Clackalacky
New Member
I discovered that the active ingredient in the oral prescription med for fleas with the brand name Comfortis is actually a organic pesticide that is sprayed on certified organic food crops. So how could this stuff be sprayed in large quantities on crops but be so incredibly expensive in pill form? I found a garden spray on amazon which contains 0.5% spinosad as the active ingredient along with propylene glycol, which is a food additive approved by the FDA. 0.5% is very dilute. There is a shampoo approved for humans as young as 6 months for the treatment of lice that is nearly double the strength (0.9%) which costs $147! I bought the spray and fed it to my dogs. I looked up the dose for Comfortis; for my small dogs it is 270 mg. The garden spray contains 50 mg of spinosad in every 10 ml of liquid. I got a 5 ml oral syringe and gave my dogs 11 syringes full on their food and added some tasty broth to mask the taste. The spinosad smells like dirt. It is, in fact, made from soil, so that makes sense. Anyway, I spread the 11 syringes out over three meals and no more fleas. This $16 bottle will last for at least 6 months for my small dogs. I also have a great pyrenees and he needed a lot more- about a cup and a half. I spread that over 6 meals with no problem. Saved a ton of money, no vet. My next project is to figure out the dose of ivermectin to replace heartguard by using ivermectin horse paste, which is also available online with no prescription. One $7 tube treats a 1250 lb horse, so it may have to be diluted first, then divided. I will post the formula once I figure it out if anyone is interested.
Anyone else have any tips for beating the high cost of caring for pets? With this quarantine, I want to save every penny I can since who knows how long this will last.
Anyone else have any tips for beating the high cost of caring for pets? With this quarantine, I want to save every penny I can since who knows how long this will last.