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Frontline Plus No Longer Working

Rosewoodsteel

Rosewoodsteel

Well-known member
Help!
We've been using Frontline Plus on Charlie since we got him (about 5 years ago). It worked great.... until the last few months.
It just isn't killing the fleas. He has been given regular doses and I just pulled off 6 fleas from the poor little guy, just a minute ago. We are using the proper dose for his weight, but the stuff just isn't working anymore.

Please give advice on a good flea shampoo (for immediate treatment) and an alternative product for flea and tick control. Thanks.
 
Frontline

That sound so odd that it just stopped working?! It takes a little while for it to kill fleas on the dog (they need to bite first), but it doesn't stop them from getting on there in the first place. Maybe this is what happened :confused:

Stonghold and Advantage are both good fles treatments, and Bob Martin flea shampoo is also fine to use too.
 
That problem happened to us about a year ago. I brought in a puppy to foster and it had fleas. My dogs ended up with fleas AND tapeworms from the incident. The fleas wouldn't go away! I was getting so frustrated. I mentioned in to the vet when I went in to get them treatment for the tapeworms and the vet said they are seeing this problem with frontline. He recommended Advantix, which is what we now use. The big expense was the tapeworms. The tapeworms alone (which dogs can only get from eating a tapeworm infected flea) cost me $150.00 to buy the meds from the vet for.

So now I use advantix, and I haven't seen a flea since.
 
brotymo said:
That problem happened to us about a year ago. I brought in a puppy to foster and it had fleas. My dogs ended up with fleas AND tapeworms from the incident. The fleas wouldn't go away! I was getting so frustrated. I mentioned in to the vet when I went in to get them treatment for the tapeworms and the vet said they are seeing this problem with frontline. He recommended Advantix, which is what we now use. The big expense was the tapeworms. The tapeworms alone (which dogs can only get from eating a tapeworm infected flea) cost me $150.00 to buy the meds from the vet for.
So now I use advantix, and I haven't seen a flea since.
Click to expand...

Thank you, I'll check into the advantix.
I first noticed a problem with Frontline+, in the fall of last year. When I was bathing Charlie, I noticed he had fleas. When we started him on the Frontline, that year, he was just within (but right near the weight limit) for the dose we bought for him. I figured he inched over the weight line for that dose, so we got him the higher dose for this year. (He had in fact, just crossed the weight line, so the higher dose was in order.)
But, once again, the fleas returned. I think he has built up a tolerance to Frontline, so we will be changing over to Advantix to see if it is effective.

In the mean while, can anyone reccomend a GOOD flea shampoo?
Thanks
 
lorebringer said:
That sound so odd that it just stopped working?! It takes a little while for it to kill fleas on the dog (they need to bite first), but it doesn't stop them from getting on there in the first place. Maybe this is what happened :confused:

Stonghold and Advantage are both good fles treatments, and Bob Martin flea shampoo is also fine to use too.
Click to expand...

Lorebringer,
He had the same problem with last month's dose.
The poor little guy is starting to bite himself raw. We haven't missed any treatments and he received his last treatment around 3 days ago. Like I said, I just pulled 7 fleas off of his undersides. This stuff is just not working. Thank you for your advice on the shampoo, my wife is on the way to Pet Smart right now to look for it.
 
Frontline seems to have lost it's effect with ours too; we changed over to Advantix earlier this year. "Touch wood" no problems so far (and no tics either!) :rah:

I recall several years ago our vet advising us not to use the same product over and over but to swap round the different ones (I presume so as not to cause the fleas over several generations to build up immunity)
 
I've used Frontline Plus for years on my dogs - every month religiously for well over 10 years. My oldest cavalier is 7+ years old and he has had it since he was a puppy. I've never had a problem with fleas, but this year I
did pull a live, attached and engorged flea off of Riley. I'm considering changing to Advantix, but I've heard it's not water-proof, just water-repellant. And I've also heard it's very oily and can stain. Any experience with that?
 
Love my Cavaliers said:
I've used Frontline Plus for years on my dogs - every month religiously for well over 10 years. My oldest cavalier is 7+ years old and he has had it since he was a puppy. I've never had a problem with fleas, but this year I
did pull a live, attached and engorged flea off of Riley. I'm considering changing to Advantix, but I've heard it's not water-proof, just water-repellant. And I've also heard it's very oily and can stain. Any experience with that?
Click to expand...

Frontline worked great for Charlie for a long time, as well.
But, it isn't cheap, and most importantly, it just isn't working anymore.
I just googled on this subject, and from what I saw, many people are having the same problem. Anyway, I'm not going to waste my money on this product again until they fix it.

Note: Since my initial post this morning, I have pulled off around 15 more fleas.
As soon as my wife gets home with the new shampoo, Charlie is going straight to the tub.
 
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We don't have ticks where we live, but we use Advantage for flea control. I have never seen a flea on Dottie when using this treatment. We did use Frontline for the first time a few months back when we traveled to Idaho/Wyoming, as there are ticks in that area. When we came home there were 5 live fleas on Dottie! :eek:

For the next dosage, we went back to Advantage and have been flea free ever since. Fyi, we also use Advantage to treat orphaned and injured raccoons, opossum and squirrels that come into the wildlife center where I volunteer. It is safe and within a few hours, these wild animals are flea free while we rehabilitate them.

The next time we travel to tick country, will use Advantix for flea and tick treatment. I won't be using Frontline again here.
 
Rosewoodsteel, I'm just catching up with your thread! The best thing to use is a Capstar pill - call the vet and they will provide one right away - it is very inexpensive too. Might as well ask for Tapeworm treatment as well (my vet gave us Panacur). Charlie also had to be treated for flea bite dermatitis with an antibiotic and something to ease the pain and itching.

When Charlie had fleas, we put him in the bathtub and gave him his Capstar tablet. Shortly after, the fleas were jumping off him, and we rinsed them down the drain. Afterwards give him his (spot on) flea treatment, and you should be good to go.

Make sure you immediately and thoroughly vaccuum all carpeting, floors and upholstery. Use the crevice tool and remove sofa cushions etc. Move the furniture and vaccuum underneath; use the crevice tool along the baseboards. I even washed all bedding and anything else that could be washed in hot water! Never saw another flea afterwards.

Back to Frontline Plus - did you buy it from the vet and not on the Internet? Was it applied properly to his skin and not to his fur? I find it takes two people and a few minutes to apply it properly. We've been using it for 5 years and not had a problem.
 
Cathy Moon said:
Back to Frontline Plus - did you buy it from the vet and not on the Internet? Was it applied properly to his skin and not to his fur? I find it takes two people and a few minutes to apply it properly. We've been using it for 5 years and not had a problem.
Click to expand...

Cathy,
Thanks for the "heads up" on Capstar.

Regarding Frontline, I've been buying it online since our Charlie was a pup (almost 6 years now).
It worked great for ticks and fleas until the end of last summer (when it was no longer working on fleas). We upped the dosage because Charle was "right below the weight limit" when we started, but was a bit over at the end of the summer. We figured the dosage was too low because he became a bit heavier and that was the problem.
Well, the dosage is fine now and has been for a year and Frontline+ isn't doing a thing to the fleas. Nothing.
I was disgusted at the number of fleas (adult and small ones) that were coming off of Charlie during his bath, last night.
We are applying the treatment correctly and it just ISN"T WORKING.
Two years ago if someone told me that Frontline Plus wasn't working for them, I would have been dubious, as well.
Having googled "Front Line Plus is not working" I found many, many folks that are having the very same problem with this product.
On the surface, it makes sense to me that treatments should be alternated to prevent fleas from becoming immune. Perhaps this is what happened in our case since Front Line is the only treatment we have ever used on Charlie.
 
I just gave Charlie another bath.
Once again, I removed many fleas, even though we treated him with Frontline Plus just two weeks ago.
That's it for me.
I just ordered a 6 month supply of Advantix.
I have two more doses of Front line plus left and the last couple of applications were not effective. It appears from reading the box that there is no warranty, so I guess we'll have to eat the two remaining doses.
In the meanwhile, I'll see how well Advantix works and decide later if I want to alternate back to Frontline at some point. (At the cost of the product I doubt that I'll take the gamble.)
 
We had the same problem last year with frontline plus, so changed to Stronghold. We don't have a tick problem around here so that was ok. But we did have a huge tick problem on holiday in Scotland in summer, so will use Advantix next year when we go away, but for now the Stronghold seems to be working at eradicating fleas.
As you've had such a bad flea problem due to frontline not working, the advice to try and eradicate them from your house now is very good. It's likely they've happily set up residence. :( We got some spray from the vets called RIP Fleas - it wasn't cheap, but you only have to apply it once a year. We got it to make sure there were no ticks lurking, but haven't seen either fleas or ticks since. :rah:
 
Rosewoodsteel said:
I just gave Charlie another bath.
Once again, I removed many fleas, even though we treated him with Frontline Plus just two weeks ago.
That's it for me.
I just ordered a 6 month supply of Advantix.
I have two more doses of Front line plus left and the last couple of applications were not effective. It appears from reading the box that there is no warranty, so I guess we'll have to eat the two remaining doses.
In the meanwhile, I'll see how well Advantix works and decide later if I want to alternate back to Frontline at some point. (At the cost of the product I doubt that I'll take the gamble.)
Click to expand...

I have been pleased with the Advantix.
You might want to look at the website
http://k9advantix.petparents.com/fleas.cfm
It shows the lifecycle of the fleas so you know what to expect. You will have a couple of weeks of existing eggs hatching after you begin to use Advantix. Those fleas will quickly be killed after jumping on Charlie, but don't let seeing these fleas make you think the product isn't working. You want to give it a month, and you might also want to spray around your property. Do you have outdoor cats that hang around or stray dogs? They can be bringing fresh crops of fleas in. Advantix will work on those, of course, but you might see an occasional dying flea even after you get rid of them. The nice part of Advantix is that the flea doesn't have to bite the dog to be killed, and it lasts through bathing, too.
 
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Cathy Moon said:
Might as well ask for Tapeworm treatment as well (my vet gave us Panacur).
Click to expand...

Cathy, Rosewoodsteel, Panacur will NOT treat common tapeworms. It has no effect on them. It does kill they type of tapeworm acquired from eating undercooked meat or raw wild game. Dogs who are regularly dewormed will still have tapeworm if they become infected and you don't treat specifically for them. Praziquantel which is sold under the names droncit, profender, drontal, drontal plus (maybe some more) is what you will need.

this is a real good lifecycle demo. of how your dog picks up common tapeworms from fleas:

common tapeworm

Here is the other type of tapeworm that is caused from eating undercooked meat or raw game that Panacur (fenbenzadole) will cure:

other tapeworm
 
Just gave Charlie McFarlie his first dose of Advantix.
We're hoping it works as well with Charlie as Frontline used to.

-I find it interesting that at the cost of these products, neither company offers a warranty if their product doesn't work....
 
We've been having tick troubles with Max!

I'm glad I stumbled upon this thread. I thought I was losing my mind. Max was getting ticks even 2 weeks after a Frontline Plus application. Now I know why. It is getting colder here so we should be ok until Spring.

Max and Linda
 
Cathy Moon said:
Advantix is extremely toxic to cats and can be fatal. Keep cats away from dogs treated with Advantix. (y)
http://www.advantix.info/Safety.1185.0.html
Click to expand...

Good advice, thanks Cathy.
We kept Charlie away from the cats for a day after the application.
-By the way, the Advantix seems to be working great.
I haven't seen a single flea on Charlie and he has stopped scratching.
Now his poor, red skin will have a chance to heal up properly.
 
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