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Choosing Your Pet's Flea Control
There are several, very significant differences between various flea control products. For starters, many are created
strictly for dogs and may contain ingredients harmful to felines. Some will kill fleas instantly but will not
have an effect on future fleas, whereas others are effective for up to a month.
Flea control also differs in how it is given to your pet. Some are applied topically and others given as a pill.
Flea control also differs in what parasites they control, some comprehensive
products like Revolution
fight not only fleas, but ticks, heartworm, ear mites and sarcoptic mange as well.
Flea control products also differ in where in the life cycle stage they
attack the flea ... the egg, larvae, cocoon or adult stages. It's important to know what to expect for your pet before you buy.
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Different Ingredients Target Different Flea Life Cycles
There is usually a correlation between the ingredients a product contains and the
life cycle stage of the fleas that are killed. For instance, the flea pill flavor tabs,
Program
and Sentinel,
contain the ingredient Lufenuron,
a growth regulator that breaks the flea's life cycle in the early stages by
preventing the flea eggs and larvae from developing further into adults. However,
the disadvantage is that these meds are not
effective against already existing adult fleas.
Depending upon the flea product, monthly spot-on preventatives are more likely to contain the ingredients necessary
to kill fleas in a more comprehensive manner - in both the development and adult stages.
Popular pet flea control like
Revolution,
Advantage,
K9 Advantix and
Frontline Plus
meds kill fleas in both the development and adult stages too.
So why would pet owners choose Program or Sentinel if these products do not fight
and kill the adult fleas too? Well, it might be that they find the topical spot on process messy, or they may have a pet that has reactions to those
specific products, in which case a palatable flavor tab pill would be a preferential choice. Pet
owners who prefer the flea pill will often give their pet an oral flea med like
Sentinel or Program to break the flea infestation at the development stage and also a
Capstar flea killer treatment pill to kill the existing adult fleas. Capstar
isn't a prevention product, but rather, it is an as needed flea treatment for adult fleas currently present. The
comfortis flea pill is a new med quickly gaining in popularity. It's one of the first flea pills to kill adult fleas too, and for one month, but it can have possible side effects.
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Different Flea Meds Target Different Parasites
Another way in which flea control products differ is by what other potential parasites and pet health hazards they
treat in addition to the fleas. There are several of these comprehensive products on the market today.
For example, K9 Advantix and TriForce help
control fleas, ticks and mosquitoes too.
Sentinel
helps control heartworms, fleas in the development stage, round worms and hookworms.
Revolution helps
control fleas, ticks, heartworms, ear mites and sarcoptic mange. It is also
used on cats to treat roundworms and hookworms. Frontline Top Spot kills adult fleas, ticks at
all stages and chewing lice. However, Frontline Plus
is a more comprehensive product because
it has an extra ingredient that Top Spot does not have, S-methoprene. This extra ingredient
not only kills adult fleas, but also kills flea eggs and flea larvae too.
Many flea control products like Advantage, Frontline, Program and Capstar do not require
a prescription. However, those that contain heartworm preventatives usually do. Regardless, always
visit with your veterinarian first regarding which flea control products will
be the best and safest for your specific pet's needs.
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Alternatives To Flea Pill And Spot On Products
You may also wish to visit with your veterinarian regarding some alternative flea control ideas.
Some pet owners like flea collars instead of spot-ons and pills.
They even make a breakaway version for cats
as an extra safety option. A few collars such as Preventic kill ticks as well. Collars may not be suitable for all pets however, if you
handle your pet frequently or if you have other pets that might be mouthing the collar, a flea
collar may not be a very safe alternative to consider. Some pet owners prefer a monthly flea spray
such as Frontline Spray because they can be more economical when there are several pets
to treat, but they can be messy and they require special safety precautions.
If you like more natural cures they do make
some herbal powders and sprays that repel
fleas and ticks from your pet's bedding and surrounding environment. You can
also buy garlic supplements for pets, but there has been some recent concern that too much garlic
can be harmful by causing anemia in pets. It can also make your pet a little stinky
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What We Use
For our dogs, Frontline Plus is our top pick, it's important for us to feel like we've taken care of the fleas and
ticks at all stages of development and Frontline Plus serves this purpose. We've used it for several years now and
have tried a few others, but Frontline has always proven to be the most effective and durable, a must
for our outside dogs. For our cats, we've found Revolution hard to beat, just a drop between the shoulder
blades means no struggling to take a pill.
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