Frontline failure

[N80]

My dog has fleas. That might not sound unusual but he is seven years old and this is the first time he's ever had fleas because we've always used Frontline and it has worked incredibly well. There was one brief time when we used Advantage (?) and it did not work as well. But no problems with the Frontline until now.

Anyway, he has fleas and now there are fleas in the house. We sprayed him with flea spray (basically a rapid acting insecticide for pets ), re-applied Frontline and bug bombed the house. No go. He still has 'em and so do we.

What gives? Anyone heard of recent failures with Frontline? Is there anything better?

 

[tallyho8]

I have heard of no problems with Frontline and believe it to be a top quality product. I believe that all insects have cycles just like the 17 year cycle for locusts. During a flea cycle, which can be determined by weather or other factors, fleas will be much worse than normal and regular methods will not conquer them. You must treat the environment around you. Simply treating the dog will not suffice.

Also, a dog in poor health will attract more fleas than a healthy dog. Aging dogs frequently require different nutrients and a different exercise regimen to remain healthy.

Happy, healthy dogs have less fleas.

 

[N80]

Yep, up until now the Frontline has been amazing. Maybe it is just a cycle. And he is very healthy and very happy (i.e. spoiled rotten).

I may need to spray the house myself rather than just relying on bug bombs.

 

[Redneck_Randy]

We have 4 dogs and live in the country and believe me we have had flee problems before even using prescription Frontline. The best product I have found to take care of flees in the home is Hartz home flee and tick killer. If you spray with it you have to spray under cushions, sofa, bed and then spray the top of the carpet. Once you start spraying it will take about 5 days before you notice anything and then you spray again.

 

[Stimw]

Do you have a cat?
At my last house we had a neighborhood infestation. My neighbor had his yard sprayed by pros three times to get rid of them. I called an epidemi--- (Bug Man) at the local university and he told me there are dog fleas and cat fleas. He said cat fleas are tough to get ride of. He also said use pesticide with Permethrin for them. I did and it worked! A lot of the popular over the counter brands have Permethrin in them just check the label.

 

[polo1665]

Yep, up until now the Frontline has been amazing. Maybe it is just a cycle. And he is very healthy and very happy (i.e. spoiled rotten).

I may need to spray the house myself rather than just relying on bug bombs.

Bombing or spraying the house once generally won't get it. You will kill the adult fleas but the eggs will remain. The eggs will hatch and you will start all over again. Fleas can be hard to get rid of. If spraying does not do it consider calling an exterminator, or consulting one anyhow.

Good luck

Mark

 

[Gary51]

N80- I had the exact same problem. I used Frontline twice a year for the last two years. This year I have applied it twice, 30 days apart, and it never killed a single flea. I even called Merial in Georgia to see if there had been a formula change or even a recall on there product. They assured me there was nothing wrong with their product and if it wasn't killing the fleas it HAD to be wild animals coming up to my house and re-infesting my dogs. She couldn't answer why no wild animals were re-infesting my dogs the last two years when the product would immediately reduce the fleas. She also didn't seem to understand that with 5 catahoulas and black mouth curs inside my fence that wild animals were not a problem.
I know that in the past when using flea poision that worked, you could see sick and dying fleas very quickly. I've not seen a sick flea yet this year with their product.
I've gone back to using a homemade batch of dip I've used before and have good control on the fleas again. I guess the wild animals quit coming to the house about the same time.
I won't spend $65 again for a product from a company that is not concerned that they may have had a bad batch, instead just blame the consumer.

 

[Bird]

I guess we've been lucky. Right now we giving our mutt a Sentinel Flavor Tab once a month that is supposed to prevent both heartworms and fleas. Only once, and that was many years ago, have we had a flea problem. We had a poodle at the time, and on the advise of our vet, I got some liquid Sevin (or sometimes called flowable Sevin), mixed it in a big bucket and dipped the dog right up to his ears in it. Then I strained that same mixture into a sprayer and sprayed the backyard with it. One treatment did the job.

 

[N80]

We do not have a cat, but that brings up an interesting point. When we had the cat but before the dog came, we fought fleas off and on. When we got the dog and started using Frontline even the fleas on the cat disappeared.

Wife bombed the house again today. Truth is, for whatever reason fleas bite her and not me, so she obsessing about this right now.

So we'll see what happens.

I'll admit, I also suspect something is up with the Frontline. Seven years of perfect protection and then fleas all of a sudden just doesn't compute. A bad flea cycle, perfect weather conditions, wild animals could possibly be an explanation but it seems like we've had those conditions in the last seven years too. Who knows.

 

[HickoryNut]

Frontline failed us last year. My vet theorized to me that fleas have developed an immunity to it over the years and sold me Advantage and we've had no fleas yet this year, although we never really got rid of them last year. We treat the dog (Lab) every 30 days year round.

We also had skunks everywhere last year but none this year, might be a factor.

 

[N80]

That's interesting, and it does make you wonder if the fleas, our fleas anyway, have developed some resistence. We have also used the Frontline every month, for the last seven years.

The odd thing is is that this got started when someone left the front door to our cabin open. When we came back there had been mice in the house. We caught them in traps, literally within an hour of putting the traps out. Mice never came back but they left the fleas. We bug bombed the cabin and there have been no more fleas there.

So, it may be time to try Advantage or the oral tablet.

 

[dmccarty]

Thankfully I have not had a flea problem in years....

When I did have a flea problem I found a flea spray/bomb that killed both the flea eggs and fleas. Read the back of the cans.

I also put into the carpet Borax. Its supposed to kill bugs and is something my granny used. At the time I used XX Mule team detergent. I would dump it on the carpet and spread it with a rake. Let it sit for awhile and the vacuum it up. Course alot of it stayed in the carpet but you could not see it. Make sure you pay attention when you get the detergent from under the sink. You don't want to grab the dishwasher detergent and spread that in the carpet.

The carpet did sparkle.....

I can say that the borax worked totally but no more fleas.

Our house has finished concrete floors. No carpet. Hard for fleas to live on concrete. Same with ticks.

Later,
Dan

 

[N80]

Totally off topic here, but tell me about your floors. My whole downstairs is really nice reclaimed hardwood, except for the den which is on a concrete slab and has grungy wall-to-wall carpet that needs to go. Don't really want to re-install carpet but it is one of the cheapest options. Tell me about the finished concrete floors. Can they be added on top of a typical slab like mine? What do they look like? Do they have a brick or stone pattern in them? Color? What about cost?

 

[jinjimbob]

What kind of frontline are you using? Is it the monthly pill or oil packet?

We use a pill from another company (Sentinel), it doesn't actually kill the fleas, it makes them sterile, stops them reproducing, stops their egg production.

Dog and cat fleas are different species, they do not cross over to the other animals. You need to apply the frontline oil and let the dog go around to its normal places, allow the fleas to jump back to its host.

 

[N80]

What kind of frontline are you using? Is it the monthly pill or oil packet?

We use the oil. Apply it every month....for seven years.

Redbug, we usually buy from the vet, but we have bought a number of times from PetMeds on the internet. So counterfeit is certainly a possibility. We've ordered from them before with no problems, but it does make me wonder. The thing is, in the last seven years he's had virtually no fleas. Now, not only does he have fleas, he's got lots of fleas. So its not that it isn't working as well as it used to, its not working at all. Nada.

 

[MarkV]

N80 we had same problem last year as you are having now. We used the Frontline oil once a month year round for two dogs with great results for years. It just wasn't doing the job starting mid summer last year and the vet had us change to Comfortis. It is a new treatment with similar promises as Frontline but it is pill form. Our vet felt like he was getting better flea control from it. So far so good for us. You may want to read up on it or ask your vet what he thinks.

Interesting thought that fleas may be building an immunity to Frontline. I know it has happened with other species and insecticides.

MarkV

 

[jinman]

My wife just started using a very expensive product called Revolution from Pfizer. We have five cats and one of them seems to have an allergy to the product (hair loss around the neck after use). All the other cats have tolerated the product very well and it seems to work for them. Here's a link.

Revolution for Dogs

Oh yes! One other thing that works for fleas in the house. Set a small bowl of soapy water under a nighlight in a hallway or open area. You'll be surprised how that attracts fleas and you'll collect lots of them in your "drowning pool."

 

[20 20]

seven dust

 

[CavinMan]

My wife and I also used Frontline for years with success, then a stray cat had a litter under our house. When the kittens became mobile and mama started taking them out into the world, we trapped them (with a cat carrier on the porch and a fishing line tied to the door of the carrier that ran through the front door into the foyer! Cats went into the carrier for food and we'd slam the door shut on them). We kept one of the kittens, who had the thickest fur I've ever seen on a cat. We frontlined her, just as we did our other two cats. She scratched a lot for a year, but we never saw any fleas despite several searches, but she seemed to have a lot of flea dirt. We finally saw a couple, and gave her a flea batch and many dead fleas appeared. A month later we repeated the bath and got more fleas. Finally, a trip to the vet revealed the info that many areas are reporting that Frontline is losing effectiveness, as some populations of fleas have developed resistance. They recommeded we try Revolution. So we did. It's identical in use to frontline, a monthly application between the shoulder blades. Within two days, every time our cat would get up, there would be several dead fleas in the spot where she had been lying. She stopped scratching. We've been using Revolution ever since and none of the cats have fleas. It seems here in eastern Kentucky, the fleas have indeed become resistant to Frontline.