Flea Control is an issue that we face year round here in the Four States. Ticks also rear their ugly heads for much of the year. There are several options when it comes to control of these pests, and they are listed below in what the doctors and our staff consider to be the best to the worst options.

Several products also cover heartworm protection/prevention.

Best Option (By Far):

(for thinking, patient persons only)
 
Fifteen years ago, Sentinel was introduced to the market for flea control.  From the standpoint of owning pets, it has been the best fifteen years of my life (Dr. Leavens)!  Since we started using Sentinel in our house (and we have a broad exposure to fleas from many sources!), we have not had fleas!  It works extremely well, it is non-toxic to mammals, and it is the only flea control program that ALWAYS works.  We guarantee it! (See Clinic for details)

Sentinel is a once a month pill that must be given with a full meal. It is the Thinking Person's option for flea control. Sentinel does NOTHING to kill adult fleas, and it does not work on ticks. It is extremely effective, however, over the long haul. Sentinel immediately sterilizes any flea that bites the pet. And fleas MUST drink pet blood before they can lay eggs (that's why they get on the pet).

For cats, there is an injection called Program that lasts six months. If you are concerned about injections in cats, there are also pills or liquid Program options that are given monthly by mouth. If you go the route of Sentinel/Program for your flea control, every pet in your household, indoors and outside, MUST be on the treatment every month year round for it to work.

Because of the flea life cycle (95% of the fleas in your household are in the egg, maggot, or cocoon form) it can take a few months for Sentinel/Program to be fully effective, and it must be properly given (with a full meal) every month. For households with existing heavy flea infestations, it can take a few months to run out of flea eggs, maggots and cocoons.  During that time, Capstar is by far the best and safest way to control the hatching fleas. 

Capstar is the pill that eliminated dipping.  It is the reason that we can say with confidence that we are a flea-free clinic!  It kills all the fleas on a dog or cat or puppy or kitten in 20 minutes and lasts for about two days.  It only affects insects, and it is extremely safe.  We have never seen aide effect to it.  Ever.

Once you run out of fleas, you are essentially done with them! Just keep giving the Sentinel/Program year round. Even if your pet picks up a few fleas when out on a walk, or staying somewhere, the fleas will never be able to reproduce and you will never have another infestation.  If you want to, you can get rid of them with a Capstar pill.
Sentinel/Program/Capstar does work well, extremely well, and it has the advantage of no residues on the pet and no insecticide use, but it is not for you if you are not the patient type and want to see the fleas dying. For that you need one of the alternative plans.

Sentinel/Program/Capstar represent three products that are SAFE, EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE, and the LEAST EXPENSIVE options available for flea control.  And to date (about 30 years world wide) there has been no resistance developing to these products.  All other flea control products work in ways that guarantee that resistant fleas will develop.  It is just a matter of time...

Think about it from another perspective as well...  Would you dump pesticides on your child!?!?!?  Every other product available for flea control are pesticides that you would never even consider giving to you children, and they were all originally developed as bug Control sprays for the garden!  All can have very serious side effects in some animals. 

We do not recommend topical products that you dump on your pet in most cases.  They are huge sellers, because people like something they can dump on and then forget, but they are far from ideal, and they are simply not effective for the long term.  Because we realize how bombarded you are by advertising for dump-on products, we do review them below.  

Tick Problems
If you have tick problems, which Dr. Leavens' pets do, then you need to use a Preventic collar for dogs in addition to the Sentinel/Program. The Preventic collars:

We learned about Preventic collars from our hunting dog clients, who use them extensively because they work so well.

If you have tick problems with your cats, control options are somewhat limited, and you have the choices of either Top Spot or Revolution, neither of which is very effective. You should also note that most healthy cats do not have tick problems (because they eat the ticks that get on them) and if your cat does have problems with ticks, we recommend a veterinary examination be done and soon!

We call Sentinel/Program the thinking person's option because, as you have read, it requires thought, patience and understanding in order for it to work. It is also insecticide free and environmentally friendly. But it is easily the least expensive and most effective option in the long run, and is a lifetime solution to fleas. It is also 100% satisfaction guaranteed provided you follow and understand all these directions.

Another plus with Sentinel (not Program) is that it also deworms for all worms except tape worms (it gets hooks, round and whips), and it is also a heartworm preventive!

Side Effects: Rare. On the rare occasion, it can cause itching that stops when the treatment is stopped. For further information, see package or call Novartis at: 336.387.1000

Best Adulticide Options

Other than Capstar, we do not recommend adulticide products.  In light of Sentinel/Program/Capstar, there is no longer a valid need to dump insecticides on your best friends. 

In cases where we feel like the pet's owner is not likely to be reliable with giving the monthly pill, Advantage is a product that rapidly kills most fleas before they bite the dog or cat.  While we do sell other flea and tick products, like Frontline Top Spot and Advantix, we only do it because demand is high due to advertising and we can make a little extra money by selling them.  If you ask us, we will no longer recommend them. 
Also, these products do not take care of any other parasites. You must still provide heartworm protection and more intensive deworming than when using Sentinel. While K9 Advantix does repel and kill many ticks and mosquitoes, it is NOT 100% effective in these areas. Nothing is, but it is more effective that any other products currently on the market.

Side Effects: We have seen a few adverse non-life threatening reactions to Advantage and none to Capstar. K9 Advantix, on the other hand, does have some side effects in a significant number of dogs (NEVER use it in cats, where it can be fatal!). Side effects have included itching at the site of application (sometimes severely, sometimes just an annoyance for a few days), shaking, hyperactivity, vomiting, and depression. If any of these reactions are pronounced or severe, do not use this product again on that pet.

While these other products make some great claims on their labels, time and our extensive experience has shown us that the claims are false.  Frontline Plus does not effectively control flea reproduction, and mosquitoes still bite dogs on Advantix.  By the way, it does not matter if a mosquito bites your dog.  The only significant disease passed by mosquiotes in the USA are heartworms, and your dog must still be on heartworm prevention when on Advantix because they can still be bitten by mosquitoes.

The new drip on the pet insecticide from Bayer, Advantage Multi, is fraught with serious side effects.  Like ProHeart Plus, which we never recommended, we expect it to be even worse when it is used in the broad market and we do NOT recommend the use of this product.  If it does prove safe after a few years, we may change our minds.  But we fully expect there to be major problems with this product in the long run, although the corporation will probably make a lot of money in the meantime.

Good Adulticide Options

Other good adulticide (flea killing) options include the product Revolution for dogs and cats, which is a drip on the back of the pet product that works well at killing fleas, but not nearly as fast as Capstar. It is not a good option for pets with flea allergies. It also kills some ticks and hook worms and round worms (it does not get the deadly whip worm in dogs), but does require supplemental deworming at a more intense rate than Sentinel. Revolution protects against heartworms and works on many forms of mange and is also a good ear mite treatment (you do not have to put anything in the ears!).

We have recommended this drug for flea control and heartworm prevention in cats and ferrets because it does so many other things that are beneficial. In dogs, it lacks enough punch on the fleas and worms to make us entirely happy with it.

Side Effects: We have seen no side effects to date. It is a very safe drug.

Frontline Top Spot is a good old standby drug. It kills most fleas and ticks, but it kills them very slowly. If you use this drug, expect to still see live fleas and ticks on the pet routinely, but rest assured that if it is applied correctly, it will work much of the time. It will do little to help pets with flea allergies. Frontline comes in a drip on the back pre-measured dosing and also as a spray. The spray is handy to use for reptiles as well. There is little to no cost advantage to using this product, so we rarely recommend it.

Side Effects: Very rare in our experience.

Obviously there are many choices for flea control. We encourage you to discuss your options with us if you have any questions.
 
Things That Do Not Work

Flea collars are totally useless, do not waste your money!

Drip-on and Spot On products from discount houses and feed stores are old technology products that often no longer work when used at safe doses. We see several cat fatalities and severe illness in dogs EVERY YEAR from these products.

Flea shampoos and older discount house/feed store products are very ineffective. We see several fatalities in cats and severe illness in dogs EVERY YEAR from these products.

Dips are obsolete, and we expect them to be outlawed in the next few years.

Dips are also dangerous, both to the pet and to you. They can be devastating to the environment.

Bombs for your house are essentially a waste of time. You can make them work, but it is such an effort if done right that no one ever does it right!

Household Sprays are not effective for flea control.

Garlic does absolutely nothing. It has been studied extensively for flea control, but it simply does not work. It can have other minor health benefits in people, however, so do not quit using it for your food!

Brewer's Yeast preparations for control of pests are useless, despite the wonderful testimonials you may see in certain venues.

Skin So Soft (the Avon Product) has been studied as a flea repellant and a mosquito repellant. It has no effect that lasts for more than 60 to 90 seconds.

Motor Oil applied to pets can lead to severe illness and death. Applying motor oil to your pets can be prosecuted as a crime in the state of Missouri, because it is cruel to do so.