Trouble with flea and tick treatments

[Worthless Mutt]

I've known all along that there are potential problems with the standard treatments for fleas and ticks. But I figured the problems created by fleas and ticks are even worse.

At the beginning of the Summer, I used a flea shampoo on my dogs. Sara seemed okay with it, but Jesse started losing her hair. Frontline worked for Sara, but it gave Jesse more skin and coat problems than the flea shampoo did. Jesse's reaction to Frontline was bad enough to justify taking her to the vet. The vet recommended Promeris.

The Promeris has kept the fleas and ticks off of my dogs all Summer, and Jesse's skin problems immediately went away and her hair quickly grew back.

My main concern with Promeris is that with this last treatment, I've noticed a considerable increase their fear levels. Jesse had bloodshot eyes and a frightened look for 3 days. Sara became dog-aggressive, whcih is way out of character for her. After the treatments had time to take effect, I bathed them. Immediately after the baths, they started acting normally again.

After the previos treatment, in early July, Sara picked a fight with 3 big dogs and got bit as a result. So I checked out Sara's wounds, cleaned her up, and bathed her. The next day, she saw another dog and was not the least bit frightened. Instead, she was just as friendly as ever.

This last dose of Promeris will work well into October, and there may not be any flea and tick problems after that if the weather cools down enough, so hopefully I have from now until Spring to decide what to do about the flea and tick problems.

I have started looking at some of the more natural treatments, but the information I have found seems to be slanted to fit whatever products people are wanting to sell. And they seem to be charging an arm and a leg for products that can probably be found at any grocery store for a fraction of the price. I am not sure what to believe.

If anyone here uses natural treatments for fleas and ticks, I would be interested in hearing about your experiences with them.

[janking]

We use K-9 Advantix flea and tick ointment on our dogs, which i buy online from Dr. Fosters and Smiths..the more you buy, the more you save on this. We used to buy the stuff in department stores.."Seargents" or "Hartz"..but they never worked very well since we live close to the woods and walk them back there a lot. The K-9 Advantix works very well and also keeps working even after they have been out in the rain or given a bath. I have never heard of that kind of stuff you used on your pets...it sounds sort of strong and mood-altering. I have heard of people using Avon's "Skin-So-Soft" oil products on their dogs...also..and this is very weird but it works, my daughter tried it on her pit bull to keep the flies away .she rubbed some diaper rash stuff on his ears (like Desitin..you can find it in baby departments in stores..or even use the generic brand kind..all the same). But I dont know if this works on regular fleas..If you dont want to buy traditional flea treatments I think that Dr. Fosters and Smiths (look it up online) has natural treatments also..that are cheaper and I will also be looking into using that next summer.
Anybody else have any other ideas?