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.

in the end...

I went to a memorial service for one of my best friend's grandfather today. It was a sad experience because funerals and the likes are always sad. After all, it's a mixture of celebrating their life and mourning their death. The spirits were mostly uplifting at this ceremony though. His three granddaughters got up and read their pieces about their grandfather. They all talked about how he loved to crack jokes and make people laugh. They talked about how he loved his family and treated them as his treasures--the most valuable things in his life. His wife of 56 years had passed away ten years previously--that was the only thing that wavered his positive outlook on life. Still, even in the past few years, he made it his job to make people smile.

I feel like I know the man just from sitting at his memorial service. Really, I'd only met him once. Still, it got me thinking. I'm a cynic. I've been a cynic for most of my adult life. I've had too many experiences that have resulted in my skepticism. People cannot be inherently good or else they would behave differently. But, is it possible that I just focus too much on the negative and forget to relish the more uplifting and positive individuals? After all, there are a limited amount of criminals and the likes that we condemn for their behavior. There is a greater population of "non-criminals" in this world. Still, this does not disapprove that people are not inherently good.

It does amaze me that there are people in the world that are genuinely friendly to everyone they meet. It's not that I am particularly unfriendly but I see no reason to even allow someone the opportunity to take advantage of you. Yet, it's nice to hear about the life of someone with impeccable character. Someone who doesn't hesitate to take the time to walk up to a stranger and strike up a conversation in the hopes of generating a smile. I admire those kinds of people.

In the end, it would be nice to be remembered for being that person who had a great demeanor and positive outlook on life. Even though I may never be that person, it's nice to take time to appreciate those people and to be reminded that-- though people cannot be inherently good--there are some people who just are.

Ginger ale....

and Crown Royale are a beautiful thing.

Cheers to all my whiskey drinkers out there.

it's already september

For some reason, I feel like this year has flown by. Maybe it's because I have a routine now.

I get up. I take the dogs out. I untangle myself from the leashes. I shower and get ready for my day. I drive to work and remember how much I hate traffic. I work--more recently it's been a very painful experience. I go home for lunch. I let out the dogs. I drive back to work and somehow survive the next few hours. I go home from work. I let the dogs out. I watch Will & Grace. And at some point, if there's nothing planned for the evening, I go to bed late and restart the wonderful cycle.

Lately, things have been different though. I have an itch for a change. I need to move on. I need to get out of this state. I need to figure out what I am doing with my life and I'm pretty damn sure that it's not Information Technology. So, I'm planning on law school. Of course, that would involve me actually completing an application. Ugh.

After all, all of my friends are leaving this state. Apparently, the time is now for departure from the monotony. But I've tried to have a little fun and do something a little different. That all ended well, resulting in my knee injury. Lesson learned: Never let the man drive. Now, my knee injury is my biggest frustration. I have to go to physical therapy to regain mobility. It's an emotionally exhausting process.

And now, this weekend, my foster dog is getting adopted. He's going to live with a family that I hope will do very well with him. Buster, the dog, has seizures and has to get daily medication. He's a very happy dog and very sweet. He and my little Nora love to play together. I'm going to miss him. Nora's going to miss him. It's so sad to see Nora sad.