You let THAT sleep in your bed?!?

[krislaughs]

First: HI! It's been a hellacious couple of weeks, but that all ends tomorrow at midnight (or one or two). Almost there.

Second: After this post which... I just had to put out there after stuff I've seen this week. I plan to finish some paperwork from school, check email, check the flist, then if I have any awake left in me at all, write and watch some Arrested Development (OMG, so painfully funny) before bed.

Third (The real point of this post):

So, I've been on emergency service for the past two weeks and of all the cases I've taken and all the owners I've spoken to, I can count on one hand the number who use flea and tick preventatives on their pets (mostly talking about dogs here). I've also seen more fleas (and they are really REALLY gross, guys, this coming from someone who has no qualms sticking her arm up a cow's rear end) crawling around on people's beloved animals than I ever thought I would in my life. I have NEVER seen a flea on any of my pets. So it's just been a surprise. Or maybe I've been really sheltered.

What I'm wondering about (and I know LJ is a limited and biased sampling population) is what YOU all do or think about regarding flea and tick control. Because I'm curious. That's all.


[Poll #1247302]


Don't get me wrong; I don't think every pet needs to be on these products at all. I'm just curious what people think about them.

That is all. Goodnight.

Comments

[lilacsigil.livejournal.com]

My cats are indoor cats and don't have fleas - but when the youngest one came, he was shivering and flinching in pain as the hundreds of fleas all over him bit into his skin. You bet the cats all had a flea treatment after that!

(edited to correct missing words!)

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

Awww, poor little one. They can get wicked anemia with enough fleas on them. YaY for getting rid of all that! :D

[veronamay.livejournal.com]

My cat is indoors-only and has little exposure to parasites, but I still use Revolution or Advantage (and lately, Advocate) during the summer months. Those products offer handy angst-free worm control as well, which I like. If you factor that into the cost, it's a pretty cheap and effective solution to the parasite problem.

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I alternate revolution and advantage on my indoor kitties too (also because they may not go outside, but they're exposed to dogs who do) and definitely for the parasite control as well.

Advocate. Haven't come across that one yet. Will check it out.

[brieza.livejournal.com]

I answered 'no'. Fleas and ticks are extremely uncommon where I live. My dogs only get them if they bring them back from traveling (dog shows, mostly). That's the only time I'll treat them. I use Frontline + in that instance. My cats haven't ever had them.

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

uncommon? Your LUCKY dogs. ;) They are *everywhere* here. We'll occasionally find dead and dying ones on my housemate's (treated) dog who likes to go running through the woods. But, yeah, yours is a perfect example of judicious use.

What kind of dogs do you have?

[brieza.livejournal.com]

One big plus to living in an arid area. :) (Southern front range of Colorado)

I have two samoyeds:

My boy: http://brieza.livejournal.com/55717.html
My girl: http://brieza.livejournal.com/55458.html

Strangely enough both dogs had lice as puppies. (I got them from the same breeder, and it is the only two litters that she's ever had them on, and none of her other dogs outside of these litters ever got the lice. That was treated with Frontline, too.) My vet and A's vet were both astonished to see the lice, super uncommon here, much less twice.

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

My cat was an indoor cat for 6+ years and never had a single flea on her. It never even occurred to me to give her something for them.

If I had outdoor pets, I definitely would use something, because it seems like common sense. I wear stuff to keep ticks off me when I'm rooting around in the woods, and I imagine pets don't like getting chomped on by bugs any more than people do.

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

Hehhee. Yeah, same with my parents' cats. Mostly I worry about my indoor kitties only if the dogs (or I) bring the little buggers into the house. Are they bad in CO? They're everywhere here.

And definitely. more than once I've made special effort to hug my dog right after I put frontline on him ;) (technically it's not licensed for people, but it's a pretty darn safe drug)

[ignipes.livejournal.com]

No, bugs aren't bad here at all, but my dad's dog lived outside and had TONS of fleas. The poor thing was always scratching himself to distraction, so they're bad enough.

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

n'aww. yeah. It's got to be horrible for the pets to be bitten like that all over. :(

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure what my mom uses on her dog, but now I'm curious. Huh.

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

eheheee. Yeah.

Speaking of pets, how are Will and Sophie adjusting to the move?

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

Well, they're both hiding under my bed at the moment, but that's possibly because I was just clattering around in the kitchen. *g*

They're doing all right. Sophie is doing better than I'd anticipated. I thought she'd go nuts due to the lack of space to run around, but she's making do. It's also been a little HOT for running around, so that may change when things cool off. But I think they've forgiven me for shoving them in boxes and dragging them to a new place. Or maybe they've just repressed the memory. :P

[girlmostlikely.livejournal.com]

Hey, baby! I was thinking about you earlier this afternoon, and that we need to make time for some SPN watching!! <3<3<3

[girlmostlikely.livejournal.com]

PS -- Do you think Madison looks so angry in this icon 'cause of fleas? *g*

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

I think so. If they'd just used a little Frontline, Sammy wouldn't have had to shoot his girlfriend...

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

OMg, wee do. I'm on Pathology next, which means I should only be in school for like 10 hours 5 days/week. WHOOT! I cannot even wait. :D

There MUST be rewatches before the 18th.

[lacylu42.livejournal.com]

My mom and dad used one of those drop on the back of the neck products (I don't remember which brand) right when they came out, the kind you use monthly. Less than a year later, our dog was diagnosed with cancer of the blood. Her whole body was one enormous tumor and we had to put her down.

My dad linked the two. Our vet, who is a wonderful man and a good doctor, didn't believe it, but my dad found out that a few months after Mariah died, the flea product people changed their formula, and to this day, he believes that's what killed his dog, though I think he uses a different brand of the same sort of stuff now.

(Cleo is indoors only, and has only had fleas once, after coming home from the vet.)

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

huh. interesting. There's definitely unsafe products (ironically, they're mostly the ones you get over the counter as opposed to the ones available through vets, and they're mostly toxic to cats), but there's some very very safe ones, too. ones that I've considered using on myself after I have to examine heavily infested animals (EWW!).

And yeah, I'm not overly surprised she got fleas there -- these hospitals are riddled with them (it totally skeeves me out) with all the mixing of animals that goes on in there. :(

At least they're gone now. :)

[pasi.livejournal.com]

For flea/tick preventative brand I chose "Other," because I'd use whatever the vet recommended--so you will be influential one day, if you're not already!

I don't get not using preventatives, unless you're absolutely sure your pet won't be exposed to fleas and ticks. What about self-interest, if nothing else? Fleas are horrible, if they get on you and your furniture. Tick-borne diseases are dangerous to people as well as pets.

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

so you will be influential one day

Heh, and though the drug companies definitely "talk" to us about their products, I really do believe in these particular ones. You're not just preventing fleas and ticks, but preventing the secondary diseases (like Tapeworms, and all the tickbourne ones) that they carry.

I've had a surprising number of clients explain that they don't want to use unneccessary medication on their animals which... I appreciate and try not to pass judgement on. But for my animals, I feel safer using a monthly than I do with some of the more risky treatments for the diseases the bugs would give them.

*highfive*

[scowling-hermit.livejournal.com]

I prefer Revolution, since it gets earmites and a lot of worms too.
However, with 17 cats, I can't afford it for all of them! Generally I only use it at the height of flea season, on 3 or 4 of the indoor/outdoor cats.

...and, opposite to the norm, it's only on the cats who spend a lot of time inside that I see fleas in large quantity (probably something to do with the bizillion-year-old carpets in this house, flea breeding grounds). Ick!

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

OMg, I LOVE Revolution for cats. Fort Dodge is coming out with a topical dewormer for them as weel (one that I think gets tapes, too, which would be cool).

And wow, I can't even imagine what it would run to do all 17 cats. But it sounds like you're doing it wisely.

We had an old prof who used to come home from vacation, have his dog go in the house first -- to pick up all the flea pupae from the carpets. Then flea-dip his dog, and do that to de-infest his house. Not sure how well it worked. ;)

[scowling-hermit.livejournal.com]

That would be great if there was one that got tapeworms too! I hate those things.

You know, what your prof did is kind of what I hope for with the revolution...that those cats who are treated with it will pick up the fleas from the other cats, from the floor, etc.:P

[cass404.livejournal.com]

Two indoor *only* kitties and I Advantage them but, honestly, not all of the time. I am crazy allergic to fleas so at the first sign, they get Advantaged and the house gets dusted liberally with 20 Mule Team borax. I cannot imagine just letting my pets have fleas or ticks go untreated.

[krisomniac.livejournal.com]

Wow. and also, good for you! Yay flea control.

[sasha-davidovna.livejournal.com]

Fleas don't seem to be very common around here. At any rate, we had one outbreak in all the years we've had pets (and this is five different dogs and nine different cats in my lifetime, all indoor/outdoor) that basically went away on its own.

Ticks are a huge problem, though. A few years ago during the drought we were pulling 30 a day off the dogs, each. The cats don't seem to get them so much, for some reason. I think my mom has lately been experimenting with some natural product on the current dog, but in general, we're very wary of chemical treatments and medications like that.