flea prevention meds for dogs

So, I have had my little Nora for a year and a half now. She's a toy poodle and a small one-- only 6 lbs. I love her to pieces. She is my heart. I treat her like she's a child. She's quite spoiled and I love spoiling her. She loves to curl up next to me and sleep. She follows me everywhere I go and jumps up into my arms when she's afraid. She is the best kind of therapy there is.

Still, there are times that I sit back and think about the amount of money that I have spent on her in the past year. First, there was the purchase price. I paid $400 for Nora. I bought her from a breeder, a supposedly experienced and good breeder. I will never buy from a breeder again. Not only did Nora prove to have preventable genetic issues, but my mother had also purchased a poodle from the same "reputable" breeder and her dog also has genetic health issues. This breeder is inept and not qualified to being breeding dogs. They apparently do not to ANY genetic testing to verify the health of the dogs that they breed. Ignorant people are near intolerable when they should know better.

I got all of the initial shots that puppies get. I got Nora spayed at 5.5 months old. I probably dumped about $400 bucks into those couple of things. At 8 months, she was being scheduled for knee surgery. She had a luxating patella-- a genetically inherited health problem that could have been bred out. Her knee cap had popped out of place and did not go back into place. While we waited for the next available surgery, Nora limped around on 3 legs for three weeks or so. I had made my place completely conducive to her condition. My mattress sat directly on the floor so that she could crawl on and off it without having to jump. The couch was turned facing the wall so that she did not try to jump up or down. I lived "on the floor" for 9 weeks or so. Nora had her surgery and could not put pressure on her knee or do much movement at all for 3-4 weeks. While I was away, I crated her. When I was home, I carried her so that she didn't try to follow me around. She didn't like having to be held all the time but after paying $1,600 for the surgery (not including initial or follow-up appointments), I wasn't about to let her re-injure. She healed very well and quickly. I massaged her leg and did physical therapy with her every day to increase her movement and flexibility. I'd let her walk a bit to strengthen the leg. The surgeon was impressed with her healing and strength by the time we went in for the post-op 5-week check-up. Today, almost a year later, you wouldn't even be able to tell that she had surgery at all. She jumps and runs and plays like all the other dogs her age. She will have to take medication every day for the rest of her life to help out the bit of arthritis that has already developed in her knee. She will also, mostly likely, have to have surgery on the other knee at some point. But we'll deal with that when we get there.

Most recently, my expenses have suffered from the ongoing search to find a flea prevention medication for Nora. Living in a warmer climate and the recent rains have increased the flea population. I hate fleas. I think they are gross little terrors and I'm not sure that they have any purpose at all besides being a menace. I first tried Advantage which I didn't think worked at all. Then I tried Frontline Plus. I felt like it worked but that it wore off decently quickly. I have more recently tried K-9 Advantix (which cannot be used around cats-- some ingredients are toxic to cats). K-9 Advantix seems to work most of the time. Still, it seems to wear off after two weeks. Since the pesticides and poisons in the flea meds are the expensive part, I decided to look into more natural ways of warding off the horrible insects. I found Sentry Natural Defense. It is a mixture of various natural oils that seem to be quite effective. Natural Defense trades the moderately offensive smell of chemicals in other flea meds for the more abrasive, strong perfume of natural oils. I applied Natural Defense to Nora and seemed to have no problems with this product. She does smell very potent for the first couple of days after application. The biggest bonus to Natural Defense was the fact that it was a third of the price of all the other products I tried. I was hooked. Still, I wanted to try one last product before I committed to the stench of Natural Defense. So, I ordered Sentry Pro XFC. Again, this medication was a fraction of the price of other flea meds. After looking at this chart, Sentry Pro XFC seemed like the best choice.

Feature comparison	Frontline	Frontline Plus	K-9 Advantix	Bio-Spot	Advantage	Sentry Pro
Contains Insect Growth Regulator	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Kills Adult Fleas	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Repels Adult Fleas	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Kills Flea Eggs and Larvae	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes
Kills & Repels Deer Ticks (Carriers of Lyme Disease)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Kills & Repels Brown Dog Ticks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Kills & Repels American Dog Ticks	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Kills & Repels Mosquitoes (Carriers of Heartworm, West Nile Virus)	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Application	Topical	Topical	Topical	Topical	Topical	Topical
Dosage	Monthly	Monthly	Monthly	Monthly	Monthly	Monthly
Minimum Age	10 weeks+	8 weeks+	7 weeks+	12 weeks+	7 weeks+	12 weeks+
Active Indredient	Fipronil	Fipronil & Methoprene IGR	Imidacloprid & Permethrin	Permethrin & Nylar IGR	Imidacloprid	Permethrin & pyriproxyfen

I started to do a little bit of research and wondered, how is it possible that one company (Sentry) sells the chemically filled flea meds at a fraction of the price from other companies? Luckily, my curiosity allowed me to stumble upon this site. There were many comments about stories of owners who had put SentryPro XFC on their dogs in hopes of discovering a cheaper alternative, only to end up having to rush their dogs to the vet or bath them vigorously trying to get the medication off their bodies. SentryPro XFC has many adverse reactions to many dogs--especially to smaller breeds, like my little Nora. Read the link to find out more of the symptoms. I will NOT being putting this product on my dog. I will either go back to Natural Defense or just deal with the cost of one of the more expensive but safer alternatives.

Between the toys, the surgeries, the vet bills, the premium food (Timberwolf Organics- Lamb and Apples), the treats, the heartworm preventative and the flea meds I have probably spent close to (if not more than) $4,000 on Nora in the past year and a half. Really, I have no complaints. After all, money can't buy love. And I love my little Nora and she loves me-- no matter what the cost.