The Confusing but Important Topic of Flea & Tick Control Products We Recommend   
On this page I've written short summaries of my favorite flea and tick control products.  Each has something special about it and each has some limitation. Hopefully this will help you decide on a product best suited to your pet and situation.

Program and Sentinel Once a Month Tablets:

Both of these once a month tablets are made by Novartis and both have the same ingredient for fleas...the only difference is that Progam is just for fleas and Sentinel also prevents heartworm disease as well as round, hook, and whip intestinal worms.

A lot of my clients depend on Sentinel for controlling fleas, heartworms and intestinal worms and find it works really well and Sentinel is much less expensive that our other montly flea control products.

Program and Sentinel are convenient once a month chewable tablets.
They're super safe. And it works really well for a lot of situations.

So, what are the limitations?

Neither Program or Sentinel actually kill or repel adult fleas or ticks !
What they do, and do nearly perfectly, is sterilize any flea that bites so that their eggs don't hatch.  It does this so well that soon there are no fleas around your house and yard.  This is an appropriate choice IF your pet and yard isn't frequently exposed to other pets not being treated and you don't have much trouble with ticks, mosquitos, or flies.


Program 6 month Injection for Cats:  For cats we have an injection of Program that lasts 6 months !  Like Program tabs for dogs, this injection will make any flea that bites infertile so that if your cat gets exposed to some fleas, at least they won't hatch in your house and yard.  $36

Capstar Tablets:
Also made by Novartis, this new tablet is extremely inexpensive, very effective (95-100% kill of all adult fleas within a few hours) and safe even for young kittens, puppies, and pregnant pets.  It was designed to be given along with Sentinel or Progam until those products had time to kick in.

What's the catch?  Capstar is metabolized and excreted from the body in about a day. 

So quick, great, super safe, inexpensive, nearly 100% flea control; but only for a day. 

This is a great product for short term use along with Program or Sentinel as it was intended...but also great for when you've just found or bought a pet or are taking a pet to a new home or for boarding to prevent transfer of fleas.  As low as $2 a dose


Frontline "TopSpot" Plus for Cats & Dogs:
One of the most effective repellent and killer of adult fleas and ticks for 3-5 weeks available.  Safety to mammals is excellent.

Frontline is applied to the back of the neck once a month and does a very good job of repelling and killing adult fleas and ticks "Plus" do a pretty good job of killing non adult stages of fleas.

Some potential problems include no bathing for 2 days before and after application, may not last a whole month if giving frequent baths, and a few people are finding that Frontline is not working as well as it used too.
$12-15 a month.  It's applied to the back of the neck

Vectra 3D Once a Month Spot Treatment for Dogs Only:  Brand new in 2008 so none of the fleas are resistant yet.  Very potent and not safe for cats.  Excellent at killing and repelling adult fleas, tick, and mosquitos.  Also fairly good for repelling flys and killing pre-adult fleas. 
Possible problems include no bathing for 2 days before or after application and may not stand up to frequent shampooing.
$14-17 a month.  It's applied to the back

Comfortis Once a Month Chewable Treats for Dogs: 
Also brand new in 2008.  Our most expensive and near perfect flea killer available:  99.99% flea kill within minutes for at least a month.  Very safe and super effective.  This is what I recommend if your dog is so allergic to fleas that even 1 bite causes severe skin reactions.  If you have a flea infestation, I recommend getting just 1 tablet and using it in addition to a more all purpose product like Revolution.

The only limitation is that Comfortis hasn't been approved in cats yet and it only kills adult fleas.  Not for ticks, not pre-adult fleas, not heartworms, not intestinal worms, not mosquitos etc.  But it kills fleas so well, it's the best choice in certain situations   $15+ a tablet

Promeris with Amitraz Once a Month Spot On for Dogs only:  Also new and very effective at killing and adult fleas and ticks.  And great for curing mange.  Probably the very best tick killer and repellent available.

Negatives are that Promeris smells like Vicks vapor rub for a day or two after application and leaves a large oily spot for a couple of days.  And it doesn't kill pre-adult fleas.
Amitraz is a very potent pesticide and not safe for cats and sensitive dogs. About $12-15/month



Knock Out Dog Spray and House Spray:
If you have an overwhelming flea problem, it may be necessary to reduce the initial flea load with an extra strenght flea spray.  KnockOut is the strongest flea spray available, containing twice as much permethin and Nylar as other brands you can buy over the counter.
It's available as a house spray or for direct use on dogs. 
It's not safe for direct application on cats.

Premise Spray:  For overwhelming fleas in your yard, we recommend Virbac Premise Spray which will get the number of fleas way down. 

Combining Flea Products for Maximum Results:
Speaking of overwhelming flea problems, it sometimes help to combine 2 or 3 of the products discussed above for a short period until the problem is under control.  An example would be an initial spraying of the house and yard to get the flea numbers way down so they aren't jumping on your family, a single Comfortis tablet to kill 100% of the surviving fleas that jump on your dog, and putting Revolution on your dog and cat at the same time for killing the pre-adult stages, for long term control, and all the other things that Revolution does.  Safety of combining most of the products above is not an issue except that Frontline, Promeris, and Vectra3D  may be too potent to use at the same time



Combing & Grooming.

-Helps a lot with the general health of the skin; no small benefit.

-Helps you to have an intimate familiarity with your pet's skin condition; if you're grooming and combing your pet regularly, you'll spot parasite and disease problems early.

-It allows the early spotting and removal of ticks

-Grooming and combing usually makes your pet feel much better.

-And regular combing helps maintain your pecking order status as master which helps maintain your pet's sanity.  Have you ever noticed that...dogs who think they're humans tend to become neurotic head cases.  As for cats...

So; grooming and combing is great. 

But not very effective at controlling an established flea problem.  I know there's a certain satisfaction in squishing fleas as you comb them out.  But remember that the adult fleas that you kill represent only the tip of the iceberg...for every adult you kill, there are thousands of larvae and hundreds of thousands of eggs.

This same principle is why flea traps don't work.   Yes, you can attract fleas to jump into a vibrating or hot pan of water, but so what?, you still have a major flea problem.

So, if your pet has anything but a brand new or very minor flea problem; quit dinking around.  Go to your vet and take advantage of the new products that work so well.




Ticks







If you're having major tick problems, our choices are more limited and nothing seems to be working perfectly or for longer than 3-4 weeks at a time.  But the very best tick control products are:

Preventic Tick Collars:  Excellent for 3-5 weeks at a time.  (The label claims up to 3 months, but get real)
Useless for fleas but our most successful product for tick control until Promeris became available  $16

Promeris:  Very potent adult flea AND Tick control. See description above in the section on flea products

Vectra 3D and Frontline Plus:  These competing flea and tick products both work quite well at tick control.  See description above in the section on flea products.

Revolution: I love Revolution for most pets because it kills, prevents, or controls so many parasite problems including ticks.  But when it comes to tick problems, it only does a fair job.




















What about mosquitos?

Mosquitos can pester dogs and cats, especially outdoor and farm dogs.  Mosquitos certainly carry and transmit diseases to include heartworm disease and encephalitis.  But, in general, we haven't been too concerned about mosquito control for pets ... it doesn't seem to be a big problem and we rely on heartworm prevention products for heartworm disease; not mosquito repellents.

And we simply don't have many effective and safe products for mosquito control in pets.  The exceptions are:

Vectra3D; this great product (dogs only) is very effective for fleas, pre-adult fleas, ticks, and pretty good for repelling mosquitos

Advantage;  Advantage flea products also help repel mosquitos but I don't sell many Advantage products simply because I think their competitors are slightly better at flea control. 

Nothing is more aggravating to pets and their owners than flea problems.

And there are so many products all claiming to work great.

And vets keep changing their recommendations as fleas become resistant to our previous best products.

We, of course, offer the products that we think are the very best and at your right I've written a little summary of each to include limitations and negative comments.


Revolution for Adult Fleas, Pre-adult fleas, ticks, ear mites, mange, intestinal worms & heartworms:

For most pets, Revolution
is my favorite recommendation.

Revolution is what I use on my pets. 

- Super Safe, even on cats, & even if pregnant

- not affected by baths or swimming

- same price as Frontline so it's like getting heartworm protection for free

-  does a near perfect job of killing flea larvae so that you never get a flea outbreak in your home or yard

-  Revolution is applied to the back of the neck once a month.

Cost is $13-20 a dose


What are the limitations?

While it will kill adult fleas and ticks fairly well, Revolution is not a good repellent.

While it kills intestinal worms well in cats, it's only moderately effective in dogs.  And no flea product is effective against tapeworms.

Think of Revolution as a great flea preventive that also kills adult fleas, does a fair job on ticks, helps with intestinal worm control and also prevents heartworms.

It's a great all purpose product.  If you have an extreme flea or tick problem, then I would use something else for a few months.















What Doesn't Work Well For Flea & Tick Control ?

Shampoos, Mousse, and most Sprays:

I'm a big believer in the benefits of frequent shampooing with the new moisturizing shampoos for dog skin conditioning and for treating various skin conditions.

But shampooing alone is usually ineffective at controlling all but mild flea problems. 

Fleas have become highly resistant to most sprays and mousses, although most permethrin or allethrin sprays are working well for very short periods.  And two brands work exceptionally well, but they're expensive:
KnockOut Dog spray works well for about a week at a time.
And Frontline spray works great for about 2-3 weeks.

Flea & Tick Collars:
A few brands of collars (especially Preventic Collars) are working fairly well for ticks, but I have yet to find one that consistantly controls fleas well.  I rate them as fairly ineffective. 

What about The stuff you can get at Walmart?

As soon as Frontline TopSpot and Advantage hit the market a couple of years ago, and it was obvious that they were working really well, pet product companies changed their packaging to look and sound like Frontline or Advantage.    All these look or sound alike products are applied to the back of the neck like Frontline and Advantage and all come with sales pitches along the lines of why spend twice as much at the vet when this is just like the stuff they sell.  Well, it is just like it except for the active ingredient that does the work!

Almost everyone knows how difficult and expensive it is to get a new chemical product through FDA and on the market in the U.S.  It has to be proven both safe and effective.

But what people don't know is that once a product is on the market, the FDA is pretty quick to remove stuff that turns out to be unsafe (actually, it's usually pulled first by the manufactuer fearful of possible lawsuits), but not much is removed just because it's become ineffective. 

And that's what has happened with many flea control products.  The labels that say effective against fleas etc don't say that was back in 1959.  Or effective against laboratory fleas raised in Alaska..not our native Southeastern Flea. HooBoy.

This is the same problem with believing labels for dewormers, other parasite medicines and pesticides, and in fact, many medicines.

And the Safety Question:  We've had several very sick cats in our clinic due to the application of over the counter topical pesiticides meant for dogs...cats are much more sensitive as a rule to pesticides.