all scratching, I had walked them around some fields, where the farmer was weedkilling with a huge crop sprayer at a distance. He had placed signs near the end of the walk, but not at the beginning! Who knows? I have Piriton, but as I say, they seem to have stopped scratching so I'll just monitor them.

Advantix for last year and this and no sign of fleas but its expensive.

I just paid over £50 for flea spray for my puppy and home! Im still in shock- my goodness how expensive?!

To be honest I'm not even sure he has fleas- I found a bug on him yesterday so bought it all- best to be carefull!

Garlic added to the food,  sometimes brewers yeast and pumpkin seeds too

I think it was about £25 for 3 months supply