Flea and tick question
 

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. :doggie:

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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?

That's true, dogs can get lyme disease. There is a vaccination for it, but my vet says it isn't practical/doesn't work real well. I forget her explanation. Will ask her again at Crosby's annual checkup in September.

There are cases of lyme disease reported in FL. About 30% of them originate in FL.

Next3rd, we moved from Colorado, too! (Evergreen and Boulder) All our dogs have been on flea and tick treatments. We did have a tick problem (and what a pain it is to fight ticks in the house!!!). Our dogs are mainly house dogs, but would not take the chance of having them unprotected. Heartworms are nasty and potentially fatal to dogs. Not worth the chance to me. Where in Colorado are you? Check out the Colorado Club when you arrive!

Up here in PA I use Ivermectin for heartworm and Frontline for flea/tick protection, but when we spent summer months in the French Quarter my dogs were plagued with fleas. The vet had us use Comfortis also which is a pill they take to control fleas internally. One of my borzoi was very allergic to just a bite from a flea and would be miserable from it. The addition of Comfortis helped a lot. I am glad there isn't that kind of flea problem in TV.
I know this thread isn't about this, but I can't get the words out of my mouth to tell my 'in person' friends and I can't keep the grief inside. We lost my almost 12 yr old Great Pyrenees Mellow today. My heart is breaking. I know you pet lovers here reading this know what it is to love and maybe lose a family member. Sorry I'm off topic.

Sorry to hear of your loss, it's always so hard.

So sorry to hear about your loss. It is never an easy thing to go through, my thoughts are with you.

lovsthosebigdogs, I am sorry for your loss. Please know that Mellow is waiting for you at the Rainbow Bridge.

So sorry for your loss. It's so very hard to go through.

I am so very sorry to hear that Mellow has passed to the other side. I know exactly how you feel.

Hugs
Bare

lovesthosebigdogs, I know exactly how you are feeling right now. i am so sorry for your loss. Those big loveable lugs take a chunk of our soul with them when they must go.

I'm so sorry, my heart hurts for you.

lovethosebigdogs
 

Sorry for your loss. I can tell it will be awhile before your heart heals. I remember you posting how you thought you were doing the last grooming of your dog and it was so tender how you described it. Take care

Words seem so inadequate right now but I do remember how loving you were to me when I suffered a similar loss and I want you to feel my hug and know that many of us feel your pain. I just love the name Mellow and I'm happy to know that he lived his life with such loving people. You'll be together again.

So very sorry for your loss. They become loving family members. Just like children. You are in our thoughts and prayers. No amount of words can make that pain go away. Just feel blessed that you got to share the time you did together. I'm sure Mellow enriched your life, as well as you enriching Mellows.

Lovethosebigdogs, you have my heartfelt sympathies. It is never easy losing a family member no matter if they are two legged or four legged. Blessings to you.

Thanks, Everyone, for all the loving posts. It's been really quiet here except for the whinig/crying my greyhound is doing (even in his sleep). We are trying to get through one day at a time the best we can. Your compassion really helps and is much appreciated. Again, please accept my apologies for hijacking the thread (not sure if I got the lingo right).

No problem. We will all need to hijack one of these threads at some point, unfortunately. You need support when that loss occurs. And that is one beautiful dog. Thanks for posting the picture.

I could almost handle my own grief better than another pet's grief. Might you consider getting the greyhound another companion? I never had two dogs at once, so I don't really know if that's a viable option. Our neighbor had two goldens, and when one died the other was inconsolable. They got another golden, and it seemed to do the trick.

Our golden's best friend, a Rottie, died this spring. He still runs up to any Rottie he sees on the dog beach, thinking it's Sampson. One sniff and he knows it's someone different.

Okay, so now I have hijacked the thread. Sorry!

When I lose a pet, I feel for a while like my heart has been ripped out. And my remaining dog grieves with me. Dogs are such wonderful creatures and offer unconditional love no matter what. It helps me if I set up a little "memorial area" with some pictures, a candle, the Rainbow Bridge poem, cards from friends. It somehow makes me feel better to honour my pet, and I find that rituals help me say goodbye.

When we lose a pet, we usually wait a few months before even considering getting another. I've always felt it was a respectful thing to do, but I don't feel that way any longer. We had to sadly euthanize Brutus in March of 2009 because of a brain tumour. A week later, we heard about LolliPop, a rescue, who had already had four homes in three years. She needed a forever home. We adopted her. It helped ease the pain. It helped Biggins to have a new playmate. And I know Brutus is sitting in that great dog house in the sky and smiling.

CFrance, I hear what you are saying but another permanent dog for us isn't possible at this time because besides our greyboy we still have 2 borzoi. We will be at our 3 dog limit when we move to TV. I think Bravo's grief is like ours, specifically for his lost buddy and even having 2 other brothers isn't helping. We have always been an active greyhound foster family and had to give that up this past year due to Mellow's health issues. I am hoping that when we can handle it in a month or so maybe, we will foster again. That might help all of us AND do something to help a dog find a forever home (not ours). A win-win for all of us.
Bare, I love your memorial idea and did that here. I put the cards I got, his collar,a baggie of hair, and some pictures together. It is a sad yet beautiful place to keep for a while as we grieve. Thank you

I can to TV from Connecticut in February 2012 and within a month my Havanese was allergic to the grass and her paws were rust colored from constant licking. The vet at Buffalo Ridge told me I have to wash her paws down with warm water and Selsun Blue shampoo. Well it's a pain in the neck to do everytime we go out but its works and so worth it.

I lived in TV for 6 1/2 yrs and NEVER has a flea problem or a flea on my dog.....untill...... I moved just outside of TV... I am infested with them :(
2 weeks and still tring to get rid of them! :(

Flea problem in The Villages
 

We moved to TV 5 months ago. We continued to use Frontline Plus for fleas and ticks. However, a few days ago we found fleas on BOTH our dogs and we had given one Frontline on Oct. 1st and the other one on Oct. 9th. We called our vet and were told Frontline Plus DOES NOT WORK in Florida and to give both dogs a bath to get any Frontline off. We already had a package of Heartgard Plus for the beagle so vet gave us "Comfortis" to use along with the Heartgard Plus for the fleas and ticks. The new snoodle we just adopted came with a 6 month supply of "Trifexis" which is for heartworm, fleas and ticks which vet said would work good in Florida but the adoption agency had given us a package of Frontline to use on her the first month
and then go to the Comfortis. If Frontline does not work here why would a Florida adoption agency give us Frontline? Needless to say we have been frantically washing everything in the house with Mule Team Borax which we read will kill fleas and eggs and we sprinkled it thruout home on carpets and left on overnight and vacuumed up this morning. What a nightmare. Has anyone else heard Frontline does not work here?