[Mel's chi's]

What is your favorite way to control fleas? Do you have a favorite product you use? I have made it a year without having to use any, but now with the new grass they might be needing it soon. I have always been a Frontline Plus user. :daisy:

 

[Jennmay]

Well before I moved where I am now my indoor cats got fleas somehow?? I had no dogs then and I used frontline plus on them and it got rid of them. Where I am now I have never had to use a flea control even with the dogs going in and out but if I did most likely frontline plus.

 

[AstroGirl]

This is a good question. I am very interested in this as well as I am about to start looking for flea/tick preventatives and it would be nice to have an assortment to choose from with the recommendation from Chi owners.

Since these dogs are so small i'm kind of hesitant to just go out and pick one off the shelf from my local petco. Especially because i remember hearing so many flea/tick control death stories of smaller dogs in the past.

Any brands that people really like to use on their chis? I prefer not to use a flea collar. I fed garlic to my last dog (she was about 45#) and she never got a flea or tick but i'm not sure if that would be an option for a small dog.

 

[DKT113]

Will be watching this thread as I need to circle the wagons as it relates to the pup. I have I use Revolution and frontline for the cats indoor only get revolution man about town gets frontline for the tick coverage. Haven't sorted the dog but for one partial dose when I was making sure we didn't have infestation from a kitty we brought in. I am in heavy duty flea and tick country and we didn't get the winter we needed so we are going to be going to war with them this season I am afraid.

 

[pastel]

Why is garlic bad for small dogs? I heard it was only onions that could harm dogs, not garlic.

 

[Maia's Mom]

I have always used K9 Advantage II on my dogs. I have 2 chihuahua's ( my male just turned a year and my female is 5 months) and my other 2 are pit mix. I like the Advantage because it gets rid of all life stages of fleas. The only reason I may have to switch this year is because last year we had a bad tick season and Advantage doesn't prevent ticks.

 

[AstroGirl]

I've heard conflicting arguements on whether garlic is good or not. I was using it on my previous dog prior to hearing the debates but i continued because she never had a reaction and it worked.

In raw fed dogs ive heard of their owners giving them garlic as well. I'm not opposed to it, if anything i'm all for it.

I would also like to hear if anyone is feeding their chi or chi mixes garlic as a method of prevention and if so what amount?

 

[qtchi]

I don't know if this would count as flea control, but this is what can kill fleas that are on your dog. Use a shampoo at full strength on your dog. Don't wet your dog first because the water will signal the fleas to activate a protective film around themselves that shampoos and soaps will not be able to penetrate (unless they'e formulated to do that). The shampoo and the water will penetrate the fleas and they will swell up and drown. I was studying dog grooming before I moved to my new state, and I got that tip from some groomers on a grooming forum. They said they had never used flea control in their shop other than doing those steps to dogs that came in with fleas. If a flea infestation is really bad you might want to even use Dawn to break the greasy coating that the fleas have on them to protect themselves from drowning and from contaminants. Dawn is used for certain applications in some grooming shops such as on fleas and super greasy ears.

 

[carrithedeku]

I used Frontline on my past dogs but when I went to the low cost vet for Milo's vaccinations they gave me a packet and one free month supply of Advantage so maybe I will be trying something else.

 

[LostLakeLua]

We use PetArmor now (Walmarts cheapo off-brand of Frontline) but in the XL size, divided into a separate vial and we dose out just the right amount for each pet. I will say though after enduring a flea problem this summer... it SUCKS at "treating" fleas. Since we've been consecutively doing it though; and after spraying our house down with Natural Chemistry's De-Flea Pet & Bedding Spray we have been flea free. And thank goodness... that is a tough battle I'd never do again. For the longest time I said I'd rather just treat fleas as I saw them, to avoid the chemicals... but after realizing just how many flea baths and spraying etc. we had to go through to get RID of them, now I err on the side of caution and just do the low dose of Fipronil. None of my pets have a reaction; and since we've been religious about giving it on time, we've had NO recurrence of fleas. So, while it's pretty poor at getting RID of existing flea problems I do now see the importance of using it as a preventative.

 

[Mel's chi's]

We use PetArmor now (Walmarts cheapo off-brand of Frontline) but in the XL size, divided into a separate vial and we dose out just the right amount for each pet. I will say though after enduring a flea problem this summer... it SUCKS at "treating" fleas. Since we've been consecutively doing it though; and after spraying our house down with Natural Chemistry's De-Flea Pet & Bedding Spray we have been flea free. And thank goodness... that is a tough battle I'd never do again. For the longest time I said I'd rather just treat fleas as I saw them, to avoid the chemicals... but after realizing just how many flea baths and spraying etc. we had to go through to get RID of them, now I err on the side of caution and just do the low dose of Fipronil. None of my pets have a reaction; and since we've been religious about giving it on time, we've had NO recurrence of fleas. So, while it's pretty poor at getting RID of existing flea problems I do now see the importance of using it as a preventative.

I hear you! What a mess to have to eradicate a flea problem...which is why I want to be proactive in prevention.

Let's hear from more chi members on their tactics for flea control!