My flea product does not work
Last summer and well into autumn fleas were a real hassle for many clients.
How many times did I hear a client pronounce that,
“My flea product does not work, give me something different!”
However a recent review of all popular flea products (Advantage/ Advantix, Frontline, Revolution, Comfortis) reveals they all do an equally good job. Some are more appropriate for one dog rather than another, eg the heavy swimmer or frequently groomed dog may be better off with oral Comfortis rather than the topspot preparations. What was clear was that cheap supermarket brands are cheap for a reason! They often have reduced / poor efficacy, poor residual activity and poor safety profiles.
“That’s great but I do not see my product working! How can that be?”
If you have a look at the flea life cycle in a little detail it is clear why this happens. It also suggests area that must also be considered.
Adult fleas emerge from a cocoon (pupa) and populate the host. They can feed within 5 min. 97% have fed by 1 hr. so you can see that to have no flea bites at all would require a product that kills fleas in less than 5 min! Most spot on products take 24-36 hours, so they do allow many fleabites before they die. Oral products such as Capstar start killing within 15 min at best but take up to 6 hours to reach 95% kill.
I often say to clients if you paint all today’s fleas yellow then by tomorrow they will all be brown again, ie they (the yellow) have died but have been replaced by new fleas (the brown).
“But what about repelling fleas?”
No such product exists. Unlike sprays that repel mozzies or flies, fleas are resistant to being put off their task!
This is not to say it is therefore a waste of time trying to control fleas, you can effectively keep their numbers down by using the above products, but it is clear you must do more.
“What more?”
Look further into the life cycle. The adult flea produces 10-50 eggs a day. Each egg could hatch and result in another feeding reproducing adult within 2 weeks in summer! This is why it seems you are losing the battle in the hight of summer.
Adult -> Egg (non-sticky and roll off host easily into home) -> larva stage 1 (moves deep into carpets) -> larva stage 2 (migrate to even more inaccessible areas) -> larva stage 3 (creates the cocoon) -> pupa (flea bomb resistant) -> Adult (vibration / CO2 / Warmth for emergence)
So just attacking adult fleas leaves all the army reserves intact, ready to marshal their forces and continue the attack!
These other stages are in the environment. So you need to treat the environment as well as your pet. This is harder work and so harder to get client compliance on the issue, hence the apparent breakdown.
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What can I do to control the pet’s environment?
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Avoid areas where you think your pet is picking up fleas. Eg under the house, a suspect friends house crawling with fleas etc. An area isolated long enough will become clear of fleas, but this can take months.
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Use products that help interfere with the lifecycle. Frontline and Advantage /tix contain insect growth regulators, they do exactly that. During the 24 hours the adults are dying and producing eggs, those eggs are mainly sterile and will not hatch!
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Keep things clean. Eggs congregate mainly where the pet sleeps and rests. Launder their bedding regularly, vacuum these areas. You will mainly pick up eggs and flea dirt and less so larvae (that like to head deep and out of the way). Research shows that a single pass may only pick up 25% of stage 1 larvae but persistent and regular vacuuming the pets areas can pick up 90%. You must dispose of the vacuum bag as the bugs can come crawling back out! Flea bombs may help when infestations are heavy.
So the message is:
Fleas control = Treat animal (easy) + Treat environment (more difficult)
And yes, your products do work! But only by visiting your veterinary clinic will you get the correct advice on the most suitable product for your pet. We only stock effective products. Superstores may be cheap but they lack the professional knowledge required in this difficult fight against fleas.