Flea treatment and multiple animals money saving idea

[Coatdegroan]

I am.wondering if it is possible to alternate expensive flea treatments.
I have 2 dogs and 1 cat.

If I alternate the treatment will just one animal out of 3 be enough to keep the fleas at bay?

I feel.like vets may come on and say its best to do all 3...I'm really interested to hear if anyone has tried this with any success?

It could save a lot of money.
Or it could be a complete fail.

Do all the fleas jump onto all the animals inna house or do they just stay on the same one? I can't find much info at all after a Google.

IANBU it is a good way of saving a bit of money
IABU it is too risky and will end up with carpets full of fleas
...

Oh dear
This is my first AIBU

YABU too risky you will end up.with pest control round
YANBU good idea for these austere times

You should do all 3 but don't get it from the vet, get it from an online place like VioVet (you can even get a prescription from your vet and then purchase online). If you can only do one, do the dog as dogs interact with others.
I actually use the flea collars from the pound shop with my cats, they actually work really well, we have 4 and no fleas.

Fleas do jump around between animals so it could be possible to keep a lid on them by just treating one animal. We don't bother de-fleaing our pets in the winter, since there aren't any outside sources of fleas in the winter (because its too cold) and they don't mix with other animals.

....I should say we haven't had any fleas either (I would know as I'm sensitive to their bites)

I just treat seasonally. So during the summer I give nexguard and through the winter I wormcount twice and do it that cover us

I do flea treatment every other month. I find it keeps on top of things, and I don't like the idea of all those chemicals in the animals so much anyway.

I also (on the advice of a vet friend) buy the treatment for a large, 12kg cat, and split it between my 3 x 4kg cats. It's cheaper that way. I do the same with my two dogs.

I only ever flea treat my dogs if I see signs of fleas. I groom them daily and am very aware of these things, but I certainly don’t go swilling chemicals around them every month!

i am an experienced owner and have five dogs currently, all in peak show and athletic competition.

Ah, I forgot when writing the above you have a cat. Presuming the cat goes outside, unattended, you will need to flea treat more than a pure dog household.

I just read that cat and dog fleas are different species. Dog fleas are rarer and don't go onto cats. Cat fleas are very adaptable and will go onto dogs. So if you're treating one animal - treat the dog.

I'm another that has never routinely deflead my animals, I treat them at the start of spring and groom daily.

Cat fleas are polyphagous, in other words they can jump between animals. Dog fleas are quite specific to dogs. In reality, not much difference between them biologically.

This is unlike hair lice vs pubic lice (fun fact)... their claws are actually different shapes, so pubic lice's claws are oval-shaped because pubic hair is flat (which makes it curly!)... hair louse claws are round for our round head hair.

Anyway, I digress. Cat and dog fleas treatments are all fipronil-based... you can do them at the same time, buy them online, save yourself the fuss :)

Thank you everyone
Useful amd interesting replies!

Our vet won't prescribe fipronil anymore, seems pretty useless now. I was getting Advantage for a while which is imidacloprid. At the moment we're getting whatever the vet gives us.

Buy a Spot-On, Frontline or Itch type of treatment for a large dog and use it on all three pets.

I remember reading about the clinical trials on flea treatments many years ago in a pharmaceutical journal and it seems they are difficult to overdose with. But I’d definitely treat all three pets.