Which flea preventative for my dog?

We used the "Frontline" copycat available at Sams for a fraction of the price (I'm sure Costco and BJs have a similar setup).  I think the patent on it ran out, so "generic" vendors are bubbling up.

Regardless, I see that you are in Florida.  Here in SC, we are told that flea season never ends, and year-round treatment is necessary.  This coming from a family friend vet who encouraged us to buy the 3rd party treatment, and didn't make a dime off of our following his advice (i.e., he wasn't just trying to sell something).

Agree that in some states, including Florida, it is a year round issue.  Some months are just less troublesome.

So firstly, I'm a vet.  Don't even get me started on 3rd party crap or 1-800-Pet-Meds.

I practice in "lotusland" and we are pretty much the flea capital of Canada.  We don't get winter & we don't have an end to our flea season.  Also, being in Canada, we have a few differences for what is available.  For example, Frontline isn't licensed for use in Canada.  We got a license for Program years before it was available in the US.

At my clinic, we try to discourage any of the topical products whenever possible.  The dogs & cats live in our homes, roll on our carpets, sleep in our beds & are mauled by our children.  If it strips the paint of the wall...... just makes me go "hmmmm this can't be good for the humans in the house".

We try to encourage products taken internally.  What we recommend when we have a client faced with a flea infestation is a combination of Capstar and Program (or Sentinel - particularly if the dog will be in an area where heartworm is a concern, which I think it might be for you).

Capstar is the quick-acting flea killing drug.  It paralyzes the flea's nervous system, causes them to do the death wiggle and drop off dead, usually starting within 15 minutes.  It will only stay in the system for 1-2 days.  Because mammals & insects use different neurotransmitters for the nervous system, it doesn't affect mammals in a bad way.   If we are combining Capstar with Program/Sentinel then we'll recommend giving a Capstar tablet once/week.

Lufenuron (Program/Sentinel) is like a birth control for the flea.  Since there are NO products available that will keep the fleas 100% off your pet, won't stop them 100% of the time from biting and won't stop 100% of egg production (no matter WHAT the ads say, nothing like this exists!!!) the idea to control fleas inside the house is to stop them from reproducing.  When the flea takes a blood meal & ingests the lufenuron, the product stops the little baby flea from developing the "egg tooth" that lets it hatch out.  Larvae in the carpet/bedding/cracks of the hardwood feed on flea poop which also contains the drug, and the larvae can't come out of their cocoon.  Stops the reproductive cycle very elegantly.  So you'll never be able to say that your dog or cat is 100% flea-free, but at least the reproduction in the house is stopped - and that's 95% of the problem right there.

And of course you need to treat ALL the cats/dogs in the house - not just the dog that goes outside!!

There are some other tablets like Comfortis & I think there might be a few others that you guys have but they just kill fleas - you still need to use an IGR product (Insect Growth Regulator = birth control).

Hope that helps!!

Lufenuron (Program/Sentinel) is like a birth control for the flea.  Since there are NO products available that will keep the fleas 100% off your pet, won't stop them 100% of the time from biting and won't stop 100% of egg production (no matter WHAT the ads say, nothing like this exists!!!) the idea to control fleas inside the house is to stop them from reproducing.  When the flea takes a blood meal & ingests the lufenuron, the product stops the little baby flea from developing the "egg tooth" that lets it hatch out.  Larvae in the carpet/bedding/cracks of the hardwood feed on flea poop which also contains the drug, and the larvae can't come out of their cocoon.  Stops the reproductive cycle very elegantly.  So you'll never be able to say that your dog or cat is 100% flea-free, but at least the reproduction in the house is stopped - and that's 95% of the problem right there.