Frontline Flea and Tick Products - How to Avoid Counterfeits

Frontline flea and tick products are non-prescription, over-the counter medicines that are highly effective for the prevention, control and treatment of fleas and ticks on pets.

The active ingredient, Fipronil is a broad-spectrum insecticide and together with Methoprene in Frontline Plus, it’s effective against all life stages of the fleas and ticks as well. . It’s reported to kill 98-100% of the flea’s population within 24, making it the number 1 choice among many pet owners and veterinarians.

The range of Frontline flea and tick medication comes in many forms and these include the Frontline spray, Frontline spot-on and Frontline plus topical application. Because of its effectiveness and popularity, unregistered counterfeits started appearing in the market. It appears that these counterfeits products have been actually repackaged in countries outside US. They are relabeled and then illegally imported back to US for sale to unsuspecting buyers. Many reported side effects of frontline flea treatment may be in a way related to the widespread use of these counterfeits whereby mislabeling is common. 

To avoid being misled and ended up buying one of these counterfeits, here is how you can tell them apart:

Firstly, look at the lot number on the retail carton as well as the one written on the applicator package or the individual applicators. These numbers should match.

Secondly, make sure that an instruction leaflet is included and within the leaflet, the following information should be included: First-aid statement, including emergency telephone numbers, precautionary statement for both human and pets, the directions for use, storage and disposal.

Thirdly, The ingredient should be kept in an applicator package that is child-resistant. There should be an illustration on how you can open the child-resistant applicator package.

Fourthly, in legitimate Frontline flea and tick medicines, they should look like this. Notice that there is a notch between the individual applicator packages and this is generally absent in counterfeit products. The written text should be in English only.

Take note that each applicator should have a label on it that includes the registrant’s name and that is “Merial”, the registration number, the net contents in fluid ounces (and not in mls), the percentage of active ingredient, and statements on “CAUTION”, “KEEP OUT OF REACH OF CHILDREN”, ‘See full label for additional directions” should be included and in English text only.

The label on the applicators should also specify the size of the dog on which the product is to be used if the product is meant for dogs.

The manufacturer of Frontline flea and tick killer products has always urges consumers to buy their supply from licensed veterinarians but there are also some reputable online pet supplies firms which provides the convenience of ordering online. These include 1-800-PetMeds and National Pet Pharmacy

For more information, make sure you check out the section on “Frontline Flea Treatment” where details on how to use Frontline Flea and Tick Products, the various forms available, its activity and so on will be covered.