Flea Treatment Uh Oh

[BlindMag]

Today I went to buy some flea and tick preventive, the topical kind. A couple years ago I noticed Frontline was not working anymore. I have avoided certain brands but have always had good results with Adams flea/tick shampoo and dips. So for the past couple years I have used the Adams topical product; I had one dog with severe allergies (dachshund, whom I have since lost) and was pleased with the decent effectiveness of this product which he did not have any trouble with and it smelled pleasant and did not trigger MY allergies. So I had intended to purchase the same product. Nope. They changed the formula. At least it says so right on the box.  I don't know what the new ingredient is but will be researching it before it goes on my dogs. If I decide to try it anyway, I'll report back with results. There was one box left of last year's stock with the old ingredients in dachshund size; even though it was a few months old, the date said it wasn't going to expire before I will use it so Merlin got the other kind. If I don't like what I read about the new stuff (or if it doesn't work!) I will be switching to either Advantage or Advantix. Grr!

[BlindMag]

I researched the new ingredient.  Its a synthetic form of the same thing that was in their prior formula and I've decided to go ahead and try it and see how we do. 

[Roxie]

Hope it works for y'all

Roxie

[BlindMag]

Thanks!  Will let you know how it does.

[Shidash]

I hope that it works too! I wonder if Frontline will ever get fixed.

[BlindMag]

This reminds me of the same thing that happened with feed brands.  A few decades ago, kibble quality went up, prices started to go up. New brands, new varieties of older brands appeared.  These were marketed and people bought them and often liked them.  Then ingredients were altered to be cheaper while feed prices continued to increase and then bag sizes decreased.  I hope the same trend is not occurring with flea products!

I do think the parasites develop some resistance to the products over time.  I don't know what the solution to that is, beyond rotating products.  But since Frontline has a broad sales base of people buying it, and a market at vet clinics, I doubt they will improve their formula or their policies.

I think the premium flea treatments are overpriced.  It is worth the cost to me if they work.  I depended on Frontline(plus) to work.  It did years ago then it stopped working.  I would rather my dollars go to support a smaller, cheaper, more readily available brand IF it continues to work for me.  If not, I will get what does.  My clinic doesn't even carry Advantage, although they offered to order it for me; I could probably order it myself cheaper but if I have to order it and wait on it in the middle of flea season I don't like that either.

[Spectrum]

My clinic doesn't even carry Advantage, although they offered to order it for me; I could probably order it myself cheaper but if I have to order it and wait on it in the middle of flea season I don't like that either.

The issue you might have there is that unlike things like Heartgard, nobody sells single boxes of Advantage or Advantix to veterinarians (at least none we could track down) so they'd have to order a whole case, which could be a problem. It is available at Petsmart now, though.

I asked doc a few weeks back if I could order some Advantix, and he said he'd try to find a place to order something less than a whole case from, but so far no luck. I don't even know if I'll like it yet, so I don't really want to commit to 60 doses

[BlindMag]

Yeah there's that, too.

[Roxie]

At Lambriar Vet Supply in Fairbury NE I buy individual spot ons for my dogs. I don't know if they mail order individual spot ons.

Roxie

[BlindMag]

Thanks Roxie!
I will check that out if I need some.

[Shidash]

I use Advantage on Nala now, does anyone else have experience with something else that works better?

[BlindMag]

I'm having good luck so far with Adams spot on treatments, I have not tried Advantage or Advantix. So I don't know if they work better. I pay $15 for 3 treatments of Adams at the feed store.