If you want to get rid of fleas, you have a number of strategies you can follow. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of commercially available products whose sole purpose is to get rid of fleas. The biggest issue is finding out which methods and products work the best and cost the least. Your job is to get rid of the fleas for good, and in the most cost effective manner. That is why you’re here. You want to get rid of fleas.
You’ve come to the right place. As an owner of two dogs in a state with an abundance of fleas, I have faced the same issues you are. I’ve tried it all: shampoos, bug bombs, carpet powders, dryer sheets, commercial dog flea medications, and countless other methods. I plan to review each method in detail, providing concise and objective reviews and cost-to-benefit analysis of each method I have tried to get rid of fleas.
Get Rid of Fleas – A Quick Synopsis
The problem people encounter in getting rid of fleas is isolation. If you only eliminate one source of the flea problem, the fleas will keep finding their way back into your life. To completely get rid of fleas, you need to cut off all entry points of fleas. If you have two dogs and a cat, and only treat the dogs, the cat will likely still be a flea carrier. If you only attempt to get rid of fleas halfheartedly, you probably won’t succeed.
The second biggest problem with flea elimination is the constant marketing efforts from companies drooling over your hard earned money. (Get it?) There is typically an assumption that because a product costs more, it will work better. This is not true. I have found that some of the cheaper, old fashioned methods are most effective in treating fleas. The most important factor to consider once again, is the execution of your plan to get rid of fleas. You can spend all of the money in the world, but if you only treat 2 out of 5 sources of fleas, you won’t really get rid of fleas.
Finally, the largest issue you should worry about is safety. In every review, the risks will be disclosed. Your ultimate goal is not to get rid of your flea problem, it is to get rid of your flea problem safely. Your pets are a member of the family, so their safety should be more important than killing every single flea. If your pet has any existing conditions, has a change in behavior after treatment, or has symptoms such as vomiting or persistent diarrhea, you should contact a veterinarian immediately. There is a full list of symptoms to watch for on manufacturer’s websites, but it will also be provided in the product review area, just to ensure your pet doesn’t get sick while you are trying to get rid of fleas, for good.
With so many brands and methods of flea control on the market, you’re probably scratching your head wondering which product works best at getting rid and keeping fleas off of your pets.
The Basics
Brand
Average Rating
Price (Medium Dog Dosage)
Price Per Treatment
Bayer Advantage
4.1/5
$37.99/6mos
$6.33
Frontline Plus
4.1/5
$33.99/3mos
$11.33
K9 Advantix
2.8/5
$63.98/6mos
$10.66
As you can see, Advantage is far and away the cheapest flea treatment, coming in at over 40% less than both Frontline Plus and K9 Advantix. Also notice that the average user rating for Advantage ties that of the most expensive Frontline Plus, and both Advantage and Frontline Plus receive much more favorable ratings than K9 Advantix.
A sample Advantage review, courtesy of Amazon.com
“I’ve been happily using these types of flea medications for 10 years. BUT, I’d given up over the last two years on Advantage and Frontline. They both seemed to have NO EFFECT. Maybe the fleas in my area had become immune? I tried the others from the local big box store, they didn’t work either.I thought I’d try this “advantage II”, maybe Bayer had changed the forumulation?
To my surprise – it worked great! I have two 60 lb dogs (shepherd and golden retriever) who were miserable this summer, as was I, because neither my Shepherd nor I enjoyed weekly baths to try to control the fleas.
This stuff is magic.
No more fleas on my pets or in my carpets.”
A sample Frontline review, courtesy of Amazon.com
I have two 50lb beagle pound mutts that have been on Frontline Plus for the past 5 years. In those 5 years, they have never had fleas and ticks that they have picked up outside are found dead in their pet beds later that same day. I think that this product works as advertised and only wish it was less expensive.Pros:
Works as advertised
Cons:
Expensive
Doesn’t repel ticks, kills them after they are already on the dogs.
A sample K9 Advantix review, courtesy of Amazon.com
I used this item based on my vet’s recommendation and saw first hand that it does not work well, if at all. One of the biggest draws for me to this product is that it states that it repels mosquitoes.I applied K9 Advantix to my Wirehaired Pointing Griffon pup 4 days prior to heading out to the country on vacation. The first evening when the mosquito’s cam out I was excited to see this stuff in action, but was let down to see mosquitoes land on and actually fill with blood from my pup. Next we head out to the area that I hope to hunt this dog when she is old enough. We spend the day tromping through hay fields and forest. Later that evening I notice a tick attached and engorging on her forehead. I am now home form vacation for a week and I notice a few very tiny fleas crawling around on my pup’s belly. All of this happened within 14 days of applying K9 Advantix. This product did not work for me.
When I was on this vacation, I did stop in to the local to have the tick removed. Since I haven’t dealt with tick removal before, I was willing to pay to have this done and learn the proper way to do it. During this visit, the country vet told me that from his personal experience Advantix does not work well and recommends Frontline Plus.
My Personal Experiences
I have had pretty good luck with Frontline Plus, so I haven’t bothered testing the others. K9 Advantix appears to be the most questionable of these treatments, and Advantage is not only the most economical, but also ties for being the most effective.
A short video with tips on how to give a cat a bath. I can speak from experience, your cat probably will not be this behaved. Cats typically groom themselves, so bathing them shouldn’t be too common of an event, unless your cat has a particularly bad case of fleas or is just plain dirty.
If you want to get rid of fleas, you have a number of strategies you can follow. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of commercially available products whose sole purpose is to get rid of fleas. The biggest issue is finding out which methods and products work the best and cost the least. Your job is to get rid of the fleas for good, and in the most cost effective manner. That is why you’re here. You want to get rid of fleas.