Flea Collars

Dog flea collars:

Flea collars are a popular means of preventing your dog from catching fleas. These collars work by emitting a chemical (toxic only to fleas), that act as a deterrent to fleas, preventing them from jumping onto and biting your pet.

There are two types of flea collars available. The first type of collar works by emitting a gas that is toxic to fleas, with the aim of keeping fleas away from your dog. However the draw back is this gas is usually only effective around the immediate head and neck area of where the collar is located. However where it does prove particularly useful is, when a small bit of the collar is placed in the vacuum cleaner bag to kill any fleas vacuumed up. The other type of collar works by emitting a toxin, that is absorbed into the dog's subcutaneous layer of fat. As a result killing any fleas that bite your dog. It has proven to be the more effective of the two collars.

Lasting up to three month, flea collars are a good, economical means of prevention and treating mild infestations. They have proven effective in killing adult fleas and resulting in sterile flea eggs (never a bad thing). There are, however, some draw backs. If your dog has already started scratching and itching, adding a flea collar now, may be too late. For large flea infestations, flea collars wont do any good and you may be better off using actual flea medication. Also many people don't the smell or feel of flea collars.

Overall though, I'd say that flea collars are very good for preventing flea problems, but not good for solving flea problems.