Frontline or advantage?

kattiekitty

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Just wondering what everyone here prefers as far as flea control. I have 2 cats a dog and a rabbit and we all moved from the central valley of California to Tacoma washington. Well I have never had fleas when living in ca and never had to use any flea control. I bathed my dog once a month and never found a flea. Well I worked at a vet there and got tons of free dog frontline that I still have because I never had to use it. Anyways, we moved into an apartment in Tacoma which is a very nice upgraded luxury apartment that is pet friendly. We had new carpet installed and so I never even thought about fleas. Well imagine my surprise and shame when brushing my dog and I found a flea!
It's weird because it is the middle of winter and the temperatures are low so the fleas shouldn't be a problem. Well I promptly treated my dog and the two cats even though I never saw any on them.
Fast foreword to today, and I picked up my rabbit and was brushing her and she has fleas! I
know brain fart that I didn't treat her. Well I can't use frontline on her because fipronil is neurotoxic to rabbits so cat advantage is the only one safe for them. Well I am going to get some tomorrow to treat her. Then I was thinking maybe I should just use advantage on everyone. I just used frontline because that is what my work had and we sold. Never really had to put much thought into this as I never had a problem like this before. Any tips would be nice.
It is really strange that they got fleas even though we have brand new carpet. It is a large complex though, and there are a lot of pets so maybe my dog brought them in from his walks. I don't want to use foggers or anything because I have birds and that stuff is toxic. Advantage and frontline both break the lifecycle of the flea so that as long as I keep treating them the fleas should be gone eventually. This is so gross and embarrassing. I feel like my children have lice lol.
 

catsallaround

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MANY cats and a dog-Advantage 100% even if I am give free frontline I pass it to someone whos in need as I just don't think its as good.
Also find I can go up to every 6 weeks even when in flea season. During winter I stop unless see evidence they are in house.
 

strange_wings

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If the rabbit has close contact with the other pets in the house it would probably be best to use a rabbit safe topical on them, too, in case of any cross contamination.
 

pamszoo

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I personally like the advantage for fleas only. If there are ticks thats where I used the frontline.
On a side note, I don't use the frontline on any white animals as I have had 2 cats with reactions to it.
 

Willowy

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Originally Posted by strange_wings

If the rabbit has close contact with the other pets in the house it would probably be best to use a rabbit safe topical on them, too, in case of any cross contamination.
Advantage is the only one safe for rabbits (and the OP already said she would treat the rabbit with Advantage).

I use Advantage and Frontline interchangeably on the cats and dogs (only Advantage on the rabbits and ferret, of course!). Since I have to open several tubes of product, I use Advantage on some of the cats and Frontline on the others. I figure it might prevent the fleas from becoming immune. Maybe.
 

strange_wings

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Originally Posted by Willowy

Advantage is the only one safe for rabbits (and the OP already said she would treat the rabbit with Advantage).
I know she's using Advantage on the rabbit. That's why I stated to use it on the cats and dogs... However I do not know if she allows the rabbit free roam and how much contact is has with the other animals because that information was not included in her post.

Much like how you cannot use Advantix on a dog if the dog will have a cat snuggling up to them.

As for hoping to prevent flea/insects becoming resistant, fipronil has been used to treat crops and for other pests (termites, ants, etc) since the 80s. Because of this and it's use for fleas, there has been insects and arachnids (mites) building resistance to it for a while. Imidacloprid has been used much the same way since the 80s, too, and is starting to have some insects become resistant, but apparently not fleas, yet.
 

Willowy

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From what I understand, fleas becoming resistant to the usual fleas meds tends to be highly localized. . .like, only the fleas in my neighborhood would be resistant. Or something like that. Who knows if using different products at the same time in the same house but on different animals will help or not? I hope it does, but I suppose it could just as easily go the other way.

Ah yes, sorry, I misunderstood! I agree, don't use Advantix or any pyrethrin-containing flea product on a dog who lives with cats or rabbits. I think Frontline (on the dog and cats) would be safe for the rabbit to come in contact with once it's dry. Fipronil isn't terribly toxic to rabbits, it's mostly not recommended for them because Frontline is waterproof, and you couldn't wash it off if the rabbit had a reaction.
 
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kattiekitty

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Thanks all,
The rabbit is free roam to the second bedroom, so she doesn't have close contact to the cats or dog. The advantage seemed to work, because when I brushed her the next day, I couldn't find a live flea. I think I will finish off the frontline I have for the dog, and use advantage for the cats. They don't have a problem with either product, but advantage comes in a 4 pack so it would be good for the cats for 2 months and frontline Comes in a 3 pack, so I am always having to buy it. Money is a little tight the next few months so I can't really splurge on the 6 pack. Also I have read and been taught that as long as you use the topicals faithfully for a few straight months, you can break the lifecycle of the fleas and get rid of them from the home.
I can't really use hardcore insecticides around the home because of my birds. Foggers and sprays I know would be bad around them. I was told to put broken up flea collars in the vacumn bag to kill the ones I suck up vacuuming. The girl at the vets office said I could use borax powder in the carpets but I wouldn't be able to vacumn for 5 days. That is way to long when you have all the pets I do lol. I think I got it under control. Let's hope...
 
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