Pet medicines

[1WattLightbulb]

Does anyone know of low-cost sources/retailers for pet medicines? My wallet hurts after paying $54 for 3 months (one dose) of Bravecto 500 mg flea/tick dog meds from a vet. This is a prescription.

What else works well for fleas/ticks? Anything over-the-counter? Are those flea collars I remember from my childhood somehow lacking? Is this even a required dog medicine? The dog spends a fair amount of time outside. If this isn't used, how common are fleas/ticks?

It's my wife's dog and I haven't kept informed on such things. $54 seems like about what I'd pay for a typical dog itself!

[MandyM]

I generally order from 1800petmeds.com.

IMO, the flea collars are just not as effective - the main issue being that the farther you are from the collar, the less it works, so they end up with fleas on their feet, tails, etc. There are newer ones that may work better, but I have no experience with them and they are probably near the same price.

To help cut costs, I stretch the time between doses. I use a monthly variety, but apply it a max of every 6 weeks. In the winter, I'll go a little longer. The caveat is that my dog is mostly indoors.

Consider other factors. I'd say that fleas are generally just a nuisance unless there is a major infestation and/or compromised health. But using a preventative keeps them out of your house. Do you have a lot of carpet? Is the dog on the furniture?

Personally, I'm more strict about heart worm preventative. I think there should be a bit of a balance between a few flea bites and putting a pesticide on my dog's skin that soaks in and lasts for 4+ weeks.

[Chesterfield]

Depends on the size of the dog. If the dog is huge you are out of luck. If the dog is small, you can buy advantage plus for large dogs and then just use part of it. People sell kits on ebay, with a syringe or dropper, and a bottle to hold the extra. Works for cats too.

[Roots&Wings]

I always shop around online and have ordered from Drs. Foster & Smith and California Pet Pharmacy. You just provide your vet contact info and they fill the prescription. My dog is on Sentinel for fleas/heartworm. Most recent order for a 2-yr supply (costing $114) works out to $4.75/mo.

Personally avoid the topical flea treatments and collars due to the chemicals (I check greenpaws for chemical info: http://www.simplesteps.org/greenpaws-products)

[Spork]

What else works well for fleas/ticks? Anything over-the-counter? Are those flea collars I remember from my childhood somehow lacking? Is this even a required dog medicine? The dog spends a fair amount of time outside. If this isn't used, how common are fleas/ticks?

Frontline -- that used to be prescription -- is now OTC.  Have you tried that?  I know Sams/WalMart/PetSmart around here has it.  It still isn't cheap.  There is probably a better online source.

[Tami1982]

I use K9 Advantix.  I buy it for the largest dog size.  I use a syringe to break it down.  One box of six works out to 12+ doses for my labrador.  The flea medication in Advantix (ivermectin) has been proven to be effective up to 90 days.  So you can drop it to 4 times a year instead of monthly.  I usually only dose twice a year during "flea season."  So one box is 5+ years worth of meds for me. 5 years worth of meds for less than $60.  Advantix CANNOT be used on cats.  It could kill them. 

[chicagomeg]

My mom has been buying Heartgard & Frontline from www.bestvaluepetsupplies.com for the last 10 years. The stuff comes from New Zealand & you don't need a prescription to get the Heartgard. I still buy Heartgard in the US because after coupons, it's not much of a price difference, but I get our Frontline from them & the price difference is quite significant. No issues in all these years.

[relena]

i have bought my revolution with success from these places without a prescription:

PetsuppliesNet.Com

http://www.vetshopmax.com/   

vetshopmax is based in australia so it is important to use a credit card that does not charge foreign transaction fees.

[AJ]

This is probably regional, but where I live Frontline and Advantage no longer work - the fleas have built up an immunity or tolerance or something. The topical stuff worked great years ago, but it doesn't do anything now. Only the new pill has any effect (but it does last longer). the topical stuff you have to apply monthly, so even if you get it at a discount it may still cost more. Flea collars are just decoration.

Fleas are more than a nuisance, they carry diseases. If your pets are indoor only (except walks), and you don't have carpet, and you check them regularly to hand-pick any that jumped on, you might be able to get by without the meds - especially if your area doesn't have a big issue with them. We don't treat them in the winter, because they don't seem to get them then.

[brainfart]

(Being located in Europe) I bought Advantage Spot On from an online retailer that was the cheapest. It shipped from Great Britain and took a few days more than expected to arrive, but otherwise everything was ok.

I need it for two cats of greatly differing weight (2.2kg and over 7kg) and a small dog. Instead of buying three different kinds of meds for the different weights I bought the stuff for the largest dogs after checking the datasheets. Whether you buy it for small cats or huge dogs, it all contains exactly the same ingredients, in the same concentrations. The only difference is the amount of product you receive. The big dog stuff is by far the cheapest. I measure the required amount for each pet with a small 1ml syringe and save shitloads of money that way.

[MoneyCat]

We had a cat who needed regular fluid therapy for kidney failure and we bought all our supplies for super cheap from Doctors Foster & Smith online: www.drsfostersmith.com.  It cut our expenses down to a quarter of what they had been.

[starbuck]

This is probably regional, but where I live Frontline and Advantage no longer work - the fleas have built up an immunity or tolerance or something. The topical stuff worked great years ago, but it doesn't do anything now. Only the new pill has any effect (but it does last longer). the topical stuff you have to apply monthly, so even if you get it at a discount it may still cost more. Flea collars are just decoration.

This is true in my neck of the woods too (metro Boston.) We had a horrible flea problem last year that WOULD NOT END and it was so frustrating. Frontline was absolutely useless, so I got Vectra from my vet which was very effective and saved my sanity (and probably super toxic but nothing else was working. I was trying every non-toxic thing I could find, with zero results.) In 10 years of dog owning we had never had a flea problem before last year.

We also have a lot of deer ticks (even from just being in our suburban back yard with no deer) and a dog with a history of lyme disease so not treating isn't an option. Deer ticks are oh so TINY! We have one dog, and an indoor cat and an occassional outdoor cat. Treating the dog and outdoor cat at this point allows us to not need to treat the indoor cat, since the other two kill off whatever they're unwittingly carrying inside. I only treat them now during the warmer months (mostly out of toxicity concerns, not cost. I will pay a lot of money to never have a flea infestation again...)

[Tami1982]

This is probably regional, but where I live Frontline and Advantage no longer work - the fleas have built up an immunity or tolerance or something.

I work at a big market box pet store in the Seattle area and we had the same problem.  People came in last year, "I dose my pets!  But they still have them!"  Specifically with Advantage and Frontline.  The medications are not effective anymore.  They are getting reformulated yet again soon.  In my area the K9 Advantix still works well.  But I think it also depends on your pet.  How some people react to medications differently than others? My best friend has a golden, I have a lab.  Both do great with Advantix.  But her mutt?  Will get fleas on it.  So we have to do Trifexis. 

[conpewter]

Make sure to not use any permethrin based flea/tick repellant on a cat.  It is sold for dogs and works well for them.  I actually just bought a concentrated container to make spray for clothing since ticks are really bad this year and also are carrying a lot more diseases.  Spraying your shoes/clothes can really help to keep you healthy.