Fleas

[cakelady]

My brother,who lives in HHP, just informed me to prepare for flea infestation! Both his dog and cat are covered with these blood sucking critters and I will not let my Corgi (Koa) go through with that when we move over! What are the best meds. to use? Right now I have him on Advantix and it works well in the Sierra Foothills in California. Also,can anyone recommend a good vet? Thank you, Monique

[dcl]

We are using Revolution on both the cats and our pug. All of them are house pets and only the pug goes outside, and generally only two or three times a day, just long enough to do her stuff and then she runs back inside. We used several different meds several years ago, but the cats did catch fleas and this was the only one that permanently and completely took care of the problem. Carole

[TomK]

Cakelady,

I grew up with dogs but have cats these days due to my lifestyle. Fleas are a problem here due to the climate. I use "advantage" on the cats and it works really well, no flea problems at all until I forget to give them a dose. They're indoor/outdoor cats by the way.

There is a vet in HPP although I've never used their services, but I've heard good things about them. On the other hand, I use Aloha Veterinary Center in Hilo and have had no cause for complaint so far. Many years ago I had to have a kitten put to sleep there due to an incurable illness and Dr Rodrigues sent a hand-written letter of condolence. I thought that was very special - a personal touch if you like. My other two cats are still alive due to him and he's a really nice guy as well!

Although I recommend Aloha Vet, it is a 30-minute drive from HPP, so you have to consider that as well.

[Devany]

We have an indoor cat and an indoor dog that goes for two walks a day and occasionally plays in our grass. Neither of them has had a single flea in 6.5 months (ever in their lives for that matter). We do have a pest control company spray the yard (1 acre) monthly. Maybe it maters where you are, as in will you be moving to a house and yard where there were animals before? If so chances are there could be fleas. We even took our dog to a camp out @Waipio Valley last weekend and hiked to the beach through the jungle. The vet administered a dose of Advantage Plus before they left the mainland as part of the requirement for importing animals. I have two more doses for each of them, your note makes me think I should apply them today! I guess it is better to be safe than sorry, but I hate applying chemicals to my animals.

Does anyone know about incidents of heart worm disease for domestic pets here? I am on our last doses of Heartguard now and not sure if I need to re-order.

Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany

www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.eastbaypotters.blogspot.com

[csgray]

Devany,
There is heart worm here, especially on this side of the island where it rains a lot. Because it is spread by mosquitoes it can be easily transmitted from an infected dog to yours via a single bite. We just went through the agony of thinking that the rescue dog we adopted might have heart worm and you do not want to go through that! Turns out she has a floppy ring in her trachea from spending the first 18 months of her life on a 6 ft. chain that makes her cough when she runs, but until we could get her tested we were really concerned. I hate dosing my pets with chemicals too, but in this case the alternative is really terrible for the dog.


Carol

[Bullwinkle]

All the parasites do well here - have fast life cycles so they adapt to our chemicals. My vet recommends switching between the leading brands of flea control every month or two, so far so good.
And yes both heartworm and lepto exposure is common here, have heard about a second case of heart worm. Kona side for the first and – hpp area for the second one.. this year!

The key to toxics tropics is using a just enough and switching often. "Silent Spring" 1969’s Carlson’s first major book pointed that out. – And the consequences if we do not.

Rachael Carlson and the ecological movement’s appearance - about ' 69? Still applies.

I would think long and hard about spraying your acre... it all goes to your well water and wrecks havoc with the natural environment ---

imho, not having any fleas on your acre is major scary knowing how tough the buggers are to kill -

Aloha

[Devany]

Thanks Carol and Bullwinkle.

I will continue treatment.

BTW, we have city water, so do all neighbors, but we are on a 60' cliff over the ocean, so I suppose a very washed out amount of chemicals could make it's way to the sea, after being filtered through 60' of rock. When I asked the contractor he assured me that everything they used was made with natural plant extracts. He also said that with nearly 200" of rain here every year,any residual would be extremely diluted. Not sure why it would work so well then, except the people that lived here before us also said they never had any fleas either. They had an old yellow lab.

Carol, you have a lucky dog! It is great that she is OK, but so sad that she spent so much time tied up like that!



Aloha au i Hawai`i,
devany

www.myhawaiianhome.blogspot.com
www.eastbaypotters.blogspot.com

[kani-lehua]

we use advantage and heartguard. every once in a great while, one of the dogs will get a flea or two. betcha it's from all the loose animals around here: dogs and cats. our three cats have not had a problem.

our vet is boyd castro down on kanoelehua. i'm pretty sure that you can buy the single dosages of the above meds, but the animal must be their patient.

"chaos reigns within.
reflect, repent and reboot.
order shall return."

microsoft error message with haiku poetry

[Bullwinkle]

Posted - 06/16/2009 : 07:12:12
________________________________________
"BTW, we have city water, so do all neighbors, but we are on a 60' cliff over the ocean, so I suppose a very washed out amount of chemicals could make it's way to the sea, after being filtered through 60' of rock."

Hope the guys eating the fish caught out there are aware. The coral reefs able to adapt, between the bacteria urban runoff, the local inshore water seems to be used as a dumping grounds by the near ocean crowd.

Just underscores we still live in an era where dilution is still the solution.

Between the runoff from yards, the bacteria from cesspools at the tide pool the oceans are being affected negatively.

Don’t we "get it" or is denial (i.e. dilution) just so much quicker and cheaper as we continue to poison the environment.

Folks please take responsibility for your actions and your waste this is Hawaii for Rudy’s sake!

We just can’t continue to dump our waste ....Out of respect for the "down slope folks" way I don’t dump chemicals out here - not even bug or defoliant spray .... I am going to ask you to the same out of respect for the ocean...

or:

Following your reason:

Ill just start dumping - save a lot of grief and cash. Being that we get 200 inches of rain to dilute it. Those most likely to be affected have city water as the goo fitters through the substrate - into the city wells.

May even start the malathion, I did see a bug in the house the other day! If the lower slope residents on the receiving end do not care - why should we on the slopes?.

BTW city water wells do not test for 99% of industrial waste that could be present, think the locals test for malathion?. Good luck

Aloha

[Carey]

Before this gets more heated:
From all of the research & EIS papers I have studied & watershed & water management meetings I have been to over the last 4 years:
NO-ONE knows for sure how water moves on this island OR what is carried in it or how it is carried. It seems very clear that normal models for water management, based on continental plate runoff are not applicable.

Both view points on pest management have valid points; obviously if every acre on this island used even just 2 oz of pesticide per month, and the rain washed it into the ocean when it still had potency (all pesticides have some amount of residual potency, or they would have no effect), then we would have a large load of pesticide in the ocean & soils. However, we also do know that Hilo Bay alone has one to two BILLION gallons of freshwater intrusion every day....and there MAY be incredible residence times and particle filtration on our island, but it still has not been modeled.... so there is a huge truth to the dilution equation here that does not exist in most places... along with lava tubes that can deliver runoff with little to no filtration....

I would say to use any chemical (be it pesticide, cleaner, medication or natural plant extract) with caution & full understanding that it does not go away, somewhere, somehow that chemical, or its' residuals, is somewhere & try to make as small a chemical imprint as you can, knowing that everyone on-line is using more resources than the vast majority of our human population ever has & is currently using....