Flea And Tick Medicines – What you Need To Know

Flea and tick season is here again and it means a busy time for pet owners again i.e. ensuring that your pet stay flea free or bites free this period of the year. However, finding the right flea and tick medicines for your dog or cat is not easy choice. In their “flea medicine search” pet owners are frequently bugged by these two questions:

“Which is the best flea and tick medicine to use?” or

“Which is the safest flea medication for my dogs or cats?”

Sounds familiar? Well if it is, then it may be a consolation to you to know that you are not alone. Many pet owners may be scratching their heads right now trying to decide on the best, most effective, and yet safe one for their little kitties or doggies.

Very often, many pet owners would simply grab one that is readily available in pet stores or supermarkets hoping that it will “do the trick” in providing protection from dog fleas or cat fleas. This ignorance or negligence of pet owners is one major reason that accounted for the many deaths of pets from flea treatments. 

Knowing the possible dangers of flea medications, it is pertinent that all pet owners learn to recognize the active ingredients in products. Some of these may be too strong for use on puppies, cats or kittens or some may active against fleas but not ticks.

I’ll go through the main ingredients that are commonly used in many of the flea and tick medications and covering issues like mode of action, safety, toxicity of products concerned. This should provide you with a good guideline in your comparison of the different types of flea and tick medicines and in choosing the right one for your pet:

Pyrethrins

Pyrethrins are one of the most widely used insecticides in today’s flea and tick products. A natural extract from the flowers of the Chrysanthemum plants, pyrethrins acts on the nervous system of insects eventually causing nerve paralysis and death. Its action is rapid and can causes death to insects within minutes.

Pyrethrins are easily hydrolyzed and degraded by stomach acids, so toxicity following ingestion by pets is very low.

*Though considered relatively safe for use on cats and dogs, toxicity has been reported following the excessive use of the products containing this ingredient. Hence make use that you follow the recommended dose on the labels.

Products containing Pyrethrins as the active ingredient:

Adams Flea & Tick Mist for Cats and Dogs (32oz)

Adams Pyrethrin Dip by Virbac(4oz)

Bio Spot Flea & Tick Mist with Nylar for Dogs

Bio Spot Flea & Tick Mist for Cats

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