Pantops Pet Salon & Spa
Charlottesville's Professional Dog Grooming

In the fourth newsletter, I expressed my concern about using chemicals on our pets as a preventive measure and whether currently available treatments would prove safe over time.  During Lizzie’s last check-up with Dr. Marty Betts, we discussed this topic and he assured me that the product Frontline was proven to be safe and after further research, I concur.  Claims by the manufacturer state that it is even safe to use on sensitive puppies and kittens over 8 weeks of age as well as on nursing mothers.  That is quite a statement and it has held up since 1996 when it was established.

Archived from “The Paw Report:”  Issue #4, 7 and 8

If you live in an apartment and only do on-lead walks you may never encounter a problem that necessitates the cost of monthly prevention.  However, if you are like most of us where the environment may have flea or deer tick populations, prevention sure beats the harm caused by flea bites and deer ticks—potential carriers of Lyme disease.

My daughter’s Golden was diagnosed with Lyme disease just two weeks ago and it was quite a scare.  The disease can be debilitating while the treatment takes weeks and is quite expensive.  Because Lizzie spends a lot of time in the woods of my backyard, I am going to start her on Frontline soon.
In the next issue, we will take an in depth look at Lyme disease.  In the meantime, visit www.frontline.merial.com to access a detailed report on the who, what, when, where, and whys of Frontline to determine whether it is right for you and yours.

Addendum: 

In response to our article about Frontline flea control, we received an email from Sophie’s owner—Wanda Palmer.  She wondered if Advantix was unsafe since the article only mentioned the safety of Frontline.  The article is based on experience and isn’t an indication of our support of one product over the other.  Frontline was recommended by Lizzie’s veterinarian so that’s the one we wrote about!  Advantix’s webpage indicates that it is also safe on dogs.  “K9 Advantix TM is gentle enough for puppies 7 weeks of age or older and dogs of any size.”  However, it cannot be used on cats while Frontline can.

Additionally, we called 6 local veterinary hospitals to find out which product they recommend.  None seemed concerned about the safety of using Advantix and one said the results with Advantix were more consistent.  The other 5 said that their results with Frontline were more consistent–one specified that they preferred it because it kills fleas in 3 stages of their lifecycle.  The Advantix website says that their product kills larvae and adult fleas but I haven’t found information about the 3rd part of the lifecycle.

While we speak from experience and do our best to thoroughly research each topic, we are not veterinarians and cannot diagnose or offer treatment for any of your dog’s conditions.  If you have concerns about your dog’s health, we encourage you to seek the advice of your veterinarian.

Previous article on Flea Control

Archived from “The Paw Report:”  Issue #4, October 

While fleas can be a year round problem, they are worse in the fall than any other time.  With the leaves beginning to turn, be particularly vigilant in your inspections and continue to be so for the next few months.

What is the best flea prevention method?  

Honestly, I don’t advocate putting collars or other flea products on dogs as a preventive measure and never used them with my own pets.  These products use chemicals designed to kill or repel fleas—whether or not your dog has them or is likely to get them.  I know I wouldn’t want to daily be wearing a chemically powdered collar or drop of insecticide down the middle of my back so strong it can kill things, unless it was absolutely necessary!

Occasionally our cat Dodger gets a flea or two and right away we get rid of them—usually by a good flea bath that is non-toxic (organic) and rinsed off right away.  I did the same thing with my Danes who came to work every day.  I wouldn’t use a continuous preventive measure but instead checked them frequently for fleas and if I spotted any I would promptly give them a gentle flea bath. 

I used to use a strong dip, but inhaling those chemicals so often made me wonder exactly how safe they were not just for the dogs….but for me as well!  While a dip is supposed to offer the extended prevention that a flea bath does not, just a few days later customers would come back saying their dogs had fleas again if they hadn’t treated the area the fleas came from.  The fact is, a good flea bath is just as good as a dip and is healthier all around.

Our goal is to prevent infestation and our solution is to treat it at its earliest occurrence, not unnecessarily before.  The shop is vacuumed and mopped daily but if we see a flea on Dodger, we spray accordingly to prevent the annoyance from becoming an actual problem. 

I prefer this when-needed basis for treatment as opposed to the daily use of chemicals on our pets. After all, you never know when some researcher will pop up and claim the treatment causes cancer or liver damage.  We’ve certainly seen this as the case for human drugs and treatments.  Wasn’t it just recently that estrogen treatments used to combat hot flashes during menopause were found to cause a higher incidence of cancer?  Hmm…makes you think.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 17th, 2006 at 11:19 am and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.