Flea Control

With spring around the corner, flea season is coming too. Flea control was a conversation I would have at least once every day when I worked in regular practise. Now that I am in emergency medicine its not something we talk about too often. I saw someone post this image below with the following article about how bad Hartz flea products are with captions and comments such as: "OMG this happened to my dog." "I can't believe they would sell this" "why didn't anyone warn me?" ETC.... and I am thinking to myself  "That's what I have been trying to tell you". So exhausting how people tend to not listen to their vet's advice. 

So anyways, the image below is a picture of a dogs skin between the shoulder blades were this person had been applying the OTC flea product. Ouch! 

If you must buy from the pet store be careful when choosing a product. Most sales persons just push to sell what they are told to sell. They usually don;t have an extended knowledge about the product. If you were to come ask me about the flea products I sell I could talk all day and answer probably any question, pet stores cannot. Another thing to be cautious about is dosing. Most flea treatments (@ pet stores) for dogs are toxic to cats, and are to be dosed by weight class. Make sure you know your pet's weight. 

Majority of people out there will get pet store products and I know this because its a bit cheaper and much more convenient. But I also know that 80% of the clients who use pet store brands come in and say flea medicine doesn't work. Vet brand flea control isn't even that expensive though. You will pay roughly 20$/month. To me, its worth it because trying to get rid of fleas once you have them sucks a whole lot more. 

Talk to your vet about what product is best for your pet. My favourites are Advantage and Revolution. Both simple and easy to use, plus provide great results are protection from a number of other parasites. 

D