Contest Promotes Capstar

If you run a boarding kennel, or board your dog in a kennel, you might find this announcement of interest:

In an effort to promote its Capstar flea control product to owners and operators of boarding kennels, Novartis Animal Health U.S. has launched, The Biggest Little Thing Contest.

From the contest website:
“As a boarding facility operator, you know there are a lot of little things you do that have a big impact on your business. Like taking a proactive approach to flea control by providing every dog and cat that visits your facility with a CAPSTAR® (nitenpyram) Tablet to ensure a flea-free stay.

CAPSTAR, in partnership with Pet Product News International, will publish the top 10 biggest little things boarding facilities around the country do to keep ahead of the competition. If your idea is published, your facility will be featured in Pet Product News International and you will win $200. To become eligible, please fill out the information…”

Deadline for tips is Oct. 31, 2009 and tips should be 50 words or less and can be submitted here.

Capstar is one of the products listed and discussed in Flea Control Secrets. The section on Capstar reveals that studies (on nitnpyram) reported  more than 90% effectiveness against adult fleas within four to six hours depending on the species.

Flea Control Mistakes: Flea Collars

I’ve been seeing a lot of questions and comments related to flea collars and wanted to make sure that people knew that Consumer Reports actually determined that flea collars are NOT effective for killing fleas.

Herbal flea collars can help repel fleas but they don’t do anything to help get rid of them AND are usually only effective on the front portion of the animal.

Chemical flea collars are toxic and a danger to your household–they work in the same fashion as the herbal collars but pose more risks.

Better options to address fleas including bathing your pet in oatmeal pet shampoo. Contrary to popular belief–you don’t need to use pesticide shampoos because if you bath an animal and leave the suds on for about 15 minutes–this will kill the fleas.

After bathing there are non-toxic flea sprays that can be used on the animal to repel adult fleas. For instance, you can make a solution of apple cider vinegar and water and spray onto the coat to help repel the pests.

BTW: Pets should not be bathed more than once a week during an infestation.

There are other options and, in most cases, I prefer to use less toxic options (which I outline in the Flea Control Secrets eBook).

The problem is that even if you address the fleas that you find on the animal, they compromise only about 5% of the total flea population!

Treating the interior and exterior areas of your environment is necessary to get the fleas under control. Once you do that, you also need to retreat every 3 to 6 weeks to keep the pests under control.

If you have not signed up for the mini-course yet–do so now so you get the big picture and learn how to get rid of fleas.