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 Post subject: Frontline or K9 Advantix
PostPosted: Sun Jul 13, 2003 1:50 pm 
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Joined: Sun Jul 13, 2003 1:34 pm
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Location: Arlington
Next week we will be bringing home a new pug puppy. We have been organic for the last two years in the yard. Many vets and breeders recommend Frontline and K9 Advantix for flea and tick control. These products contain pyrethium (spelling?) which is a toxin that kills fleas and ticks and even mosquitos. Isn't this harmful to dogs as well? A vet has told me it is not harmful to dogs because it does not enter their bloodstream only their skin, but dogs lick their skin. Any advice on these products and the best organic way to keep parasites and pests off dogs?


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 13, 2003 4:14 pm 
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Joined: Sat Mar 08, 2003 9:01 am
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Location: Dallas, TX
All I can tell you is that we currently have have 3 very healthy dogs (physically anyway) and would never consider using those toxic products.


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 14, 2003 7:57 am 
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Location: Austin
Check out the other posts in this topic on fleas -- there are lots of ways to control them without using pesticides, like orange oil on the dogs and nematodes in your yard. As for the vet's comment that the chemicals don't enter the bloddstream, that's just nonsense. People and animals absorb all sorts of things through their skin, so even if your dogs didn't lick their skin, it would get into their systems.

Good luck with the new puppy.


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PostPosted: Wed Jul 16, 2003 7:53 am 
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Joined: Sun Apr 06, 2003 10:59 am
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Tami wrote:
Next week we will be bringing home a new pug puppy. We have been organic for the last two years in the yard. Many vets and breeders recommend Frontline and K9 Advantix for flea and tick control. These products contain pyrethium (spelling?) which is a toxin that kills fleas and ticks and even mosquitos. Isn't this harmful to dogs as well? A vet has told me it is not harmful to dogs because it does not enter their bloodstream only their skin, but dogs lick their skin. Any advice on these products and the best organic way to keep parasites and pests off dogs?


As far as I know, both K9 Advantix (Bayer) and Frontline Plus (Merial) use PERMETHRIN, not pyrethrum, as the second active ingredient. There is quite a difference between pyrethrum and the synthetic pyrethroid permethrin, so don't confuse them (especially if cats are involved). If you've been maintaining the yard organically, do you have fleas in the yard where the dog goes? If you do and if the yard is fenced, it would be a good thing to put out beneficial nematodes now.

The idea/marketing behind pushing/using the permethrin-added products is to repel mosquitoes and thereby "help prevent" heartworm. I believe that if I were going to go a chemical route on heartworm, I'd rather use the heartworm-specific preventatives rather than relying on a hit-or-miss spot-on repellent. I have seen some misleading suggestions about mosquitoes and West Nile Virus in dogs. According to the CDC, WNV is not a risk to dogs, so I wouldn't give much credence to marketing hype about repelling mosquitoes for that purpose.

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In theory, theory and practice are the same; in practice, they aren't -- lament of the synthetic lifestyle.


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