View Full Version : Fleas and tick medication
kattygirl
Apr 5, 2010, 02:28 PM
Normally I have always used Frontline but with now having two pets I wondered if anyone uses the cheaper products and if they work. IE Adams flea and tick control that you get at walmart. Three months supply of that would save me 50 dollars every three months. Any advice or recommendations would be great. Thank you.
Sariss
Apr 5, 2010, 02:58 PM
I vote NO. A lot of those products aren't well regulated and have sporatic amounts of medications that do not have as high a safety margin as prescription medications. We see a lot of dogs come in not well after taking these medications.
Aurora_Bell
Apr 5, 2010, 05:02 PM
I agree with Saris, I like revolution, it is cheap and works great. You have to get it from your vet, but most times you don't have to bring your dog in or anything. The price goes by the weight. What size pets do you have?
Lucky098
Apr 5, 2010, 05:43 PM
Bio spot is pretty good. Used it last year.
Stay far away from anything sold at wal mart. Its cheap and most of the time a knock off brand that will give your dog side effects.
Bio spot is pretty cheap and you can get up to 6 doses for about $16. Its compared to some of the more expensive brands as far as flea and tick control, it won't, however, protect against mosquitos or flies.
margog85
Apr 25, 2010, 03:10 PM
Please read my post reg. my dog having a horrible reaction to otc flea and tick medication... they are dangerous, made with cheap chemicals that can affect your pets nervous system. Seizures, excessive drooling, inability to walk, heart palpitations, burning, and other side effects are apparently quite common. Some owners have even reported that their use of otc flea/tick meds, in an attempt to save money, resulted in the death of their pets.
My advice... If you found something that works, I wouldn't risk changing it- you already know that your pets don't have any reaction to it, and that it manages the problem of fleas and ticks. Saving $50 every three months may seem like a lot... But that's only $16/month... Roughly $0.55 per day... $0.28 per pet per day. I'm not by any means rich, so I understand the attraction of saving some money if you can... I'm a full time student, work full time, and support myself, my partner, and our two dogs on a pretty lousy income- but my dogs are worth $0.28 extra per day.
I wouldn't take the risk.
shazamataz
Apr 25, 2010, 07:29 PM
My dogs, and my mums dogs are pretty much treatment free and have been for the past 20 years.
I have had fleas on my dogs once (when we moved house) and my mums dogs have had fleas once also (carried from my new place :rolleyes:)
We used Advantage over the coarse of 3 months (3 treatments) and haven't had a problem since.
The way I see it, yes it is a good preventative, but unless you are in an area that has a flea or tick problem I don't like dosing them up with chemicals when I don't need to.
If you do go to places where there are ticks, and you knew fleas are common then by all means, stick with treating every month, but if you are doing it "just because" I would re-think.