If you own a pet, you know how frustrating it can be when your fur-baby gets fleas. Fleas have four different life stages. Therefore it's important that you take the appropriate steps to rid your pet and your household of these little buggers.
Life Stages of the Flea
1. Egg - The flea life cycle begins when the female lays after feeding. Eggs are laid in batches of up to 20 or so, usually on the host itself, which means that the eggs can easily roll onto the ground.
2. Larvae - Flea larvae emerge from the eggs to feed on any available organic material such as dead insects, feces, and vegetable matter.
3. Pupae - Given an adequate supply of food, larvae will pupate and weave a silken cocoon within 1–2 weeks after 3 larval stages. After another week or two, the adult flea is fully developed and ready to emerge from the cocoon.
4. Adult - Once the flea reaches adulthood, its primary goal is to find blood and then to reproduce. Their total life span can be as short as one year, but may be several years in ideal conditions.
We all know its a challenge to rid our pets and household of fleas. Its even more of a challenge if you own both dogs and cats in the same household. The reason for this is because certain ingredients in flea medications may be considered safe for one animal but not the other. I happen to own a dog and a cat so this was something that I took very seriously.
This summer my poor little male Crestese (Maltese and Chinese Crested mix dog) got attacked by the annoying little buggers. I also knew at some point that these unstoppable insects would find their way onto my sweet little female Tabby kitty. At first I wanted to go the natural way because I, as I'm sure many of you will agree, really do not care for putting chemicals on my animals. So I scoured the internet searching for natural home remedies to help my fur-babies. I came across natural flea shampoo's, vinegar baths and drinks, lemon juice, orange peels, essential oils, you name it! I must admit that I did not try them all, but I tried a couple. In which I will briefly explain my experiences.
Natural Flea Shampoo
This shampoo claims to use natural botanical extracts without pyrethrins to kill fleas and ticks. It's suppose to work by softening the waxy exoskeleton of fleas, ticks, lice, mites and other insects making them vulnerable to the botanical extract agent.
There were some pros and cons to this shampoo. I found that the consistency was very thin and did not produce much of a lather. Although I have heard that it is not important to have a lather to show that the product is working, I guess I prefer one. Not to mention it was a little difficult to see if I was putting enough on my dog for it to work. I will say the scent was not as bad as the more 'toxic' brands. It smelled sort of like a Christmas scent, not at all perfumy. It did seem to kill the fleas while he was in the bath, but there was no real residual power with this. Meaning that I would still see fleas back on him after he'd come inside from doing his business. I grew tired of seeing fleas on him after multiple baths and decided that there had to be a better way to give my poor boy some relief.
Vinegar Bath
There are several recipes out there for vinegar baths. I chose to go with the one that involved 1 cup of vinegar and 1 cup of Dawn dish detergent. Although the Dawn is not necessarily considered natural, I knew this was often used to clean animals in the wildlife with positive results. Furthermore, it gave me that lather that I Oh' so love. As you can imagine, the smell was not very pleasant but does not last after the dog is thoroughly rinsed and dried. This remedy proved to be about as effective as the natural shampoo remedy. Killed the fleas while he was in the bath, but also had no residual effect. Can you see the pattern here? So I thought to myself, maybe I can put the vinegar in a spray bottle and spray him to keep the fleas off of him. That oughta help with the residual power, right? So back online I went to see if this procedure had been done. Sure enough I found several people who had done this and claimed it worked. I was thrilled to come across this information as I was sure this was going to work. NOT!! The fleas were still showing up on him. There was one good thing that came of the vinegar though; it helped to soothe his bites. So keep that in mind while trying to give your fur-babies relief.
By this point I had already had enough of experimenting with natural remedies. My dog was suffering and I had now noticed that my cat had fleas and was suffering as well. I knew that prolonging the inevitable would lead to possible tapeworms in both of my animals and an infested house. So I 'bit the bullet' and went to PetSmart to research my non-natural options. I came across pills, topical treatments, flea collars, shampoos' and more. But as you could see, my decision had to be made based upon what would be the best product to use for killing all the life stages of the flea, with residual power.
I finally reached a decision. I chose to go with a topical flea medicine. Although its not natural, it seemed to be the best choice for what my needs were. Now here goes the endless search of brands and what the product can do. Keep in mind, one of the main reasons for this particular blog is for me to point out the fact of a topical treatment that is safe to use if you own both dog(s) and cat(s). Unfortunately I lacked knowledge when it came to this important fact.
While searching and debating on the best flea treatment for my dog, I found Advantix II. It claims to repel and kill fleas, ticks, and mosquitos'. In addition, it ends flea life cycle by preventing flea offspring (eggs, pupae, and larvae) from maturing into adult fleas and was also waterproof. This was great! It was the answer to all of my problems, or so I thought.
So I had picked up a box of Advantix II and decided to go with Frontline Plus for my cat, because I could not use Advantix II on my cat due to the harmful ingredients it contained for cats. Before I could pay for it, the cashier happened to notice that I had a cat. Obviously because of the Frontline Plus for Cats that was on the counter. She at that point warned me not to purchase the Advantix II because even though I was not going to put it on the cat, it was not safe for my cat to even be around the dog. I had even asked her if it was considered safe when it was dry on the dog. She still recommended that I be on the safe side and not purchase it. I felt let down at that moment. I thought that I had solved my problems and my animals would have relief. I wanted so badly to be able to help my animals and I just kept running into walls. So, I decided to put both products back and return home to do more research.
During my research, I found that I could actually use the topical flea treatment Advantage II on both my dog and cat. They have packaging illustrating that one is for dogs and one is for cats. My happiness was again restored, that maybe I had found the product that I had been searching for. So I purchased the Advantage II online to save a little money (click link at the bottom of the page to see it at Amazon).
I will say this product has worked very well for both of my animals. I have not had problems with fleas since. An added bonus that I would like to share with you is that the ingredients on the dog packaging and the cat packaging are the same. Yup, you guessed it, you can just buy one package and it will do both your dog and your cat! I like to buy the package that is for Extra Large dogs that weigh 55 lbs or over. This is a HUGE money saver! I can get multiple treatments for my small dog and medium sized cat. I am aware that some people feel that this is unsafe to do and that the packages are marked "Dog" and "Cat" for a reason. I understand the concern, but I have been doing this for several months and have had no adverse reactions in either of my pets. I have also heard of people doing this with Frontline Plus, but I have not tried it, therefore I can not vouch for it.
In the case that you decide to try my current topical choice, bare in mind that you must make sure that the box says Advantage II NOT Advantix II. Moreover, you must measure out the appropriate dosing for your animal. Do not be intimidated by measuring out the dosage, its simple and I will tell you how to do it.
Administering Proper Dosing
1. Use an oral syringe (without the needle) with mL markings on it. (click link on the bottom of the page to see it at Amazon).
2. Find out the appropriate dosing for your animal. I found the appropriate dosing by visiting 1-800-PetMeds, typing in Advantage II, and clicking on the ingredients tab. I only use this site for informative purposes. I do not purchase from them because I generally like to shop at Amazon.com and they are usually cheaper.
3. Once you find this information, you can now administer the correct dosage to your animal.
4. Be sure to store the leftover medicine in a dark container such as, a clean pill bottle or 35 mm film canister.
5. Rinse out the syringe thoroughly and dry it. In addition, store the medicine and syringe in a safe place away from children and pets.
*Helpful Tip: The medicine may rub off the markings on the syringe after a while, try to keep another one on hand in case this happens.
Further Tips To Help You Win The Battle
1. Vacuum floors, couches, animal beds, human beds regularly.
2. Spray your yard and possibly your home with flea spray.
3. Wash animal and human beds routinely.
4. Bathe your animals with a shampoo that will not wash the topical off. (Certain shampoos can affect the strength of the medicine). Be sure to choose a shampoo that states on the bottle that it will not wash off or affect 'spot-on' flea control such as, Bioguard Shampoo for dogs and cats. (click link at the bottom of page to see it at Amazon).
5. If infestation is bad enough on the animal, jump start your treatment by using flea treatment pills that contain Nitenpyram (commonly known as Capstar). These pills will begin killing adult fleas within 30 minutes. 90% of the adult fleas will be killed within four hours. You will need to still use the topical because the pill only kills the Adult fleas and does not leave a residual.
~ Thank you for reading my post. I hope that I was able to help at least some of you with understanding a little more about fleas when you are dealing with both dogs and cats. I would love to hear about your experiences and/or tips about your battle with these irritating bugs. What has been most successful for you? Have you tried the methods discussed in my post? Did you try the method with Frontline Plus? I would love to hear your feedback, so please do not hesitate to leave a comment and share your thoughts. Take care and I look forward to hearing from you! ~
Life Stages of the Flea
1. Egg - The flea life cycle begins when the female lays after feeding. Eggs are laid in batches of up to 20 or so, usually on the host itself, which means that the eggs can easily roll onto the ground.
2. Larvae - Flea larvae emerge from the eggs to feed on any available organic material such as dead insects, feces, and vegetable matter.
3. Pupae - Given an adequate supply of food, larvae will pupate and weave a silken cocoon within 1–2 weeks after 3 larval stages. After another week or two, the adult flea is fully developed and ready to emerge from the cocoon.
4. Adult - Once the flea reaches adulthood, its primary goal is to find blood and then to reproduce. Their total life span can be as short as one year, but may be several years in ideal conditions.
We all know its a challenge to rid our pets and household of fleas. Its even more of a challenge if you own both dogs and cats in the same household. The reason for this is because certain ingredients in flea medications may be considered safe for one animal but not the other. I happen to own a dog and a cat so this was something that I took very seriously.
This summer my poor little male Crestese (Maltese and Chinese Crested mix dog) got attacked by the annoying little buggers. I also knew at some point that these unstoppable insects would find their way onto my sweet little female Tabby kitty. At first I wanted to go the natural way because I, as I'm sure many of you will agree, really do not care for putting chemicals on my animals. So I scoured the internet searching for natural home remedies to help my fur-babies. I came across natural flea shampoo's, vinegar baths and drinks, lemon juice, orange peels, essential oils, you name it! I must admit that I did not try them all, but I tried a couple. In which I will briefly explain my experiences.
Natural Flea Shampoo
This shampoo claims to use natural botanical extracts without pyrethrins to kill fleas and ticks. It's suppose to work by softening the waxy exoskeleton of fleas, ticks, lice, mites and other insects making them vulnerable to the botanical extract agent.
There were some pros and cons to this shampoo. I found that the consistency was very thin and did not produce much of a lather. Although I have heard that it is not important to have a lather to show that the product is working, I guess I prefer one. Not to mention it was a little difficult to see if I was putting enough on my dog for it to work. I will say the scent was not as bad as the more 'toxic' brands. It smelled sort of like a Christmas scent, not at all perfumy. It did seem to kill the fleas while he was in the bath, but there was no real residual power with this. Meaning that I would still see fleas back on him after he'd come inside from doing his business. I grew tired of seeing fleas on him after multiple baths and decided that there had to be a better way to give my poor boy some relief.
Vinegar Bath
There are several recipes out there for vinegar baths. I chose to go with the one that involved 1 cup of vinegar and 1 cup of Dawn dish detergent. Although the Dawn is not necessarily considered natural, I knew this was often used to clean animals in the wildlife with positive results. Furthermore, it gave me that lather that I Oh' so love. As you can imagine, the smell was not very pleasant but does not last after the dog is thoroughly rinsed and dried. This remedy proved to be about as effective as the natural shampoo remedy. Killed the fleas while he was in the bath, but also had no residual effect. Can you see the pattern here? So I thought to myself, maybe I can put the vinegar in a spray bottle and spray him to keep the fleas off of him. That oughta help with the residual power, right? So back online I went to see if this procedure had been done. Sure enough I found several people who had done this and claimed it worked. I was thrilled to come across this information as I was sure this was going to work. NOT!! The fleas were still showing up on him. There was one good thing that came of the vinegar though; it helped to soothe his bites. So keep that in mind while trying to give your fur-babies relief.
By this point I had already had enough of experimenting with natural remedies. My dog was suffering and I had now noticed that my cat had fleas and was suffering as well. I knew that prolonging the inevitable would lead to possible tapeworms in both of my animals and an infested house. So I 'bit the bullet' and went to PetSmart to research my non-natural options. I came across pills, topical treatments, flea collars, shampoos' and more. But as you could see, my decision had to be made based upon what would be the best product to use for killing all the life stages of the flea, with residual power.
I finally reached a decision. I chose to go with a topical flea medicine. Although its not natural, it seemed to be the best choice for what my needs were. Now here goes the endless search of brands and what the product can do. Keep in mind, one of the main reasons for this particular blog is for me to point out the fact of a topical treatment that is safe to use if you own both dog(s) and cat(s). Unfortunately I lacked knowledge when it came to this important fact.
While searching and debating on the best flea treatment for my dog, I found Advantix II. It claims to repel and kill fleas, ticks, and mosquitos'. In addition, it ends flea life cycle by preventing flea offspring (eggs, pupae, and larvae) from maturing into adult fleas and was also waterproof. This was great! It was the answer to all of my problems, or so I thought.
So I had picked up a box of Advantix II and decided to go with Frontline Plus for my cat, because I could not use Advantix II on my cat due to the harmful ingredients it contained for cats. Before I could pay for it, the cashier happened to notice that I had a cat. Obviously because of the Frontline Plus for Cats that was on the counter. She at that point warned me not to purchase the Advantix II because even though I was not going to put it on the cat, it was not safe for my cat to even be around the dog. I had even asked her if it was considered safe when it was dry on the dog. She still recommended that I be on the safe side and not purchase it. I felt let down at that moment. I thought that I had solved my problems and my animals would have relief. I wanted so badly to be able to help my animals and I just kept running into walls. So, I decided to put both products back and return home to do more research.
During my research, I found that I could actually use the topical flea treatment Advantage II on both my dog and cat. They have packaging illustrating that one is for dogs and one is for cats. My happiness was again restored, that maybe I had found the product that I had been searching for. So I purchased the Advantage II online to save a little money (click link at the bottom of the page to see it at Amazon).
I will say this product has worked very well for both of my animals. I have not had problems with fleas since. An added bonus that I would like to share with you is that the ingredients on the dog packaging and the cat packaging are the same. Yup, you guessed it, you can just buy one package and it will do both your dog and your cat! I like to buy the package that is for Extra Large dogs that weigh 55 lbs or over. This is a HUGE money saver! I can get multiple treatments for my small dog and medium sized cat. I am aware that some people feel that this is unsafe to do and that the packages are marked "Dog" and "Cat" for a reason. I understand the concern, but I have been doing this for several months and have had no adverse reactions in either of my pets. I have also heard of people doing this with Frontline Plus, but I have not tried it, therefore I can not vouch for it.
In the case that you decide to try my current topical choice, bare in mind that you must make sure that the box says Advantage II NOT Advantix II. Moreover, you must measure out the appropriate dosing for your animal. Do not be intimidated by measuring out the dosage, its simple and I will tell you how to do it.
Administering Proper Dosing
1. Use an oral syringe (without the needle) with mL markings on it. (click link on the bottom of the page to see it at Amazon).
2. Find out the appropriate dosing for your animal. I found the appropriate dosing by visiting 1-800-PetMeds, typing in Advantage II, and clicking on the ingredients tab. I only use this site for informative purposes. I do not purchase from them because I generally like to shop at Amazon.com and they are usually cheaper.
3. Once you find this information, you can now administer the correct dosage to your animal.
4. Be sure to store the leftover medicine in a dark container such as, a clean pill bottle or 35 mm film canister.
5. Rinse out the syringe thoroughly and dry it. In addition, store the medicine and syringe in a safe place away from children and pets.
*Helpful Tip: The medicine may rub off the markings on the syringe after a while, try to keep another one on hand in case this happens.
Further Tips To Help You Win The Battle
1. Vacuum floors, couches, animal beds, human beds regularly.
2. Spray your yard and possibly your home with flea spray.
3. Wash animal and human beds routinely.
4. Bathe your animals with a shampoo that will not wash the topical off. (Certain shampoos can affect the strength of the medicine). Be sure to choose a shampoo that states on the bottle that it will not wash off or affect 'spot-on' flea control such as, Bioguard Shampoo for dogs and cats. (click link at the bottom of page to see it at Amazon).
5. If infestation is bad enough on the animal, jump start your treatment by using flea treatment pills that contain Nitenpyram (commonly known as Capstar). These pills will begin killing adult fleas within 30 minutes. 90% of the adult fleas will be killed within four hours. You will need to still use the topical because the pill only kills the Adult fleas and does not leave a residual.
~ Thank you for reading my post. I hope that I was able to help at least some of you with understanding a little more about fleas when you are dealing with both dogs and cats. I would love to hear about your experiences and/or tips about your battle with these irritating bugs. What has been most successful for you? Have you tried the methods discussed in my post? Did you try the method with Frontline Plus? I would love to hear your feedback, so please do not hesitate to leave a comment and share your thoughts. Take care and I look forward to hearing from you! ~
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