Flea treatment??

[jessi76]

@KiroGurl:

lastly, what food does everyone use? How is beneful wet and dry? good life? thoughts advice?

IMO, beneful isn't good at all. Read the ingredients list and you'll see why. I don't feed my dog or cats anything from the grocery store. I spend a bit more on quality food, BUT I spend LESS time at the vet for skin issues, allergies, etc… to me, it's worth the extra pennies to feed a quality food. I use Solid Gold's Hundnflocken (lamb) kibble, and add in either home cooked foods, or quality canned (wellness or Merrick). My cats eat a blend of Chicken Soup for Cat Lover's Soul and EVO, along with Merrick canned foods.

as for flea/tick treatments, i use Frontline Plus on my dog and on the cats. I don't use it in the winter though.

[KiroGurl]

that website doesnt have any information on the wet benefuls. they are singles food servings. Kiro really loves them. I mix 1/3 in with her dry food for dinner. It looks really good, real peas and carrots. I just havent heard anything so i just wanted some opinions.

thanks guys i will aplly the advantix

[Ninabeana26]

@KiroGurl:

that website doesnt have any information on the wet benefuls. they are singles food servings. Kiro really loves them. I mix 1/3 in with her dry food for dinner. It looks really good, real peas and carrots. I just havent heard anything so i just wanted some opinions.

thanks guys i will aplly the advantix

Actually it does have information on the wet, just no reviews. However, it still puts them at a 1 star dog food…which is a gift IMO. Read the reviews from the dry Beneful to give you an idea of the less-than-desired ingrediant in beneful food.

[mauigirl]

If there's not a review you can always follow their guidelines and look at the ingredients yourself:

Water sufficient for processing, chicken, wheat gluten, liver, meat by-products, corn starch-modified, pasta (wheat flour, egg whites), carrots, spinach, natural & artificial flavors, salt, soy flour, potassium chloride, tricalcium phosphate, added color, zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, choline chloride, thiamine mononitrate, copper sulfate, manganese sulfate, Vitamin A supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, Vitamin B-12 supplement, Vitamin D-3 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, potassium iodide, folic acid, sodium selenite, biotin.

The first meat product in all of the beneful prepared meals is inclusive of water content so once that is removed the meat is much farther down the list. Basically the first ingredient is wheat gluten (not a whole grain). Meat by-products raises a red flag. Corn starch modified is a filler….you get the idea.

[JazzysMom]

What to feed seems to be the Great Debate on the forum.
Everyone seems to have very strong opinions, which isn't a bad thing.

You have to looks at ingredients, true. It's always best to try to feed the highest quality possible to your pet. But you also have to look at your budget and keep a level head about the amount you can afford to spend on dog food.

Do the best you can; I'm sure your dogs will be fine.

I've always fed Purina, which is on the forum dog-food-from-hell-list, LOL but I've always had healthy, happy, fit dogs who only go to the vet IF I remember to take them for annual exams. Gypsy, {non-B}now 14, was on it for her entire lifetime until I changed ….maybe one year ago, if that, because I just decided to try moving up the feed scale a bit because I can now.

Read the ingredients, feed what you feel is best, bur don't kick yourself if you can't afford $50.00/bag foods.

[youngandtired]

:o I have used Frontline Plus, and Advantage, and still see fleas on Sahara. She gets bit and the area swells up and she scratches, and scratches. I think she might be allergic to fleas, I have also found ticks on her maybe 2 times. I live on the coast of NC and it is hot and humid, I have been told that is great weather for fleas. I can detest that is true, we have the darnest time with them, I have to treat my B, Sahara, and 2 cats. I have not had good luck with anything except shampoo for fleas and Adams flea spray. I do like the Adams products, and Wal-Mart sells them. Recently my cousin told me about a pill for fleas that the vet sells, I had her mail me one for Sahara. I just gave it to her a few days ago and so far so good. It is for 1 month and cost about the same as Advantage and cheaper than Frontline Plus. The name of the pill is Comfrontis, and it has great reviews, check out the website, www.petmeds.com, as far as food, well there are lots and lots of opinions here. I fed my B the Beneful food, dry mixed with the wet. I did change b/c I did not like the ingredients, lots of by products and fillers. I now feed Merrick's dry mixed with a little wet. It is quite expensive and going up soon, but I have only 1 dog, and no kids home or in college. Good Luck and remember do the best you can and your B will be all the better.

[tanza]

http://www.comfortis4dogs.com/_layouts/downloads/comfortis-product-label.pdf

Note that this is no different then the topical "frontline, advantage. etc".. in that it kills the fleas, usually after they bite… as it says within 20 minutes and before they can lay eggs...

[Taffy9]

In reading previous replies, some writers noted they use Advantix or Frontline…I assume they use the formulas for dogs rather than cats? I'm asking because when we were blessed with basenjis 20 yrs ago, we were advised to use only products that were safe for cats. I usually applied Skin So Soft as needed. After all these years, we now recently adopted an older basenji, & am wondering what's best to use. She's not outside playing with the kids as often as our German shepherd is, so I don't need the same level of protection (use Frontline on the shepherd). Plus, it's easier to spot fleas & ticks on the b-girl. If I decide to try a topical, is there a brand (dog or cat formula) that is preferable for basenjis?

[tanza]

I think many of us here have used Advantix or Frontline. I have used both on a number of Basenjis and not had a problem.

[LindaH]

In the 15 years that we had Maxx, we never used any kind of flea product…and he never had fleas.

We haven't used anything on Gracie or Blaze, either, and neither of them have fleas. If we ever do see fleas, our first line of defense would be a natural product of some kind. Only if the natural products didn't work would I resort to chemicals. Of course, YMMV.

Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs & Cats has information on natural flea products. I'm sure there are other books and/or websites that do, too…just do a Google search.