Flea Medication

ASPCA Warns about Cat Flea Treatments

Not too long ago the ASPCA® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) released data indicating that cats are more susceptible to illness and death as a result of the misuse of spot-on flea and tick control products.

The data, collected by the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, also indicate the overwhelming majority of animal illnesses associated with proper use of spot-on flea and tick control products are mild.

“Products labeled for dogs must never be used on cats—doing so can result in serious illness and even death,” says Dr. Louise Murray, Medical Director of the ASPCA’s Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital. “A veterinarian must always be consulted before using spot-on flea and tick treatments on very young, old, sick or pregnant pets.”

The ASPCA receives more than 700 calls daily from veterinarians and pet parents, resulting in over 150,000 annual cases involving medications, insecticides, plants and foods.

ASPCA epidemiologist Dr. Margaret Slater analyzed data from public calls managed by the ASPCA regarding flea and tick products. The data identified two key findings.

1. When cats were treated inappropriately (not per label directions), they are significantly more likely to experience severe reactions: no illness despite a call to the ASPCA (18%), mild illness (17%), moderate illness (45%), major illness (19%), and death (2%).

2. When dogs and cats were treated correctly (per label directions), the likelihood of severe adverse reaction was significantly less: no illness despite a call to the ASPCA (7%), mild illness (69%), moderate illness (22%), major illness (2%), and death (0.1%).

“The important take home message is that although adverse reactions can occur with all flea and tick products, most effects are relatively mild and include skin irritation and stomach upset,” says Dr. Steven Hansen, ASPCA veterinary toxicologist and Senior Vice President Animal Health Services. “Pet parents should not discontinue using products as directed by the product label when faced with a flea infestation.”

Using products as directed and making necessary adjustments based on health will greatly reduce adverse reactions from flea and tick or any other medical products.

Fleas cause anemia (low blood counts), carry tapeworms, and can transmit infections such as Bartonella; ticks transmit many diseases including Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. The risk to pets from these diseases is greater than the risk of adverse reactions when products are use appropriately.

Find more at the ASPCA Pressroom

Blog Posted August 20, 2009 at 3:29 am

Study Reveals Imidacloprid Highly Effective

The 22nd World Association for the Advancement of Veterinary Parasitology (WAAVP), Calgary, Canada was the location for the announcement of the latest results of a large-scale, international, independent Flea Susceptibility Monitoring (FSM) program.

The data from the ten year study showed that fleas collected from around the globe continue to be highly susceptible to imidacloprid today as they were when the monitoring commenced.

There is much speculation over whether or not fleas are developing immunity to flea control products but few studies have been announced to the public.

2009 marks the 10th year for the Flea Susceptibility Monitoring program. Of the 1356 samples that have been submitted, 1014 samples have been analyzed and 13 flea isolates identified for more detailed laboratory investigation.

After additional testing none of those isolates were considered to have reduced susceptibility. The ongoing monitoring through the innovative Flea Susceptibility Monitoring program confirms that veterinarians and pet owners can continue to trust in imidacloprid, which is the active ingredient in Bayer Animal Health’s Advantage® Topical Solution and K9 Advantix®.

The Bayer Animal Health-funded Flea Susceptibility Monitoring program is the first and only initiative of its kind in the field of companion animal parasites and includes a group of internationally renowned, independent researchers.

Under the international program, data is collected from the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

In the United States over 100 clinics in 23 states are involved in the collection of field isolates which are then sent for testing to independent laboratories in California and Alabama.

The methodology utilized by the Flea Susceptibility Monitoring follows a three-step approach.

1. Flea egg samples are collected by participating veterinarians from infested animals and sent to the monitoring laboratories for testing. Twenty eggs are reared on media containing 3 ppm imidacloprid (the diagnostic dose) and 20 in media without imidacloprid (controls).

2. Adult emergence is measured and if >5%, that population of fleas is maintained to allow further laboratory evaluation of susceptibility.

3. The third evaluation step is to investigate the susceptibility of the flea population when placed on dogs and treated with Advantage®.

To date, no isolates have survived the second stage of the testing process, proving the long-standing efficacy of imidacloprid in killing fleas.

Monitoring the performance of current agents like imidacloprid helps to maintain a longer, viable product life.

Bayer, the Bayer Cross, Advantage Flea for Dogs & Cats and K9 Advantix for Dogs are registered trademarks of Bayer.