Are liquid flea treatments effective after a dog swims?
My dog LOVES to swim. In the summer you are hard pressed to see him laying on dry land anywhere. . . unless he’s inside.
I want a flea/tick treatment that won’t wash off after prolonged swimming or water contact.
Are Advantage/Frontline a good choice for a swimming dog?
Yes, I use frontline and it is water proof.
Yes flea/tick treatment will not wash off, once it is dried.
I use frontline and my dogs go swimming all the time and it does not wash off.
I would however wait till he dries before letting him go in the water, some chemicals may come off, and though they may not be toxic to dogs, they can however be toxic to some organism living in the water.
Yes, both Advantage and Frontline are good for dogs that like to swim. But make sure you reapply it every 4 weeks – sometimes the directions give you the option of 4-6 weeks.
My dogs get Advantage once a month no matter what time of year it is.
Yes it still works. Some say you should wait 48 hours after you put is on, I put in on at night and in the morning they are good to go. Mine are like yours, if I walk anywhere near water they will be in it
Liquid flea treatment gets into the dog’s blood stream and this provides the anti-flea properties. The dog should be kept out of water for a day but after that it doesn’t wash off.
I live on the lake and I have found a new medication that you give once a month in a pill called Comfortis. I have 3 dogs that swim every day and I love this pill it rocks. I like it alot better than putting Advantage/frontline on them. I have had no problem’s with it so far.
A dog can swim after twelve hours of flea treatment. It can be washed off before then as it will not have been fully absorbed into the skin.
Furthermore, if you dog swims in a place that has fish, the flea treatment can kill the fish if you don’t wait until after that twelve hour period is up. That’s what it says on the back of the flea treatment packet I use anyway.
ADD: If this twelve hour rule is correct, I’d put the flea treatment on him in the evening so it’s got the whole night to absorb and then he can go swimming the next day.
Yes, Fronline and advantage are both waterproof once they have dried (at least 2-4 hours). If possible, it is best to wait two days before and after giving the treatment before giving a bath, but I have personally known people who apply it immediately after a bath and have no problems. If you can not keep your dog out of the water for a day or two before and after (ESPECIALLY after) application you may want to consider applying every 3 weeks instead of every 4 (frontline can be applied as infrequently as every 6 weeks for fleas but in order to get the tick protection it MUST be reapplied every 4 weeks) because exposure to water too soon can reduce the efficacy somewhat.
Oral pills (comfortis) can be effective flea control. However, none of the oral flea control products available will control ticks (which are a much bigger concern for me because there are several tick-borne diseases in my area and one of my dogs has tested positive for two of these diseases in the past). Also, fleas have to actually BITE the dog in order to be affected by oral flea preventatives. With the topicals, the fleas do NOT have to bite the dog in order to be affected. If you have a dog with flea-bite allergies, even one single flea bite can set off an allergic reaction. . . so clearly oral flea control is not a viable option for dogs with flea bite allergies.
Frontline Plus will not wash off with swimming or bathing, Advantage will lose some effectiveness when the animal gets wet.
~VetTech
Hi Alicia!
I would love to answer your question!
Yes, It is fine with dogs that love to swimming like Brasky! I put Front line on Claire before she goes swimming and it is still on.