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MissMillie

(38,452 posts)
Sun Nov 3, 2019, 02:14 PM Nov 2019

Are fleas becoming resistant to the treatment we apply to our pets?

We've treated them all (4 dogs and the cat), every month, for the last 3 months... washed all their bedding, even giving them flea baths before each treatment.

Can't seem to get rid of the damned fleas.

Poor Happy has scratched himself raw.

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oregonjen

(3,316 posts)
3. Make sure you're also vacuuming your house
Sun Nov 3, 2019, 02:30 PM
Nov 2019

We had a terrible time with fleas one year because they hatched in the house. Didn’t want to do the nasty chemical flea bombing, so I vacuumed A LOT! That helped.

happybird

(4,515 posts)
4. Yep. Different OTC ones work (or no longer work) in different regions
Sun Nov 3, 2019, 02:34 PM
Nov 2019

We found out about this the hard way several years ago. We now refer to those months as the Great Infestation of 2012. It was awful, I felt so bad for our babies.

The fleas here (VA/MD/DC) have built up an immunity to fipronil, the active ingredient in Frontline. It kills the live fleas but no longer kills the eggs, so they keep hatching out and you can’t stay ahead of them.

Advantage (imidacloprid) works here, as do the newer Rx ones from the vet. As soon as we switched to Advantage our problem was solved. Thankfully, it’s still working on my girls.

From what I’ve heard, it’s the opposite on the west coast- Advantage has lost it’s effectiveness but Frontline still works. Don’t know if that’s true but thought it was interesting.

Good luck to you.

in2herbs

(2,942 posts)
8. Luckily we don't have fleas in the desert SW. If you go up to areas of the state that have
Sun Nov 3, 2019, 03:16 PM
Nov 2019

"seasons" you'll find fleas. I use DE (diatomaceous earth) outside a lot, especially for scorpions. Tried DE one year on my horses for flies but didn't work, but from the street my dark bay horses looked like Paint horses. Make sure you don't use pool DE. It must be food grade which you can buy at a feed store.

fleur-de-lisa

(14,615 posts)
6. Yes, even prescription flea medication.
Sun Nov 3, 2019, 02:41 PM
Nov 2019

I can’t give my cats OTC medication or even some prescriptions because they are sensitive to it. My vet has prescribed Revolution for them for years. I saw her a few months ago and she said fleas in the US have become resistant to current formulas. The makers of Revolution have slightly changed the formula to add a new ingredient (I think it’s called Revolution Plus or something). The last dose of the new stuff worked.

emmaverybo

(8,144 posts)
7. I had good results with Revolution. I know it sounds weird, but during the worst infestation we
Sun Nov 3, 2019, 02:56 PM
Nov 2019

ever experienced, I cleaned every nook and cranny with baking soda and vinegar to avoid using
toxic stuff. Worked. Of course we had to use the real stuff on the dogs,

Since moving out of our apartment building, which had other dogs, we have our yard sprayed every three months. At least my one dog has not had the flea allergy he had before when exposed to the lobby carpet other dogs traversed. Vet said we don’t need Revolution now—we had some kind of mites we thought were biting us, but no more.

We use Simparica. So far, so good.

Never found any home remedies to work on the dogs. I hate using poisons on them.

dewsgirl

(14,961 posts)
10. It sounds ridiculous, but try Skin So Soft the original body oil.
Sun Nov 3, 2019, 03:46 PM
Nov 2019

It worked like a charm when the others stopped working.

Karadeniz

(22,267 posts)
11. You're using a quality apply-on vial? When we lived in a suburb, we only had neighbors to the sides
Sun Nov 3, 2019, 03:59 PM
Nov 2019

Noone behind (golf course) or across the street (cliff). One neighbor never had a pet, the other had a talking pittie. No flea problems ever. Then the pittie family moved, replaced by a family with two monster dogs who hung menacingly over the short fence, driving our angels crazy. And the fleas came!

I ended up going to a Chem-co store and treated the entire back yard, maybe twice, and the inside of the house. Got rid of them, so it can be done!!! For grass, you need a chem. Which stops the surface tension on the grass blades so that the flea killer will slide down. Like someone said above, vacuum the spit out of your house! Wash bedding!

japple

(9,773 posts)
12. Read up on Diatomaceous Earth (DE) I live in NE GA and the only thing that works for fleas
Sun Nov 3, 2019, 08:35 PM
Nov 2019

on my indoor cats is Revolution and Revolution plus. I have 3 indoor only cats and one indoor/outdoor cat. In addition, my niece/neighbor's dogs hang out on our porch. I have found that Cedarcide (derived from cedar oil,) when applied around the doors and on their bedding, works well to keep the fleas from entering our house. I tried Seresto collars on them, but they only worked for 2-3 mos. I now use Frontline Plus on the dogs and spray Cedarcide on their bedding and around the perimeter of the porch. I use Revolution Plus on my indoor/outdoor cat and and Revolution on my indoor cats. My sister's cat died of heartworm disease last year and it was heartbreaking to witness his last moments. We did not realize that cats could contract this disease, but a vet confirmed that they do, in fact, need protection from mosquitoes, esp. in the SE USA. The vet said that cats cannot be tested for heartworm since they are not a natural host for heartworm.

https://www.cedarcide.com/product/cedarcide-original-biting-insect-spray/

Response to MissMillie (Original post)

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