[CFrance]

Originally Posted by Bonanza

Yes, fleas are all over because they breed in sand.
It's amazing how some dogs get them and others don't.

BTW -- Avon's bath oil (Skin So Soft)
has been used as flea repellent
when sprayed on your dog (diluted),
and by simply giving your dog a bath,
the soapy water drowns fleas, too.

I understand what you are saying, but still, with a double-coated dog bred to swim in all kinds of weather, it is nearly impossible to get all the way down to the skin even when giving a bath, let alone spraying something topical. I bathe our dog between monthly groomings but am never able to get him as thoroughly clean as the professionals do. I doubt I could wash the fleas off of him.

And what is in Skin So soft? It's very oily. I can't imagine spraying it on a golden retriever, even diluted, and then allowing him to lie on the bedroom carpet, or having to wash it off of the tile and grout.

BTW, Bonanza, somewhere I have a card for a holistic vet that a friend uses for her Yorkie. If you wish to talk to a "vet from the other side" about heartworm, I'll try to find it. But maybe you already use one.

[Bonanza]

Originally Posted by CFrance

I understand what you are saying, but still, with a double-coated dog bred to swim in all kinds of weather, it is nearly impossible to get all the way down to the skin even when giving a bath, let alone spraying something topical. I bathe our dog between monthly groomings but am never able to get him as thoroughly clean as the professionals do. I doubt I could wash the fleas off of him.

And what is in Skin So soft? It's very oily. I can't imagine spraying it on a golden retriever, even diluted, and then allowing him to lie on the bedroom carpet, or having to wash it off of the tile and grout.

BTW, Bonanza, somewhere I have a card for a holistic vet that a friend uses for her Yorkie. If you wish to talk to a "vet from the other side" about heartworm, I'll try to find it. But maybe you already use one.

No, we don't go to a holistic vet and we are not unhappy with the vet we just started using.

I agree that using Avon's Skin So Soft on your dog would be terrible, and I'm not sure I would use it on our dogs either. It is greasy and probably would require more than an occasional bath. I don't know what the diluted strength would or should be. I only mentioned it because others have used this in the past but again, don't know what those results are either.

[gustavo]

Originally Posted by Barefoot

What about heart worm prevention?

I also do not use monthly flea/tick/ prevention. Not a fan of rubbing poison on the dog's skin. I check my dog periodically. If there are fleas they will be on the underbelly or near the private area. Once I saw 3 fleas, a bath in dawn blue finished that off.

I do use the heart preventative. My vet said that the concentration of active ingredient in the US medicines is 3-5 times less than what you would be required by law to give in some foreign countries like Australia.

Funny though, we were told the medicine we were giving for over 2 years was ineffective and we had to come into the vet for a free heartworm test and a free six month supply of the new stuff. The test was negative.