Dog tick/flea prevention

[madmax]

I just got home from a vet visit for my new puppy and I'm in sticker shock. The vet recommended putting her on Nexgard flea prevention which runs $20 a month. I asked for a prescription so I could shop around but most websites are around the $20 mark.

Does the dog have to be on flea prevention throughout the year? Any cheaper source for the Nexgard or a cheaper alternative?

[katsiki]

$20 per MONTH?  That doesn't sound right at all.

Check out 1800petmeds and similar.

[katsiki]

Some brands are indeed $20...  We skip 4-6 months each year generally.  This may depend some on your location.  We're in Louisiana but skip during the "winter".  This has worked for us for many years.

K9 Advantix is a bit cheaper - about $10 per month.

[caracarn]

Welcome to pet ownership.  We use 1800PetMeds as it is cheapest.  Even so, and WITH discounts 12 months of our Cats flea meds (Revolution) is $211 each cat and for our dog $118 for K9 AdvantixII.  We live up north and in theory you could stop for a few months in the winter, but we did that one year and had to deal with fleas in the house.  Problem is if they catch one from somewhere they can still live indoors just fine and we decided it was not worth the aggrivation and expense to get things back to normal so we just keep them on year round.  Basically for food, vet checkup and meds our pets cost us $2,142.27 according to our YNAB tracking for two cats and a dog, so about $700/year per animal. 

[bogart]

Having lived long enough to remember the years before these products were available, I can tell you ... there's a reason we're willing to pay as much as we are for them.

I use a feed-through product (I forget the brand name) on my dog, for fleas and ticks.  I do not give it to him monthly because in my experience, I do not need to.  I give it to him and then, when I notice a live tick on him that's not dessicated/dead (which seems to be what the meds achieve), I give him another.  This frequency (which seems to work out to every other month or 3rd month) seems to work for us.  I do give him one at the start of tick season, for sure, for obvious reasons.

When I don't need tick protections (around where I live, ticks are pretty seasonal, fleas not as much) I use Comfortis, which is only good for fleas (also feed-through) but may be cheaper (it's been a long time since I bought any, so not sure).  Again, it's a more every-other or every-3rd month kind of dosing.  I don't know how big a problem ticks are where you live or whether you plan to let your dog run places where they are found (versus being in more of a city environment); you may decide you don't need tick prevention at all.

We don't have much carpet in our home, so the risk of a systematic flea infestation is small.  If we did, I might use a more enthusiastic scheduling strategy.

I'm not willing to use the apply-to-skin (as opposed to feed-to-dog) products because I have a kid in my household and don't want him exposed to the chemicals from the dog's coat.  But you may feel differently, and the apply-to-skin stuff may be cheaper.

[Dave1442397]

I use Frontline, which I buy at Costco. It's a little under $80 for a six-month supply, but I skip it in the winter months (Dec-Feb or Mar, depending on temps).

Our vet also recommends Heartguard pills, which I do get from the vet. Those are expensive.

[Imustacheyouaquestion]

There's a generic for Frontline called PetArmor Plus. You can buy it online for about $40 for a six month dose for dogs sized 89-132 pounds from Walmart. (Each of the sizes is dosed for the largest dog in that weight bracket, so this XL size has 4 ml doses that are large enough for 132 pound dogs). If you buy a pack of dosing syringes (no needles!) and some glass vials for storage, you can measure out the manufacturer's recommended dose per pound of bodyweight (.0305 ml per pound) and apply it directly down your dog's hairline. For my 35 pound dog, this brings the cost per dose down to less than $2/month. You may want to run this idea by your vet and give it shot before you try the $20 pills.

[Poeirenta]

<<<<<<< The Dusty Dog has been doing great on Comfortis, which seems to work for ticks too, though the label doesn't say so. Her people much prefer it to the topical stuff, especially the kind that could poison her feline housemate. $100 for 6 months. We'll skip a dose in the winter if we aren't headed to the west side of WA where the fleas are year round.

[madmax]

I'm not willing to use the apply-to-skin (as opposed to feed-to-dog) products because I have a kid in my household and don't want him exposed to the chemicals from the dog's coat.  But you may feel differently, and the apply-to-skin stuff may be cheaper.

This is precisely my concern with the topical products as well.

Thanks for all the replies, Comfortis is almost half the price of Nexgard, I emailed my vet about switching over. If I'm stuck with Nexgard, 1800petmeds is a couple of dollars cheaper than my vet, thanks for suggesting that.

Having lived long enough to remember the years before these products were available, I can tell you ... there's a reason we're willing to pay as much as we are for them.

Oh I'm willing to pay if there is no cheaper alternative, we had a bad tick infestation in our house from our dog when I was a kid and we didn't have carpet. There's no way in hell I'm willing to risk that again.

[Gimesalot]

We have flea issues with our cats.  I have been buying the meds from outpetworld.com for several years.  They do take a while to arrive since they ship from Singapore, but it is so cheap.  Although there are cheaper options out there, I recommend them because of the ability to pay with paypal and the customer service.  Here is their page for Nexgard: http://www.ourpetworld.net/nexgard

[madmax]

We have flea issues with our cats.  I have been buying the meds from outpetworld.com for several years.  They do take a while to arrive since they ship from Singapore, but it is so cheap.  Although there are cheaper options out there, I recommend them because of the ability to pay with paypal and the customer service.  Here is their page for Nexgard: http://www.ourpetworld.net/nexgard

Wow they are half price, that's great! Thanks for the link, I'm going to try them out.

[Sean Og]

We have flea issues with our cats.  I have been buying the meds from outpetworld.com for several years.  They do take a while to arrive since they ship from Singapore, but it is so cheap.  Although there are cheaper options out there, I recommend them because of the ability to pay with paypal and the customer service.  Here is their page for Nexgard: http://www.ourpetworld.net/nexgard

+1 on this. Like you said, take a while to arrive but with a little advance planning saves a lot of money.

[Rural]

We put Sorento collars on our Danes through the warm months. Cheaper than buying big enough doses of the edibles or topicals to treat them, safer for them, work well. But it may be cheaper to do a pill for smaller dogs. We had a very good result with Comfortis, just had to buy two of the largest dose pills monthly for each dog.

[BikeFanatic]

I recommend Equine mega store in Australia, shipping is not expensive and you can get prescription dog and cat meds without a prescription. I get flea and tic meds plus heartworm.

http://www.equine-mega-store.com/category5.ehtml

I would also recommend going to the vet once a year for preventive measures, teeth cleaning and
general wellness. But I would not pay the price they charge for frontllne and  such.

[cj25]

I have used flea meds in at least 4 years.  I would only use topical 1-2 times per year before that, they actually last up to 3 months for fleas.  I hated the idea of poison when I try so hard to keep my dog healthy.  I feed her real home cooked food (or Honest Kitchen occasionally), she gets filtered water, I give her immune supplements and she doesn't get crap treats like milkbones and rawhide.  She's a healthy girl.  From what I've read healthy dogs shouldn't attract fleas.  Not going to say this is 100% without exception of course.  I use an essential oil spray when we go out places hiking that may have more places for fleas.  I check her afterwards. We have treated the grass with beneficial nematodes to eat flea larvae.  And I always have food grade diatomaceous earth around, ready to either apply to her fur or the carpet/floor/etc.  But we really haven't needed it.  Can also add garlic to their food and apple cider vinegar to their water.  Just some home remedies to help.

[Sibley]

So, words of caution.

Do NOT apply cat meds to dogs. Do NOT apply dog meds to cats. Unless you'd like a potentially very sick or dead animal.

Be careful with what you get. I know there are over the counter type things for cats that are ineffective and are known to cause lots of problems. I would assume that's a possibility with dogs as well.

Be careful where you get it. If the stuff you buy online is a knockoff (it's happened!), who knows what would happen to the animal. Best case, absolutely nothing except you get fleas.

Personally, I'm not willing to use anything that the vet hasn't approved. And while I'll purchase online, I will only purchase from reputable sites. I won't risk my cat's life to save a few dollars.

[dragoncar]

I know it's an old thread, but came across it so for posterity:

We use bravecto, which I think is around $10/mo from 1800petmeds.  It's one quarterly chew, and our dog loves the flavor.  We use it year round because we find a tick once in a while and I shudder to think about the ones we don't find.  Apparently bravecto kills the ticks within 8 hours of attachment and that's soon enough to prevent disease. 

You do need a prescription, but the pricey vet we initially saw seems to approve so far.  We have decided to switch  era and have been skipping vaccinations (using the discount county services) and I wonder when they will get pissed about the rx inquiries.  Feel a little bad but they were way overpriced

[Firehazard]

We've  been using a product called Flea Treats for the last five years on my 2dogs instead of topicals or drugs.  It's a B vitamin complex in a chewable tablet I add to their food twice a day. We live in the southeast US where fleas and ticks are a huge problem year round.   It works like a charm.

[Broadway2019]

So I searched and searched for Bravecto or Nexgard and could find neither that cheap. I ended up buying Bravecto (6 month supply) for $92. Not bad but still about $15 a month.

[dragoncar]

So I searched and searched for Bravecto or Nexgard and could find neither that cheap. I ended up buying Bravecto (6 month supply) for $92. Not bad but still about $15 a month.

I guess you had to pay tax?  It's on 1800petmeds now for $86.  I usually get the 12 month supply and save a couple bucks.  Either way, check it occasionally because the price fluctuates.  Sometimes the coupon is only 10%, sometimes 15%, maybe more?

ps I didn't choose bravecto because it was cheapest, but apparently it's safer for border collies and we suspect ours has some of that

[Dave1442397]

I just ordered Costco's PetArmor Plus, which is their version of Frontline. Frontline was $80 at Costco this week, so I ordered the PetArmor Plus from their site for $30 shipped for a six-month supply.

If it works as well as Frontline, I'll be happy.