In my quest to find the best, most cost effective flea and tick treatment I went to the farmers' co-op. If anyone knows how to take care of their animals, its the farmers who only shop at the co-op. They gave me Martins flea, tick, and mange dip. For $8.95 plus tax you get the concentrate to make 8 gallons of dip. Apparently its pretty potent. Once you dip them, you hav to wait 2-3 weeks before using it again. My best judge as to how well this stuff works is my little pup. She doesn't go in the dog yard yet. And when we get outside the first thing she does is roll around in the grass. Normally, her chest will be covered in fleas and I'd spend a good deal of time brushing them off of her. Since I dipped her yesterday she comes in with maybe 4 or 5 on her chest, and at most 1 or 2 on her legs. The true test will be in another week or so. If it isn't going to repel them for the entire 2-3 weeks between dips, than I need another solution.
Heading to the farmer's market was good thinking. Presuming it lasts the time between dips, it sounds like you found a great deal! Do you have any trouble with grass seeds when you take her outside? My little dog sometimes finds uncut grass to play with, and then I need the vet to get the seeds out of her ear. I'm interested to hear how well the flea treatment works over the duration. If it does the trick, I'll have to find something similar.
So far, I can definitely tell a difference in how much she's scratching. Until it stops raining the grass can't get mowed, so right now its packed full of fleas. Hopefully tomorrow it'll get mowed. And then I can see how well it works under normal conditions.
