We, with lots of experience at it and with our vets approval, use and divvy up frontline plus.  Frontline uses the EXACT same formula in all their sizes. So we buy the frontline for the 100+ lb dog, and using a syringe give an amount to Radar, Sophie, and the cats.

However, frontline isn't really working.  I've heard that from a lot of you and my mom and I think that the fleas are building up an immunity to the frontline.  I mean, they don't have a LOT of fleas, but they still have them... The vet says it takes two months to build up sometime, but Radar and the cats have been on it a while, and Sophie's been on it two months now...

The thing is, if we switch to Advantix, we'll be having flea meds more than double in price because of the divvying up.  You can't divvy up Advantix between dogs, and you can't give it to cats at all.  So we'd have to buy a seperate one for each animal, which we don't have to now...

So I know some of you go to holistic vets, or just know these things, and was wondering if you guys had things we could do to help our animals keep away from fleas (repellents? rinses? things to add to their food? etc)

Or, non holistically, do you guys know of other options?  I mean, if we have to, we have to, but maybe combining another method with the frontline will work?

Thanks.

We don't have much of a flea problem where we are (Oregon) but I'm a dog groomer, and have heard groomers (nationwide) talk about a "natural type" remedy called "flea treats" that I've heard does work really well for a lot of people. The company has a web site if you'd like more information on this product:  http://fleatreats.com/ 

Just a tid-bit of info here..  If you mix 1 to 10 ratio of Palmolive (original) dish soap to water then you have a flea shampoo.  There is no residual - it simply kills the fleas on the dog at the time of the bath.  I have never seen a dog sensitive to it but it can be drying so I would follow it with a condition shampoo. 

For Flea Bath,.. lather the dog starting at the head and working back to the tail (Fleas will run to the eyes if you start at the back) ithen let the mixture set for 5-8 minutes then rinse.  If it gets in the eyes it will sting so be careful.

I used this for years in vet clinics to knock the fleas off of dogs going into surgery as it had no pesticide type chemicals.

Note: more is not better.. if you strengthen the soap in the mixture you will never get it rinsed out.

I don't know if this is the actual dosing info but I found it at 1800petmeds.com.  It doesn't seem quite right that a 10 pound dog would get .4ml and an 11 pound dog would get more than twice as much, or 1ml.  I guess you could use this as a guide and adjust it yourself with an oral type syringe.

How this product should be used: Advantage is available in 0.4 ml applicators for cats 1-9 lbs (orange) and 0.8 ml applicators for cats 10 lbs and over (purple). Advantage is available in 0.4 ml applicators for dogs 1-10 lbs (green), 1.0 ml applicators for dogs 11-20 lbs (teal), 2.5 ml applicators for dogs 21-55 lbs (red) and 4.0 ml applicators for dogs 55 lbs and over (blue). To apply, place the applicator tip through the animal's hair to the skin level. On cats, apply to skin on neck at the base of the skull. For dogs up to 20 lbs, apply to skin on back between the shoulder blades. For dogs 21 lbs or over apply the contents of one tube to 3 or 4 spots along the skin on back from the shoulder to the tail. Do not get this product in the pet's eyes or mouth.