Capstar for fleas

edited August 2009 in Products & DIY
So the vet gave us Capstar to treat any flea issues Shao New has since I did find a flea on her..and she has been on Frontline plus since 5 months.

*disclaimer* Shao New started this while on Clavamox with a urinary tract infection, so her discomfort may have been a contributing factor to below observation.

From what I read of Capstar, it's one of the saftest drugs ever, no side effects, no know adverse interactions with other drugs. One pill should do it.

5pm-administer pill (she was really itchy)
5:30-nothing
6:15..the terror begins-walked husband to car he was getting milk, Spuds gets SUPER excited (she's been in pain and sleeping all day from drugs). Bouncing around. I walk her away, Husband drives off, and she looks at me, bites down on her leash and half attacks it.

We play tug of war..she opens mouth big and BITES down hard..and at one point bit down on me with dull eyes. I would assume she knew where her mouth was b/c I felt all her teeth but she didn't bite down..best I can describe it is it layed on my hands. Normally when we play and any of her teeth hit my skin she knows it's bad right away and she pulls back, her head goes to the side and her ears go back to the side like a rabbit.--this time, nothing just a blank direct stare...I'm thinking great, I'm gonna get mauled by my puppy high on drugs. We stopped the game, and when we picked up on it again a few minutes later she was fine, but still pretty agressive.

Around 9 she was really biting her back/butt...per the website this means it's working.

Walked her that evening and she was bouncing around all over the place, chewing on everything she could chew outside.

6AM-Spuds is running around, we think she's cured--nope, it continues..this morning she did a few, yes a FEW zoomies while on walks. Meanwhile she's still having difficulty peeing like normal...She's not itching anymore. Fleas gone?

12:30pm- still a terror, gave her a rinse (no soap as she's due to get her frontline tomorrow).

1:30PM..she's finally calmed down and listening to commands and not biting everything and their mother outside. Looks like fleas are gone too? No more biting of the fur in the house anymore since last night...back to sleep land for the pup.

We'll see..

Moral of the story...Capstar seems to work, but seems to make the dog go on a sugarhigh--imagine if she had been healthy?!

Comments

  • edited November -1
    iiiinteresting observations. I've got nothing to contribute, except that I hope Mylo doesn't have to take that stuff at any point lol.
  • edited November -1
    Why did your vet switch her to Capstar specifically?

    This is actually one of the first times I'm hearing about it being used.
  • edited November -1
    They didn't switch, we were always on frontline, but i wanted the shampoo, and they didn't recommend the flea shampoo while on Frontline. They asked when she last got her dose, which was almost a month ago, so they gave the capstar. I guess the fact it was running around meant frontline wasn't working? Honestly it was so crazy busy in there first thing in the morning and I ran back in to ask about the fleas b/c i forgot to ask the vet after the whole UTI thing I really didn't ask too many questions.

    On a side note, Capstar apparently only kills adult fleas on the body not the eggs, so I guess used in conjunction w/ the Frontline plus we should be all covered.
  • edited November -1
    Capstar is good to use on dogs and pups that are INFESTED with live adult fleas and in need of immediate treatment but may be unwell enough to tolerate a lot of bathing, strong medicated drops, on multiple other meds, etc. Where I work, we will give the tab to hospitalized pets (and notify the owners) if we find they are infested with fleas as we don't want the insects in the clinic in our surgery fields, going home on other pets, getting in out stuff, etc. This has been an effective and safe med for us with rescues, hospitalized dogs and transporting strays.

    It could very possibly be that a cause for her acting off, is that she is extremely sensitive to flea bites especially as the fleas die off and become very active, all in addition to her raging UTI and being a puppy. Sounds like a bad infestation!
  • edited November -1
    Thanks for your input Lindsay, makes sense. Vacuming again tonight plus a full round of laundry. This heat and high humidity constantly doesn't help either, this morning she was itchy again (but slightly)..the fleas are probably all over the place outside too so she's probably picking them up every time she steps outside to pee which is often the past 3 days. (we don't have a private yard and all the greenery is so overgrown from this wacky weather). :-/ Can't wait for the deep freeze to come.
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