# Best Flea Medication 2016



## Prism Goldens (May 27, 2011)

I have become a huge fan of Bravecto- it works better than any of the others, at least for ticks..


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Several members are using Nexgard, it's a monthly dose vs. the Bravecto covering three months. 

There are several threads about both products, if you do a search here on the board for either, several threads will come up you can read through. 

Some members prefer the Nexgard since it's a monthly dose in case their dog would have a reaction to it where the Bravecto stays in the system for three months. 

I used the Seresto collars on my two this past year, it worked fairly well on them but I am not going to use it again, my guys still got fleas. I have rarely found ticks on my guys, but fleas are a huge problem for me. I've had no luck at all with the topicals and I've tried just about all of them. I am going to try the Nexgard this year.

You may want to talk to your Vet about which one to use on Tanner.


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## wdadswell (Dec 17, 2015)

This is a good topic to discuss. I've always sworn by advantage, because I can use it on everyone, but last year Nala had a skin reaction to it. So I'm definitely going to check out Nexgard.


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## Tennyson (Mar 26, 2011)

I use Nexgard for my boy. Both ticks and fleas are a problem in my area.
When I had my RB boy Mick I used Frontline. It was the only thing he gave me a problem with it's application. I put some on my arm and it really got warm/hot.
The Nexgard worked really well. I gave it 2 weeks after his heartworm.


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Frontline*

We've used Frontline for our dogs for many years.


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## laprincessa (Mar 24, 2008)

Frontline stopped working for us - for ticks, anyway. Max has only had fleas once in his life, and I think he picked them up at the vet's office. We used K9 Advantix but that always seemed to make him depressed for a couple of days. I know, sounds crazy, but he just didn't act like himself. We've been using Bravecto for about a year and a half, with no side effects at all, and no fleas or ticks. I've found a couple of ticks on him, but they were dead dead dried up dead. 

I live in the woods, so ticks are always going to be a problem - I wish I could take a pill meself, I've pulled more than a couple off my body. Can we say, "EEEEEEK!?" Yes, we can!


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## AngelCoopersMom (Oct 15, 2015)

Question about ticks...is it normal for them to leave a white spot with no hair where they were? Tanner had one on his snout but we pulled it out. I thought I had gotten it all but now I'm wondering. I noticed it was bare and it has me worried something is wrong.


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## cgriffin (Nov 30, 2011)

When I remove a tick, I usually see a red spot where a bite mark is and I clean that and apply Neosporin. So, I don't know about the white spot - jut keep an eye on it.

Frontline Plus quit working for most of the states - if you are still using it and are saying it is working for you - you most likely don't have a severe flea or tick issue. Yes, it will still kill but usually going by experience it does not last the entire month anymore and the ticks - well, I have had all my boys past and present on Frontline Plus year round and all of them tested positive for Ehrlichia, so that should tell you something. 
I started Bravecto with my boys last April after my golden tested positive for Ehrlichia. He was on one month of Doxycline, put him on Bravecto and had him retested 6 months later. This time he tested negative for Ehrlichia or other tick borne diseases.

So, I would recommend Bravecto or Nexgard if you don't want to do three months at a time. I never tried the Seresto because I don't like keeping collars on my dogs 24/7.

Oh, and if you have a tick problem - start adding a tick borne diseases panel to your yearly exam. Either do the heartworm snap test that also tests for tick borne diseases or send out a separate tick panel to a lab.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

I use simplegard on Kaizer but I really don't like it because of the greasy mess it leaves behind, and we have to plan it around weather days. Plus Kaizer does all sorts of rolls and sleeps on his back sometimes, so I guess the medicine doesn't ever stay on him anyway. I'm hesitant about switching products because I don't want anything to happen to him.

If you can deal with the mess and the planning, simplegard works pretty well. I haven't ever found a tick on him and I check him at least once a day. To be fair, I don't know if ticks are a massive problem in Delaware, I've only seen one in my entire life, and it was on my mom.


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## Mom Fischer (Dec 3, 2014)

We use nexguard on Lucy and it works great. We were in an area last year that was crawling with deer ticks and not one of them embedded in her they all climbed out. It was rather gross but it worked fabulous.


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## doggymom (May 7, 2015)

What about heartworm medicine. What do you use on your Goldies?


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## Harleysmum (Aug 19, 2014)

I was going to ignore this thread but my conscience will not allow me to do it. My dog had a serious grand mal seizure after taking Bravecto in November 2015. My vet confirmed that Bravecto was if not the whole cause at least a major contributing factor and a report was put into the Australian governing body by my vet. Pest control for our dogs is one of the hardest choices we have to make and each of us has to make our own decisions after doing our own research. I just want my experience to be part of the research process.


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## laprincessa (Mar 24, 2008)

Harleysmum said:


> I was going to ignore this thread but my conscience will not allow me to do it. My dog had a serious grand mal seizure after taking Bravecto in November 2015. My vet confirmed that Bravecto was if not the whole cause at least a major contributing factor and a report was put into the Australian governing body by my vet. Pest control for our dogs is one of the hardest choices we have to make and each of us has to make our own decisions after doing our own research. I just want my experience to be part of the research process.


I'm so sorry you had to go through this.
I spoke to our vet after reading your thread and he reassured me that Max would have reacted already if he was going to. Max has had no problems at all, but thank you for sharing the "other side of the story,"


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## macdougallph1 (Oct 13, 2013)

I've used seresto collar to on my cat as its the only thing that has worked for fleas and ticks. There is a growing resistance to frontline.


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## Harleysmum (Aug 19, 2014)

laprincessa said:


> I'm so sorry you had to go through this.
> I spoke to our vet after reading your thread and he reassured me that Max would have reacted already if he was going to. Max has had no problems at all, but thank you for sharing the "other side of the story,"


Of course now that I am "in the loop" as it were I am hearing more and more terrible stories. Some dogs are ok after the first dose but react after the second or third dose. We are just ****** if we do or ****** if we don't. So so hard.
eta Goodness I have been censored! It wasn't a very bad swear word!


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## SunnynSey (Jan 17, 2015)

So sorry about your experience, I am always leery of any oral pesticides as side effects when they do happen usually are vomiting and seizures. Having said that, when racoons came through the neighborhood one very hot and dry summer the only thing that worked for us was Bravecto, seemed to work better than Comfortis as well. I really felt I had no other choice as every dog on my street got infested and I'm glad I did, but I stopped once things were under control (1 pill did last 3 months). I find no issues with the cooler months, although being in CA fleas really are year round.


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## kwhit (Apr 7, 2008)

I use NexGard. IMO, it is hands down, the best flea med. on the market today. Chance is sensitive to everything and he handles NexGard just fine. My sister's dog reacted badly on both Comfortis and Trifexis, (throwing up for hours on both), but also does great on NexGard. 

Can't wait for them to come up with a cat version. I use Frontline Plus on my cats and it's not nearly as effective.


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## HopeMakes5 (Jun 23, 2015)

Hope is on Nexgard. Started out with Trifexis which had worked fine for our previous dogs (although was hard to get down them) but she vomited afterward both times, so we are no longer using it. So far, so good.


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## laprincessa (Mar 24, 2008)

Harleysmum said:


> Of course now that I am "in the loop" as it were I am hearing more and more terrible stories. Some dogs are ok after the first dose but react after the second or third dose. We are just ****** if we do or ****** if we don't. So so hard.
> eta Goodness I have been censored! It wasn't a very bad swear word!


I got censored once for using a different word for hiney - I laughed very hard about that one!

The thing is - do we know that the Bravecto was the sole cause of the problem in all these dogs or was there an underlying issue? Something that might have happened anyway, Bravecto or not? I'm not disputing, just tossing it out there for thought.


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## 3181wly (Nov 22, 2015)

I thought professional dog groomers gave some type of flea and tick treatment that was supposed to work for a couple of months. Is this not true? If your dog gets a treatment during grooming, do you still need one of these other treatments? Just wondering. Ticks and fleas are a problem around where I live, particularly ticks.


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## AngelCoopersMom (Oct 15, 2015)

Heart medicine: We use Heartgard. Tanner loves to eat it right up. Cooper did too before his vet switched him to Trifexis which we didn't like. 

Okay, I will look into Nexguard. I have no idea if fleas and ticks are big here but it is GA so probably. Lol. 

BillBRNC - I have no idea for sure but I always thought the flea and tick treatment they did was more of a wash to kill any on them. Not one that protected them from getting them. Not sure though.


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## Mom Fischer (Dec 3, 2014)

We use heartguard too.


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

I have used Bravecto, Nexgard, and Vectra. Truth be known, they were all free samples and I like all of them... Of course the only one of the above approved for breeding animals is Bravecto.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

We use heartgard too, Kaizer gets very excited when he sees me opening the packet for one every month.

I might look into getting Nexgard for Kaizer, it seems to be a better alternative (for us) than simplegard.


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## Harleysmum (Aug 19, 2014)

laprincessa;6270385
The thing is - do we know that the Bravecto was the sole cause of the problem in all these dogs or was there an underlying issue? Something that might have happened anyway said:


> And you are quite right. Some of the reported "reactions" are IMO highly unlikely to be a result of Bravecto, e.g. 14 year old dog takes Bravecto and then dies of hemangio a week later. But there are enough reports that appear to have "legs" and are supported by vets. It will be interesting to read what is being said on this board in two years time about Bravecto.


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

Like the Seresto collars, too, but with a family of dogs that chew each other's necks, not an option...

We have a lot of client pets on Bravecto. No problems that I have noted... As far as seizures. There are drugs like baytril or tramadol that do not cause seizures, but will lower the seizure threshold if the animal is predisposed.


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## doggymom (May 7, 2015)

I'm still looking for a good heartworm/flea monthly med. My vet recommends Trivexsis and that's what I've been using for Kassie. I'm reading more bad things about it. Let me know if you find a good substitute.
Charlotte & Kassie-Girl


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