Hi everyone,
please can you tell me do i need to give my Husky a Flea treatment or do they not need it ?.
regards from Portsmouth UK.

Hi kppnut

I'm not sure if things are different in the UK, but we give Koda Frontline Plus for fleas and ticks. I don't think fleas would be so much of a concern, but we have a major tick problem in the US, especially where I am from.

However, from my time in the UK, I gathered that ticks are not that big of a concern. If this is true, I know there are several home-remedies that some of the people on here use, if they would be willing to post their "recipes" (*coughLINZIcough*) I know that they involve tea tree oil, which is very inexpensive and potent.

Hope this helps!

Wish i could help but we are not using anything on our guys as in Colorado we do not have much of a flea problem and we just check for ticks if we happen to be in the woods. i remember when i lived in PA flea's were bad and we used frontline on our dogs and i also used it on our ferrets so they would not pick up anything from the dogs. i also thought if they were bad enouth you should also treat your lawn so the dogs do not pick them up out there as well? would love to hear what others says incase we ever have a problem.

I would certainly advise to flea treat your husky - we use Frontline and its has worked great.

We used a different treatment on Dino last year and he ended up with a couple of nasty flea bites on his rear end ( it turned out that he was allergic to flea bites) and he ended up with a nasty infection. We had to take him to the vets - he had to have the area shaved and was treated with antibiotics. We have learnt our lesson and will use Frontline from now on.

As Tori has said we don't have too much problem with ticks here in the UK but certainly do have fleas so please treat your husky.

Welcome to the forum Kppnut.

Yes i use my own mixture on my lot
10 / 15 drops pure teatree oil ( available from health food shops )
75 ml water
2/3 drops of lemon juice.
If they have fleas or ticks you can add 5ml of vodka to the mix ( i do this anyway )
Dispense the mixture into a spray bottle and away you go.
In all the years i have owned dogs i have never had a single flea using this mixture alone.
I have never used a chemical treatment like frontline as kia has super sensetive skin and this would irritate her.
Use about once every 3 months ( more often in summer )

I also use a tea tree shampoo and coat spray ( available from pets at home )

Fleas , flies an other insects hate the smell of Tea tree and anything citrus scented.

@Huskylove - WOW!! Thanks for sharing your recipe! We will have to try that on our pups! Would this be a safe mixture for cats as well - considering they have to clean anytime you even look at them funny?

@Kppnut - welcome to the forum!

Yeah it will be fine for cats too , Tea tree is all natural so will do them no harm.
The vodka however...well if you have a wobbly cat dont blame me lol.
you only need a fine mist over them so its not too much ,
That 75ml mixture should last you at least 10 months if you use it every month.

I treat mine even when fleas and ticks are not a problem. I'd rather be safe than sorry (yeah I'm a worry wart) and I use K9 Advantix on mine.

Edited to add: As of June 2010 we no longer use chemical flea/tick prevention. Now we use a combination of essential oils as well as ACV and garlic to repel fleas and ticks and are happy to report we are a flea/tick free household without harmful pesticides and we save a ton of money too. It's a win-win situation for us and the dogs!

Thanks for the info I am in South Florida and fleas are a problem year round. I have tried Frontline on My American Bull and it doesn't work, I just adopted Sachi and don't want her to get any she is a puppy is it save to use on her. I will use on Odi (AB)

I believe that mixture is very safe for puppies. Welcome to the forum!

Thank you, Love your Huskys Beautiful

Thank you

I've always used Revolution because most of Luk's life was in FL, where there are fleas by the gazillions, ticks, etc. It treats fleas and ticks...earmites, heartworm. It's a little more expensive, but he has had maybe 2 fleas his whole life.
Go figure that he got an infection from the flea bites too, because the vet said he must be allergic to them.
Now we're in TN and spring is just around the corner, which means lots of fleas, but especially ticks will be present.
I'll do anything to keep my boy from having those nasty varmints on him!

Luk Luk's Mom wrote:

I've always used Revolution because most of Luk's life was in FL, where there are fleas by the gazillions, ticks, etc. It treats fleas and ticks...earmites, heartworm. It's a little more expensive, but he has had maybe 2 fleas his whole life.
Go figure that he got an infection from the flea bites too, because the vet said he must be allergic to them.
Now we're in TN and spring is just around the corner, which means lots of fleas, but especially ticks will be present.
I'll do anything to keep my boy from having those nasty varmints on him!

I am going to link one of the Heartworm med threads that we've had talking about both heartworm and flea/tick prevention for you. It starts out talking about HW prevention but about 1/3 of the way down on the second page I kinda turned the thread into a discussion of non-chemical flea/tick prevention. I specifically mentioned my issues with Revolution mainly because it is such a controversial product and everyone should know their options and make informed decisions.

Anyway, here's a link to the thread:
Heartworm meds - what do you use?

I'll also quote a couple of my posts on Revolution and what I use for flea/tick prevention on my dogs as of June 2010.

...on Revolution:

Huskyluv wrote:

Revolution does work for the majority of dogs that use it but it does have its drawbacks. It does work for dogs so I would disregard the front desk person's comment about that. I also would not give two doses of HW prevention in one month. If you're going to do Heartgard and Revolution then you might as well stick with what you're already doing with Heartgard and a flea preventative. At the end of the day it's a dose of poison and the less poison you need to give your precious pet the better.

Both of my adopted chi girls were on Revolution before they came to me. Both tested HW negative however Faith did have fleas even though Revolution is supposed to protect against fleas. The other major drawback to Revolution is that it is a topical solution. Like most flea products it is applied to the skin and absorbed into the bloodstream to be effective. The problem with this is that sometimes not all of the product is absorbed into the bloodstream and if that is the case then your dog can still contract HW because if not enough poison is introduced the larvae will not be killed. Sometimes some of the product stays on the fur or does not get absorbed properly and because of this you can find plenty of people who have had their dogs on Revolution and still gotten heartworm. I would not leave it up to chance personally and will never use or recommend Revolution. That's just my personal choice and I'm not going to tell you whether you should or shouldn't use it yourself but just know that there are risks and decide if they are worth it to you. A monthly HW pill like Heartgard doesn't carry the risk that Revolution does.

...and what I use for flea/tick prevention for my dogs:

Huskyluv wrote:

Yes, we had a really bad flea and tick year both in FL and SC. Glory and Faith both picked up fleas and Faith also picked up a lot of ticks too. I was fed up with it so I did some research on natural alternatives and came up with my own combo for flea/tick repellent. I have been off chemical flea/tick prevention for the heaviest portion of flea/tick season this summer. I started this in June of this year and have been pest free since day one and we have gone 5 months without a single flea or tick. What's even more impressive is that before the switch my chi girls had gotten fleas and Faith was picking up ticks at least once a week if not more.


Some people do make a mix but I don't. I did a lot of research on the different oils and supplements that help repel fleas and ticks and picked and chose what products I wanted to use. I figured it would be a work in progress and might need tweaking but I tried it out and have seen great results so far.

First off I will say that I use essential oils and essential oils are toxic to cats, so if you have felines present in the household essential oils are NOT an option.

What I use:
Weekly - 1 drop of Cedarwood oil and 1 drop of Rose Geranium oil on the collar (and/or harness)
Daily- I alternate adding garlic and apple cider vinegar in their food. So one day I add a small amount of garlic to their food the next day I add apple cider vinegar and rotate daily.

There are other oils and alternatives that you can use besides what I choose to use. For example, food grade diatomaceous earth is a safe flea repellent that can be spread in the yard, sprinkled on the carpet and vacuumed up and even put on the dogs coat. Other flea repelling oils include tea tree oil and lavender oil. I use cedarwood oil on my dogs' collars and harnesses which is a flea repellent and occasionally I use lavender oil around the house. I don't use tea tree oil because I'm not too fond of the smell but I do have tea tree oil dog shampoo that I use intermittently. The only reason I use Cedarwood oil on their collars instead of Lavender oil as a flea repellent is because the Cedar oil is cheaper for me to get. Otherwise I would use Lavender oil since it smells so much more appealing to me.

Rose Geranium oil is a natural tick repellent that has worked amazingly well. I had my doubts about its effectiveness when Faith was picking up a ton of ticks this year. Well seeing is believing and we've not seen a single tick since the day we started using the Rose geranium oil. The huge bonus with this is the smell, I LOVE it. The dogs literally smell like roses with that stuff on their collars.

Food supplements, garlic repels fleas and mosquitoes. Every other day I put just a tiny bit of garlic in their food, less than 1/8 tsp. Garlic is toxic to dogs in very large quantities but small quantities like what I do every other day are actually good for them. Apple cider vinegar is the best, you want to use the pure, unpasteurized product with the mother in it (you can find it at most health food stores). ACV really is such an amazing product and has so many benefits. ACV is antibacterial and anti fungal; it improves the immune system, liver, bladder and kidney function; helps with itchy skin and allergies; balances digestive enzymes; normalizes the pH of the body; repels both internal and external parasites like fleas and worms; provides potassium for tissue and joint health; makes a great ear cleaning solution; reduces inflammation...the list could go on and on! Don't take my word for it, look up more info on ACV yourself. It's benefits not only work for us but our dogs too. You can mix ACV directly into your dogs food or put it in their water. If you are trying to get rid of fleas or combating skin issues you can make a 50/50 mix of ACV and water in a spray bottle and spray it on their coat or you can give them a bath in the 50/50 mix. My sibe gets 1 tablespoon of ACV every other day mixed directly with his food.

So this skin saga feels like it’s never going to end. A few weeks ago, Frankie had some hot spots that he chewed so bad he caused himself an infection. The vet gave him prednisone and antibiotic shots and sent us home with the prescriptions of both. I weaned him off prednisone as directed and did the antibiotics. We went back to the vet 2 weeks later and vet said he was about 70% better but wanted another round of antibiotics. He also suggested giving the prednisone as needed to relieve any itching since with the infection there really wasn’t any way to tell what was causing the itching in the first place. He said it could be a number of things, bug bite, ant bite, etc. We went for another follow up and are now on our third round of antibiotics. He was healing, just not as much as the vet would have liked. The vet also wanted me to start a regimen of fish oil to help with his skin, which I was going to ask about anyway after reading all the great advice on here.
Frankie does pretty well with me and doesn’t scratch much. Well I went on a long day trip on Saturday and while home with my parents sure enough the SOB went and chewed himself again. AAAHHHHH! Now he had bald spots on his butt and yet a new infection (I guess it’s a good thing he is still on antibiotics?).
Today I found the culprit……..A FLEA!!! So apparently my baby is allergic to flea bites. He gets Sentinel monthly and upon my research, it does not kill adult fleas but prevents them from reproducing. I was trying to use an additional spray on him that is made of different oils (many of the oils mentioned here) and Frankie HATES it. He runs away and hides if gets wind that I am trying to use it. If I spray my hands to rub it on him, he can smell it and runs. I was advised not to use anything just yet because of the open wounds. But I will start this again when he heals whether he likes it or not.
So I am considering adding ACV. I will use it as a rinse once his wounds heal, but I would like to start adding it to his food. Do you think it would it be okay to add it while he is taking the antibiotics? Do you think it would have any interactions? I also add a little yogurt to his food when he is on antibiotics. Do you have any advice to help with the itching? I really don’t like the idea of continuing with the prednisone, but it does help with the itching. Right now I have a pair of shorts tied around him to keep him from scratching, since he can bust out of the cone in a heartbeat.
I am not real thrilled with all of these meds and I am considering shopping around for another vet. I don’t really feel like this one listens to me and just thinks I’m crazy. When it comes to all of boys, human one too, I will get crazy to make sure they get what they need to be well.
Any advice is always appreciated. I think you guys know more than my vet, he's a little old school.

Is there any special shampoo or conditioner that your vet might recommend to help soothe the skin?

When my boy had hot spots I put cortizone 10 plus aloe on the area and they healed up nicely. It helped with the itchiness and provided moisture.

ACV should be fine with antibiotics. I give ACV when my dogs are on antibiotics and have never had a problem.

Flea allergies are not fun to deal with and definitely require more aggressive measures to prevent bites as much as possible. Have you eliminated the fleas for now? Maybe with a product like Capstar?

Is Capstar something I need to get from the vet or can I pick it up in a pet store? As much as I'd like to believe I eliminated the fleas for now, I don't think thats the case I am all about taking an aggressive approach. I have never dealt with this before to this degree and I am so over it. My other dog seems to be fine so Frankie is obviously much more sensitive. We have a follow up appt with vet tomorrow.

Do you think I should just give up on the sentinel all together and go back to frontline, it seemed to work up until now. This is obviously painful for him and it breaks my heart.

Thanks for the input

I buy Capstar online...haven't been able to find it at Petsmart or Petco in Texas. I get mine from Drs. Foster Smith online pharmacy but if you Google it you will find it in other places. You don't need a prescription. IMO I would stick with Sentinel and use Capstar only when you see fleas. It works within a few hours. Frankie is so handsome, by the way. I love black Huskies with blue eyes!!!! I would like the Lavender oil or Rose Geranium oil drops on the collar, but have cats so worry since essential oils are toxic to cats. Although my inside cats don't let the dogs close enough to matter, the outside cats rub all over them.....

Dee&Frankie wrote:

Is Capstar something I need to get from the vet or can I pick it up in a pet store?

Capstar is a non-prescription medication that kills all the fleas currently on your dog. I have seen it at Petsmart's, Petco's, vets offices, and other local dog supply stores so you may or may not be able to find it locally. You can always call the store before driving out so you don't have to make a special trip to find out they don't have it. It's also available online. Just so you are aware though, Capstar kills what your dog currently has. It is not a preventative that repels and kills for a month like other monthly pills and topicals.

Dee&Frankie wrote:

Do you think I should just give up on the sentinel all together and go back to frontline, it seemed to work up until now. This is obviously painful for him and it breaks my heart.

Since the Sentinel does not seem to be doing to the trick for fleas then I would go back to something else that actually does work. If that means relying on monthly topicals like Frontline or Advantage then so be it. Better that than having your poor dog deal with his flea allergy dermatitis on a regular basis. Or you could try regularly spraying his coat with a 50/50 ACV:water mixture to repel the fleas. Whatever you do, if you don't see results then I would put him back on something you know works.

I honestly would not suggest sticking with Sentinel and falling on Capstar if fleas become an issue simply because Frankie is more sensitive than most. A dog with flea allergy dermatitis will have awful reactions and be miserable from ONE flea bite. Whereas dogs without FAD will not be bothered by a one or several bites before you give them the Capstar. With FAD, you don't want a single bite to happen as the dog will be miserable for days. It's not worth the risk IMHO.

Val- those were my thoughts on the situation.

Went to the vet for our follow up. So frustrated. He gave Frankie Capstar and some to take home and a shot of prednisone again. His advice for flea prevention/control in the future was to consider shaving him rather than switching back to frontline. I was like, no I don't really think so. I understand if I have to shave him to treat the mess we are in now, but I don't really agree with doing it just for prevention when there are other routes to prevent.

I don't want to go through this again and can't afford for him to get a bite. I prefer to be proactive, not reactive. This is killing me. Going through a husky with a flea comb is no fun.
Yup, time to look for a new vet.

And yet my other dog is just fine. However we are going to give him a capstar too just in case.


I feel like I am going to spend the next month or so on flea patrol. So frustrating, not to mention I got the itchies just thinking about this

I agree, I'd be looking for a new vet too. Just the shaving comment as prevention would send me running. Although shaving the site of hot spot might actually be beneficial as it will allow air to reach the skin and health faster. But I wouldn't shave to keep from using a monthly flea/tick topical. If anything, wouldn't that make it so much easier for the fleas to bite?

With the essential oils, do you think the smell bothers him or is it just a negative association with being sprayed that will send him running? Instead of using a spray, have you tried taking his collar off and putting a single drop of the oil on his collar and then put his collar back on? That's what I do with my dogs.

That's probably a good call on giving Capstar to both dogs just to be sure the other doesn't harbor any lingering pests that will transfer to Frankie.

I hope Frankie gets better soon and you can get him off the Prednisone.

Wish I was closer by you. Your vet seems like she's my kind of doctor, even if some don't appreciate her. My family thinks I'm nuts, but I'm looking into holistic vets. Or at least a vet who listens to me and actually takes a closer look at my pooch.

As for the essential oils, I think it's the smell he doesn't like. You know, it smells pretty and he'd rather roll in mud than smell pretty.

Let me know if you find one Dee. I have a nice vet but would really like to find a better one. Hollywood Animal Hospital is amazing but they're not holistic. If i'm going to pay a lot, I'd rather pay a holistic vet.

Hope this comes up properly but I found this list of holistic vets at this web site for south FL:

http://www.holisticvetlist.com/index

Just click on Florida in step 1 then submit.

Thank you so much for that link. There are two not too far from me so I will give them a call in the am.

Kristina- I was so going to send you a message asking who you use. I figured you were a little further south. I'm in Boca. I used to go to the VCA in Tamarac and I really liked them. When I moved I just used my moms vet since that was the first vet Frankie saw anyway. It is literally across the street. I just feel like he just blows me off and makes excuses for things I know are not right. For example, Frankie used to excessively drink water. It was crazy. Then he started peeing in the house again, but it was as if he couldn't help it. The vet said it was psychogenic polydipsia (aka crazy drinker) and wanted to give him anxiety meds. I asked for a urinalysis first. And guess what......UTI! Treated UTI and symptoms went away. Kind of like treating/preventing the source of the itch will make the scratching stop, duh.
There is a place for traditional medicine and I hope to find a vet that has a good balance of both. I'll let you know what I find, but you let me know too. I don't mind traveling if it's worth it.