Fleas are easy to prevent and hard to eliminate. This is the time of year to consider this because as the weather warms up, the fleas are going to become more active.
Some Available products:
Frontline - excellent product, one of the best. Kills adult fleas and ticks.
Comfortis - new drug on the market. Spinosad. Known in organic circles as a new organic pesticide. Apparently it works very well.
Advantage - excellent against fleas, no tick control.
Advantix - Advantage with an added tick control. CAN'T USE ON CATS - IT COULD BE FATAL.
Sentinel - this is a heartworm preventative that has an added drug that inhibits fleas from reproducing. Does NOT kill adults.
Capstar - Kills adult fleas. REALLY quick. Very safe. Only lasts 24hrs.
Revolution - heartworm preventative that also kills fleas and is OK against ticks, but really not that good against ticks. Good product.
Promeris - New product that kills fleas and ticks. Supposed to be pretty good. Can control ticks well.
Flea shampoo - DON'T waste your time!
Biospot or other similar - I won't lie and say they don't work - but their safety margin sucks. Put dog Biospot on a cat and you'd better have money in the bank to treat the cat in the emergency room. It might just kill the cat. They also wash off quickly. They're cheap, but I can't tell you how many cat or dog toxicities I've treated from this product.
You can comb the fleas out, you can spray the yard, you can put those silly little light traps, but they won't get you far. 90% of the flea population is juvenille and lives off the dog/cat. You've got to either have 1) continuous control of the adults or 2) use a product that kills the juvenilles.
Frontline is rediculously safe (on anything but a rabbit) and is a great first choice. Flea prevention is so important it's one of those times that I don't mind using something that's technically a pesticide. There are no "organic" options that work as well. Garlic, orange oil, powders help - but they will not prevent an infestation. Frankly, if I can use Frontline every 1-3 months and avoid an infestation, I've used WAY less chemical than what is required to treat an infestation once started (organic or otherwise).
I'll post again sometime about flea control in the environment.
AMH
Some Available products:
Frontline - excellent product, one of the best. Kills adult fleas and ticks.
Comfortis - new drug on the market. Spinosad. Known in organic circles as a new organic pesticide. Apparently it works very well.
Advantage - excellent against fleas, no tick control.
Advantix - Advantage with an added tick control. CAN'T USE ON CATS - IT COULD BE FATAL.
Sentinel - this is a heartworm preventative that has an added drug that inhibits fleas from reproducing. Does NOT kill adults.
Capstar - Kills adult fleas. REALLY quick. Very safe. Only lasts 24hrs.
Revolution - heartworm preventative that also kills fleas and is OK against ticks, but really not that good against ticks. Good product.
Promeris - New product that kills fleas and ticks. Supposed to be pretty good. Can control ticks well.
Flea shampoo - DON'T waste your time!
Biospot or other similar - I won't lie and say they don't work - but their safety margin sucks. Put dog Biospot on a cat and you'd better have money in the bank to treat the cat in the emergency room. It might just kill the cat. They also wash off quickly. They're cheap, but I can't tell you how many cat or dog toxicities I've treated from this product.
You can comb the fleas out, you can spray the yard, you can put those silly little light traps, but they won't get you far. 90% of the flea population is juvenille and lives off the dog/cat. You've got to either have 1) continuous control of the adults or 2) use a product that kills the juvenilles.
Frontline is rediculously safe (on anything but a rabbit) and is a great first choice. Flea prevention is so important it's one of those times that I don't mind using something that's technically a pesticide. There are no "organic" options that work as well. Garlic, orange oil, powders help - but they will not prevent an infestation. Frankly, if I can use Frontline every 1-3 months and avoid an infestation, I've used WAY less chemical than what is required to treat an infestation once started (organic or otherwise).
I'll post again sometime about flea control in the environment.
AMH
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