[next3rd]

We are new to TV coming from Colorado. We visited our Colorado vet today and he suggested we be aware of fleas in the southeastern states compared to Colorado.

Is this real? What precautions should we be taking with our animals.

[Patty55]

Mine have never had a problem, no fleas, no ticks. I don't use any flea products.

[Barefoot]

We use Revolution which protects against heart worm, ticks and fleas. I hate medicating our dogs, but our vets in Florida and Canada both strongly recommend it. Our Vet does a yearly bloodtest for our dogs. We order Meds from Petmeds online, and our Vet faxes the prescription to Petmeds.

[gerryann]

I use Frontline Plus for fleas and ticks. Heartguard for heart worm protection. Both of them used year round. When in Florida they are susceptible the entire year.

One dog is a rescue from Louisiana and had heartworm when adopted. The heartworm and the treatment once they have it can be very damaging to dogs. She has heart damage now and may not make it long enough for the trip south.

It is very important to protect your pets.

[socrafty]

We protect our little one with both heartworm and flea and tick. Two weeks after arriving in TV I was petting Piper and felt something on her back and sure enough it was a very small tick (she was rolling in the grass earlier that day). I was wondering why the topical didn't keep it off of her. When speaking with our Vet he said the meds don't prevent the ticks from attaching, but they do kill them once they bite. She now gets a "body check" almost every night and will be on the treatment year round instead of 6 mths. like in Cleveland.

[duffysmom]

Never had a flea or tick and did not use meds.

[Patty55]

Do you all know that if you are using the flea stuff you should not do it the same time as the heartworm pill?

[Barefoot]

Originally Posted by Patty55

Do you all know that if you are using the flea stuff you should not do it the same time as the heartworm pill?

How about Revolution which is fleas, ticks and heart worm in one treatment? We've been told to use it by several Vets. I hate medicating our dogs. However we feel they need some protection as they are outdoors a lot, in Canada at the lake, and in Florida at the dog park.

[Patty55]

Revolution is designed to do the whole job, my dogs were on it back in NY.

What becomes a problem is when you give the heartworm pill and a spot on for fleas at the same time, it's bad for the liver. These products are actually pesticides.

I stopped with flea/tick stuff about 8 years ago, have never had a flea or a tick, not on LI, not in upstate NY, not in TV. Here I'm more concerned about ants and spiders.

[GeoGeo]

None of our ours has ever had fleas or ticks. We do not use any flea or tick products. If they were to run through fields and woods, etc., then I would consider it. We definitely do give Heartgard for heartworm all year around here in Florida.

[thekeithfan]

Never used frontline or other flea and tick products and Louie (our Pug dog) has never been bothered by them. Occasionally he is bothered by sand gnats for that we cut a fish oil pill (same stuff people take for their heart) and put that in his food that works really well.

[tommy steam]

Originally Posted by next3rd

We are new to TV coming from Colorado. We visited our Colorado vet today and he suggested we be aware of fleas in the southeastern states compared to Colorado.

Is this real? What precautions should we be taking with our animals.

I live in LI NY and we had a tick and flea crazy summer.I alway use frontline on my cat Izzy. she is 14 years old and has had no problem with it.I on the other hand, got lymes from a tick from my back yard which is nicely landscaped, not woody at all. Doc told me other critters bring them into your yard, so you can not escape them. Your animals can bring fleas and ticks into your home where the can live for a long time before they find a new meal,which could be you. Beleive me, you dont want to come down with lymes, is is not fun. If you dont mind taking a chance that you might get infected by lymes, dont put anything on your dog or cat.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by tommy steam

I live in LI NY and we had a tick and flea crazy summer.I alway use frontline on my cat Izzy. she is 14 years old and has had no problem with it.I on the other hand, got lymes from a tick from my back yard which is nicely landscaped, not woody at all. Doc told me other critters bring them into your yard, so you can not escape them. Your animals can bring fleas and ticks into your home where the can live for a long time before they find a new meal,which could be you. Beleive me, you dont want to come down with lymes, is is not fun. If you dont mind taking a chance that you might get infected by lymes, dont put anything on your dog or cat.

I second tommy steam. I know someone who had lyme disease. It was debilitating and took a long time to properly diagnose up here in MI, where it's not too common. Also, the author Amy Tan came down with it. You can read about it here Amy Tan on Lyme Disease. You don't want to get this, and neither does your pet.

We give our golden retriever K9 Avantix. Takes care of ticks, fleas, and repels biting flies and mosquitoes. Both our goldens had horrible problems with fleas when we used to winter in Key West. I can't imagine how any dog that goes outside to play in Florida would not pick up fleas. I envy the owners whose dogs don't.

Fleas are much more of a problem down south than up north. Even so, up north we've got to protect our dog from ticks because of the dune grass, and fleas because of... well, if it's summer up here, there are fleas.

[tommy steam]

Originally Posted by CFrance

I second tommy steam. I know someone who had lyme disease. It was debilitating and took a long time to properly diagnose up here in MI, where it's not too common. Also, the author Amy Tan came down with it. You can read about it here Amy Tan on Lyme Disease. You don't want to get this, and neither does your pet.

We give our golden retriever K9 Avantix. Takes care of ticks, fleas, and repels biting flies and mosquitoes. Both our goldens had horrible problems with fleas when we used to winter in Key West. I can't imagine how any dog that goes outside to play in Florida would not pick up fleas. I envy the owners whose dogs don't.

Fleas are much more of a problem down south than up north. Even so, up north we've got to protect our dog from ticks because of the dune grass, and fleas because of... well, if it's summer up here, there are fleas.

I would like to add that dogs , not sure about cats,can get lymes also.

[Patty55]

I could be wrong, I thought that Lyme disease was caused by deer ticks. I know it's a big LI problem, but I don't know about here in TV, I haven't heard anything about deer being here.

The other thing that is a concern for me here is Lepto. While on LI my vet advised the lepto vaccine, but yet in upstate NY they thought I was crazy. I've seen possum here, possum urine spreads lepto yet there seems very little awareness and even less concern. I'm not getting this, are the Fl possum healthier than the LI possum?