Advantix Flea Treatment

Advantix is a derivative of Advantage, manufactured by Bayer. Beside the active ingredient Imidocloprid in Advantage, Advantix also contains Permethrin which makes it able to kill fleas as well as ticks & mosquitoes.

Like Advantage, Advantix is able to stop flea bites within 5 minutes and kill fleas' population up to 98-100%. within 2 hours. This gives an almost immediate relief to dogs infested with fleas. However, advantix unlike advantage can only be used on dogs and not cats because permethrin is toxic to cats.

Application of advantix is simple and it's done simply by putting the topical solution between the shoulder blade of dogs. It's absorbed to the root of the hair follicles and distributed throughout the skin on the entire body. As such, the rate of distribution is much dependent on the movement of the dog. For old and sick dogs whose movement is limited, the spread is much slower and onset of action may be expected to be longer.

Advantix is also not water resistant and may be washed off by the shampoo on bathing. The recommended treatment is once a month and is suitable for use on puppies more than 7 weeks old and all dogs.

Advantix comes in various pack sizes and prices depending on the weight of your dog.

A word of caution in using Advantix is that there are a number of side effects reported even when given to dogs and this include:

• Itching at the site of application
• Hyperactivity
• Listlessness
• Vomiting
• Depression
• And even death has been reported

This is mainly due to the Permethrin added in Advantix as no such side effects has been reported with the use of Advantage which does not contain Permethrin.

As there are safer option available like Advantage, Frontline and Frontline Plus, would suggest that dog owners give this a skip instead.