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.