My partner and I adopted SugarRay in November of 2005. We haven't had a problem with fleas, however, until this last month. Actually, "problem" may be a strong word! We saw one flea and wanted to nip things in the bud. On Thursday, July 6th, we applied Frontline Plus to our three Pugs.

Penny and Molly were fine, but on the following Saturday morning, SugarRay had a quarter-sized sore on his back that was bleeding. It was bleeding enough that when SugarRay would shake, blood would splatter on the wall. We took him to the emergency vet, who shaved the area to discover a bit larger area that looked irritated. We were given some antibiotics and a steroid cream to treat him.

The following day, the irritated skin looked much worse. We figured it was just healing and would get uglier before getting better, but by Monday it was an all-out wound. SugarRay's back looked horrible! It looked like several layers of skin were being eaten away. One layer looked blistery, while another layer looked raw, and SugarRay was trying to scratch at it.

We took SugarRay to the vet again that Monday and got some Prednisone to help keep the itching down, and we bandaged up his "scratching" foot so that his nails would not disturb the wound.

That seemed to work. He's looking much better now.

Now, we're not 100% sure that the Frontline Plus caused this reaction on SugarRay, but the irritation appeared less than 48 hours after applying the Frontline Plus.

It definitely looked like something was eating away at his skin like a
chemical burn would do.

Needless to say, we will not be using chemicals again to fight fleas. I've
heard that brewer's yeast and garlic keep the fleas away, so now the Pugs
get a little powder sprinkled on their food. They like the taste, and the
fleas won't be coming around again!

I've attached two photographs of SugarRay. The first one shows his skin
just after the initial visit to the veterinarian. The second shows
SugarRay's wound at it's worst four days after applying the Frontline Plus.

Michael Hamlin

8/10/06 PS: SugarRay looks much better now! The hair still isn't completely grown back in, and I think there is going to be a small dime-sized bald spot. He's been a trooper throughout this whole experience!