Flea and tick control is one of the most important areas of pet parasite management. Fleas spread tapeworms and they are the number one cause of allergic skin disease. Ticks can cause paralytic neurological disease and they can carry several serious disease that could threaten your pets and your family.

Our current products are substantially safer, more effective, and much more convenient than anything we have had in the past. With the advent of these newer products, we have virtually eliminated flea infestations within our client group. Instead of spending the end of the summer treating flea allergy skin disease, we can concentrate our energy on other aspects of preventive disease management. No longer do we fog our entire house with insecticide or call on exterminators to fumigate our home. 

The newer products have been fine tuned to attack the unique aspects of the flea's insect physiology. The growth regulators work like birth control to prevent their astronomic reproductive potential. The topicals attack the insect neurophysiology of the flea in such a specific way that they are much safer for us all.

Oral growth regulators are many times safer than the oral organophosphate (Proban®) of the last generation of oral flea medications. These products prevent flea infestation but they do not directly kill fleas. Those animals that are allergic to flea bites may still have substantial skin problems. The injectable form of the growth regulators may cause significant irritation for some cats - a concerning factor that discourages us from using the injectable product at our practice. Program® is the oral growth regulator we presently recommend at our practice.

Topical flea products are our overall winner for flea and tick management. They kill fleas quickly and efficiently. This minimizes overall flea expose which, in turn, minimizes flea allergy related diseases. Topspot and Advantage are both excellent products. They are both once a month applications. Topspot has a more attractive safety margin for those of us that forget to give the treatments on time. Topspot is the most effective topical against ticks and it is also the topical least affected by bathing and swimming. Ticks that carry Lyme disease will be killed by Topspot but the tick may remain attached to the dog long enough for Lyme disease to transfer. If you are going to a known Lyme disease area, we strongly encourage the use of the Preventic Collar.

One important word of caution. Permethrin is one of the older topicals still available in many over the counter topicals. Many people do not know that permethrin can be fatal if applied to cats. There have even been reports of fatalities when cats rubbed up  against dogs that have had been treated with permethrin. We strongly encourage you to use a product that is safe for both dogs and cats. Do not be fooled by package labeling that carries the same name for cats and dogs - it is quite possible that the dog product has permethrin and the cat product has a growth regulator. We recommend that you avoid these products!

As always, feel free to stop in or call in if you have any questions about flea and tick management.

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