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Questions?
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Frontline Flea
& Tick Control
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My first choice for spot-on flea and tick
control
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Summary: Frontline Top Spot (tm) and
Frontline Plus (tm) are flea and tick control
medication for dogs and cats with the active
ingredient fipronil, Frontline Plus adds the growth
regulator methoprene. Either Frontline can be used
monthly but re-treatment this often probably is not
necessary for most situations.
Jack DeAngelis, PhD
OSU Ext. Entomologist (ret.)
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Frontline
Top Spot or Plus (tm)?
Frontline
(tm) is my first choice for spot-on
flea and tick control on both dogs and
cats. The main advantages of Frontline are: it can
be used on both cats and dogs, effectively
controls fleas for 90 days and ticks for 30 days, is
waterproof, and does not contain permethrin, which
is toxic to cats.
Frontline
comes
in
small, measured-dose applicators where the amount of
liquid is matched to the weight of the animal. Four
dosage levels are available for dogs, one level for
cats and kittens. Once applied the insecticide
quickly spreads over the skin providing protection
from bites for at least a month. Be careful to apply
the liquid to the pet's skin not to the fur; see How
to Apply Spot-on Flea Control. Also, please
read over the General
Information and Precautions before using any
of the flea control products.
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Adult cat
fleas (1/5"-1/10") move between the
host animal and "nest".
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Fipronil, the
active ingredient in all Frontline products, is not
readily absorbed into the blood so there is less
chance of side effects compared to systemic flea
control medications. Package instructions say that
monthly applications are allowed; however, unless
fleas are frequently re-introduced into the pet's
environment monthly applications probably are not
needed. Re-apply only when fleas, "flea-dirt" or ticks
are found.
If you live where heartworm
has been reported your pets should be protected from
this serious, often fatal, parasitic infection (see What is Heartworm?). Even
though heartworm is transmitted by mosquito bites we
believe that systemic heartworm medications like
Heartgard are better protection than topically-applied
mosquito repellents such as K9 Advantix.
Frontline products are
available without a prescription from your local
veterinarian clinic and online
at
our
'Bugs store. Online sources generally are less
expensive
than vet clinics.
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Frontline Plus (tm)
includes methoprene
A closely related
product, Frontline Plus (tm), adds the insect
growth regulator methoprene to the basic
ingredient in Frontline. Frontline Plus has all of the
advantages of Frontline including: can be safely used
cats and dogs, is effective against fleas for 90 days
and ticks for 30 days, is waterproof, and does not
contain permethrin which is toxic to cats.
However, I believe methoprene works
better when applied as a separate off-animal
treatment rather than along with Frontline (see
Why Methoprene
Works Better as a "Nest" Treatment). So,
while Frontline Plus is an excellent choice if
you don't want to bother with a separate
methoprene treatment, I prefer to apply these
treatments separately.
What is Flea
Dirt?
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Frontline
(tm)
Products @ 'Bugs Store
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Mission: To
provide accurate, up-to-date and unbiased information
for solving common insect and mite problems around
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methods.
Jack DeAngelis,
Ph.D.
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