Frontline Does Not Work
87Frontline...Does it work?
Frontline Does Not Work
This is more of a rant about a certain Flea Preventative that has worked for over 10 years that simply doesn't work anymore. The flea medication is Frontline and this is my story....
I have used Frontline for nearly 15 years now. My last dog used it for her entire life. It worked very well. All I had to do was simply apply it once a month and she didn't get fleas. She passed away 6 years ago and about 6 months later, I added Ziggy to the family...I continued using Frontline.
The first 2 years, it continued to not be a problem. In fact, Ziggy never had fleas with frontline. We went to the dog park and I ran him through the woods daily. I will reiterate this....Ziggy never had fleas.
Then something weird happened....
In the spring of 2005, I applied Frontline (just like I always do)....suddenly, I started noticing that I was getting flea bites in the house. It didn't take long before my wife and I had an infestation on our hands.
I gave Ziggy a bath, killing most of the fleas on him and bombed the house. I then reapplyed another application of Frontline. Days later, they came back.
Worse still, Ziggy was wearing holes in his body trying to relieve the itching. His skin started to scale and flake off. He was losing hair under his chin. His backside was getting raw. I decided to take him to my vet.
Below is the conversation that I had with her (imagine my frustration)...
Doctor, I have done everything that is humanly possible to get rid of the fleas.
"Did you bomb the house? You need to bomb the house and treat the yard for frontline to work..."
".....but it never worked that way before....all I had to do was treat my dog..."
"Fronline works..you just need to get rid of the fleas in the surrounding areas"
"You don't understand....I have been using frontline for years...it never was a problem before..."
"you need to use it more often..."
I have to admit I was pretty frustrated. Here was a vet deadset on NOT even listening to me. Her advice was to sell me more frontline and make me use it more often....
What is the use of a flea preventative if you are told you need to kill all the fleas in the first place?
Meanwhile, Ziggy's condition was worsening. What I was told was the flakiness of his skin (which was yeast) was really a secondary infection...the cause? You guessed it...flea allergy.
I called my local pest company, had them re-treat the yard AND the house, and washed my dog, once again treating him with frontline. 2 weeks later, the fleas were back.
The next week I went to a new vet in the hopes that they could give me some alternative advice. They did. They told me that they were getting reports that Frontline wasn't working as well as before. The fleas had basically grown tolerant of the preventative. In defense of frontline, she did tell me that it did work on some animals but there was a growing segment of the pet population that were looking for a different flea preventative alternative like a natural flea and tick control for dogs.
She recommended both Sentinal and the program which are pill based alternative for killing fleas. I put Ziggy on Sentinal and haven't looked back...his hair grew back and he literally returned to his fun loving self.
This is really more of a rant because it seems like the vets who push frontline will tell you that the drug is not the problem....it is the owner. It isn't. Fleas are developing an immunity to Frontline.
Moral of the story- Frontline could work but if it doesn't, you should try other flea preventatives...
Learn How to Protect Your Home From Fleas Right Now
For More Information about How to Protect Your Home and Pet From Fleas, You can check out this digital book....
PrintShare it! — Rate it: up down flag this hub
Does Frontline work for you?
As a vet tech I was stunned at the surprising increase in number of various cancers in dogs. Curious, I began reading charts looking for a common factor. Every single dog diagnosed with cancer had been treated with some kind of topical flea/tick treatment. My belief is any kind of topical treatment for pets should be avoided.
Hey Cinewton, I kind of suspected that. After all, in most cases, these drugs go in the blood stream. I wish that there was a natural solution that actually worked. Things like garlic and various oils as flea preventatives are so-so but what happens if your dog is allergic to fleas. It seems like it comes down to a case of doing what is best for the pet....
Frontline did not work for my daughter's dogs last year or this year. The natural essential oil/pyrethrins help a little, but not much. I think the fleas must be getting very resistant to lots of things. They've been especially bad outdoors this year too. Thanks for hub!
Yeah, you have to wonder about things that warn 'DO NOT GET ON SKIN!'. We put them on our pets skin..................hellllllooooooo...............
As for the flea allergies, I have one of those mahhvelous beasts that is deathly allergic. Found that out on vacation last year. Funny story. (NOT!) HAD to use one of those topical things to save her life, in effect. As for doing it regularly I would NOT.
Cindi
Boy, these stories are all sounding like mine. Lucy, out Bijon, was using Frontline + for the last 4 years. At the beginning of this summer, there were fleas everywhere. treated the entire yard (twice) and the house & carpet. Still coming back. Have many of you used the Sentinal brand and does it seem to work? Seems like a shame to give the poor dog a bath every single night. Any replies will be appreciated.
Ricky in Fredericksburg, VA
A month ago spent over $50. for my cat on Frontline Plus...gave him a HUGE BALD SPOT between his shoulder blades and he still has fleas!! Doesn't work at all and now I'm stuck with months worth of this junk and looking at other methods...
My dog and 3 cats have fleas also, and I have applied Frontline Plus on all of them. I am very disgusted with this product. Wondering if some of the less expensive might work. Like Hartz or Bio Spot. Anyone else used either of these?
Well, this is weird. I,too have used Frontline on our 4 cats for some time now and it worked great. Just dosed them all about 2 weeks ago and it was like the stuff attracted fleas! I'll be watching this closely to see if anybody has any good natural solutions. My cats are indoor cats, but humans can bring the fleas in from outside. Got to find a solution. I'm going to try Advantage and see what the results are with that.
I've tried to control fleas with several different spot treatments. My three cats and two dogs seem to find a flea and restart the cycle long before the promised month of protection is over. My latest find, that actually seems to be working, food grade diatomaceous earth. I'm careful not to apply any close to my darlings' nose or eyes. Its ok for them to lick themselves, since the name suggests, its food-grade. Swimming pool DE is not safe to use on or around your pets.
I have been doing Cat rescue for 20 years...I used to use "Advantage", but then found it didn't kill Flea Larvae and "Frontline-Plus" did. Started using frontline 2 yrs ago and it worked great. Now suddenly, the stuff doesn't work anymore. I've dosed 3 times in 6 weeks and the fleas could care less. "Advantage" smells more chemically, but I'm going back o it... I may also try "Revolution", which is for dogs, but my vets say it can be used on cats too with a smaller dosage.
I just spoke to my Vet and he said the problem with Frontline is that the fleas appear to be building up a complete resistance to the chemical in Frontline (Fipronil). I am going back to using "Advantage" which uses the chemical "Imidocloprid". Wish us all luck.
I havent' seen fleas on my dogs but they itch all the time. I will have to observe more closely now; thanks for the informational and great hub
My cats got fleas a few years ago and then, as now, I tried to avoid drugs if possible so I bathed them all in human tea tree oil shampoo which killed those fleas almost immediately. I spread salt on the rugs (vacuumed up in an hour or two) and put a smide of garlic in their food for a few months. It worked. Well I told my vet I was using tea tree oil to combat fleas, ticks, ringworm, and ear mites (which it did wonderfully with all) and he crindged. Guess tea tree oil can kill cats... supposably. Well anyway, not one to argue I shrugged. This year the fleas came back in swarms and are aggrivating two cats in particular with allergies. So I bathed them in traditional flea bath shampoo AND Frontlined them. It's been a week and those fleas are still hopping off them unfazed! I am not pleased! Going to go see if there are other herbal treatments... I keep having better luck with those than drugs. UGH.
As a Vet Tech, seeing many dogs and cats come through the clinic with fleas, this is my advice. COMFORTIS for your dogs. It is in oral monthly medication. My dog is highly allergic to fleas and is very skin sensitive, so I cant use topical solutions. The other problem with ALL topical solutions with dogs that are "water dogs", is that the topical does not last the entire month. In the summer months you have to dose it every 2 weeks, which many vets will recommend. The other problem with frontline is that if you bathe your dog you have to wait 48-72 hours to apply the medication, otherwise the essential oils of the coat are not present to spread the medication properly. So for those 48 hours, if you take your dog to a dog park where fleas jump on him, BAM you just brought them back into the house to breed in your carpet. As for cats, Revolution has seemed to be the best. It not only takes care of fleas and ticks, it also takes care of ear mites, which are a huge problem with many outdoor cats. If you choose to try Comfortis for your dogs, please note that it is ONLY for fleas. You will still need to have them on heartworm prevention. My combo is Comfortis and Heartguard.
I thought I had this problem too but the vet told me that you should switch brands every few years. I guess somehow the fleas get used to one brand and can somehow make it through after awhile. But switching it up will make them more effective at killing the fleas.
Going thru this right now. The best I can understand is that Frontline works better for ticks, and Advantage for fleas. Also, we kept giving our dog flea baths then applying frontline. The vet said "Stop bathing him! You're washing off the natural oils in his skin that the medication needs to be absorbed into." He said to wait 3 days after the bath and apply Advantage. We are in day two of waiting. I will let you folks know...
This has been an extremely interesting hub to read. I have had dogs all my life and I too use Frontline. At the last visit to my vet, who by the way saved my dogs life from Lyme disease; I asked whether I should change the flea medication as I had heard some things about the Advantage or Advantix or some such thing. She recommended I continue with the Frontline unless I saw an influx of flea activity. We have thousands of ticks up here where I live, but fleas praise God, I have not seen that many of. I hope I do not, but may buy both products just in case next time, for having fleas in the house is really bad.
Additionally I would like to add, there is a natural flea repellent on the market....http://www.mosquitobarrier.com/
It works really great and the ticks just disappear along with the fleas, maybe this is why I have none!
Great hub!
Great hub. I too, have been having problems with fleas. I went to vet for Frontline and was told to apply it every 3 weeks instead of once a month due to the change in the weather, more rain. She still brings them in and has dry flaky skin and she is wearing me slick. I have sprayed around my mobile home with a good weed killer and then with bug spray. If she goes out, she brings them back, but I don't have an infestation. Everything becomes resistant to something that is used all the time for control. Time to try something else. Hadn't thought of garlic. My mom used to raise elephant garlic, or giant garlic, that is sweet and easy to use. I will have to find some again and press my own repellent. Thanks for the great hub and input!
What an interesting hub. There seems to be some misconceptions regarding Frontline Plus. It is not a repellent, or a preventative. It does prevent new eggs from hatching (That's the Plus ingredient.) If it were a repellent, it couldn't kill fleas!
When applied as directed, it is distributed all over the dog within 24 hours by the natural oils on the dog's hairs. Then it soaks into the oil glands at the base of each hair, and it is stored in those glands and released every day when the gland secretes it's natural oils, this lasts a whole month, and this is why it is still effective even after a bath. If the dog was washed before the application, the natural oils aren't there to help it spread, and it may not distribute thoroughly, or soak in to all of the oil glands.
On a dog who was treated correctly, after five minutes on the dog, the flea is as good as dead, it can take between eight and fifteen hours for the flea to quit kicking/jumping and fall off. If a flea jumps on, soaks in Frontline, drinks blood, jumps off and lays eggs before she dies, her eggs can't hatch. But you can bet that there are thousands more cocoons where she came from.
Ok, this flea's mom laid healthy eggs, those eggs hatched into tiny larvae worms, those worms spun cocoons (where they don't breathe while they morph into adult fleas, that's why you can't kill them all with one application of house spray) those cocoons usually hatch adult fleas within three weeks, but they can stay in the cocoon for years, then hatch out when exposed to carbon dioxide and body heat from a mammal.
Spray the house (and yard) with something that has a long residual against adult fleas in carpets and drapes to kill any new hatchlings and quit blaming Frontline for your infestation.
Nature Lover,
Interesting comment and I would take heed EXCEPT for the fact that I have used frontline for 10+ years without a problem before.
You see, it seems like all of a sudden frontline folks want to add some other if's to the mix. I should mention that up until a couple years ago, there was no problem. Now suddenly, the answer has to be because the yard is infested, house is infested, ect....never was a problem before.
And obviously, I am not the only one...take a look at the comments....and i have talked to the pet community as well...most have pretty much said the same thing.
I have noticed the same thing. Me and my brother both used frountline or years. This year however I put frontline on my Pit Bull Bowser and he did the same thing your dog did. The fleas would be gone for like a week and then boom they were back. He would sit and dig at his backside and he got flacky skin and hair loss as well.
Try Brewers yeast,or a teaspoon of Bragg's raw undistilled organic apple cider vinegar mixed with the food. And get the food grade Diatemateous earth Make sure its food grade. and dust your yard. read up on the D.E powder. the stuff from some of the feed stores that is dirty looking never workd but the white soft D.E. powder that feels like corn starch will kil your flea problem. like any fine powder dont inhale. it also can be used as a kennel drying agent.
Well, Frontline Plus for both my cats has not proved especially helpful. My female cat was ill a few hours after application with slight agitation and slightly dilated pupils and she did not eat very much for a day and was very lethargic; she returned to normal after a day. The male cat had an extreme reaction... very dilated pupils, panting, starting and jumping at every small movement or noise, he seemed to be hallucinating and he was very aggressive (bit me); after a few hours he began salivating and had small muscle tremors -all this lasted 9 hours. Fipronil IS a neurotoxin, after all. I washed the Frontline Plus from the male's fur 4 hours after application, using a small cloth and diluted detergent - I am convinced that this saved his life. I was very careful not to rub it into his skin anymore than it already had absorbed, and rinsed the fur with fresh water three times.
Before applying the Frontline, I had given both cats nitempryam to kill the adult fleas -that worked really well and worked within 15 minutes and neither cat became ill or exhibited any symptoms of side effects.
As for the house, I am finding that the eggs and larva are no longer killed by simply washing (fabrics) in hot soapy water and running through a hot clothes dryer- I am now having to wash everything in hot bleach water and then a hot dryer to dry. Consequently, there have many fabric and bedding items that could not be salvaged.
Both cats still have many flea eggs on them, combing is laborious and time-consuming and not well tolerated by either cat. Will the eggs hatch out and develop into larva and then adults? I don't know but I have seen many pupa in the laundry and vacuum bag. I will have to wait and see; it depends on whether the eggs were laid by fleas who had been exposed to the Frontline or not.
For now, my vacuum cleaner is my constant companion, but after washing everything and spraying with tetramethrin,permethrin and methoprene, it's a time-game, isn't it. Methoprene (an insect growth regulator)is supposed to keep the eggs and larva from developing into adults, but it quickly breaks down in sunlight and I have heard from other pet-owners that the fleas are becoming resistant to it. We'll see how it works. But again, even after spraying the house with methoprene, I am still seeing pupae in the laundry and vacuum bag.
I am now on day 21 of the flea battle. No adults, but still seeing many eggs and larva.
Same thing here. Frontline worked solid for 8 years, not a single flea. The last two years have been a disaster. Vacuuming every day, flea bombs, yard treatments, all completely useless.
And I never see a dead flea, ever.
just started to use frontline this week after trying everything but after these reveiws i will just be going back to making my own flea dip with lemons which works great.Just boil a pot of water and cut up about 6 lemons ,drop them in the water do not squeeze them and cover to let them seep over night.The next day I strain it in a coffee filter and put it in a squirt bottle and use it every where works great and cheap.Thought using the front line would save me time but guess I will just keep squirting away.
I have two dogs...a 1 yr old and a 5 month old. Just recently we started to have problems with fleas. I tried the cheap one month remedies with no success, so I decided to switch to Frontline thinking it was better and again NO success. Both of my dogs still have fleas and I don't know what to do. My dalmatian is breaking out in hot spots now and his skin is very very itchy. They are both miserable. I'd give them another bath, but my lab hates them now and her skin is getting pretty dry. Please any ideas to help me with my dogs and the fleas would be appreciated.
I googled frontline to see what others where finding about this product. I have used frontline plus for many years with no problems. This summer....I again used frontline plus with NO results. The fleas are still here!! I tried double doseing a week later and still the fleas presist. I recently took my dog to the vet for some help since he too bites and scratches himself to death. The vet placed him on prednisone tablets to alviate the sensitivity to flea bites - but he was not helpful about prevention...there has to be another product out there that will work.....
I have 2 cats and one dog and Frontline Pluse worked very well for us last year and this spring but last month it stopped working. Completely. I wondered if they'd changed the formula. It sounds as if a tolerance can be built up over time - and I guess that makes sense. I'm going to switch to Advantage and hope for the best.
I'm a 24 year old first time pet owner and could kick myself for thinking that a monthly dose of Frontline Plus was enough to keep my one dog and two cats flea-free through the summer. Now after a summer of hiking with my dog, I have finally begun to notice that I have a flea problem that is rapidly spiraling out of control. I spoke with my mom who has two dogs and she said that Frontline hasn't been working for her either. Tomorrow I'm taking all three of my animals into the vet's office for a bath and they will also get a Capstar pill (which will immediately kill the adult fleas) and then be given a flea preventative.. one that is NOT Frontline. My vet recommended Advantage for the dog and Revolution for the cats. I pray that it works better than Frontline. While the animals are being bathed, I plan on vacuuming the apartment and then flea-fogging all of the rooms. I have also swept Borax into the carpet, which physically kills the flea (as opposed to chemically like the insecticide) by cutting into the flea's outer shell and essentially dehydrating them to death. I was also told that vacuuming frequently plays a huge part in preventing a flea infestation. My understanding is that preventing fleas is multi-faceted... one can't just treat the animal; the house, yard, bedding, clothing, EVERYTHING, also has to be treated. Hopefully I can get the problem taken care of and then I am going to take a vacation. What an overwhelming process! Best of luck.
We've used Frontline for years but this year our dogs seem to be free of fleas for a few weeks, then hey presto they're back! Frontline is supposed to last a couple of months. It seems to me the fleas have become immune. Have read all the comments and we're at a loss what to do.
I'm having the same problem with Frontline. My dog is infested with fleas and he's been on Frontline for three months, plus been dipped at the groomer with an additional Frontline application afterwards. Frontline worked for years with my other dog. Did they change the formula? The fleas are supposed to bite the animal and ingest the poison and die. What is going on? And, why are they still selling this stuff. Let's face it, it is not cheap.
Very interesting - I have heard about other people having this problem. My vets even say that they are seeing this happening more and more - it still seems to be working for my dog after 12 years. My inside cat just got fleas and I put some on her and used a flea comb and in 24 hours she was clean - I plan to keep her and the dog on Frontline all year long but am monitoring them carefully in case it stops working for them! People can no longer think it will always do the job! Kartika
My 5 month old cavalier pup is getting fleas with frontline spray and we just discovered that frontline must be what is causing her to hallucinate and act as if she was biting at something, behave very erratically, and have an increased heart rate. As soon as we realized that it was probably the frontline, we bathed her. Luckily, we had just bathed her before applying the spray. We will probably be going to Advantage.
I too have used frontline plus. I noticed a few fleas on my cat after noticing his occasional biting and sure enough i was able to pull a few fleas off of him with a flea comb. To eradicate the problem I went to the vet and got two dose of frontline plus which I applied as directed. The following day and for the past week he has been itching, biting and scratching predominatly on his backside. After review of this I have noticed that he is broke out mostly at the point of the application (between the shoulder blades) with bumps and sores. I am growing very tired of this game doctors (and vets) play to "lets see if this works" approach without responsibility when things go wrong or the outcome is not as predicted. That is why they call it "a practice", is it not? I am a home builder and am feeling, as with all business, we should begin to call it a practice. After all it is a viable way around being responsible. I'm sorry to rant but it erks me when professions charge huge fees and make huge incomes on the ability to "practice". fooey!
Kristen says:
6 months ago
I am having the same issues with my two cats. I have used Frontline Plus on them for years with absolutely no problem...until about a month ago! They now have fleas and are grooming/scratching like mad. I have had very frustrating conversations with groomers, vets and Frontline customer service reps. I have had the yard sprayed, and I am going to get the house bombed and switch to Revolution. We'll see if that works. Thanks for posting this. There is a comfort in knowing that others are having problems as well. When I tell people the cats have developed fleas, they are nearly disgusted that I don't treat them with a monthly treatment and when I say I do, they tell me I must be applying it wrong. I put my trust in this product and it had failed. So disappointing!