External Parasites
What's the Difference?
Around 1995 some big changes started in the department of external parasite control. Up until this time, fleas and ticks were controlled with two basic classes of insecticides. Pyrethyrins, which are made from plant extracts, are effective and relatively safe (even for cats), but do not offer much residual effect. Chemists developed permethrins from pyrethrins. These insecticides offered more residual effect but could be dangerous when used on, or around, cats. The second class was the very strong, environmentally unfriendly, and dangerous organo-phosphate insecticides. These products attacked the fleas’ and ticks’ nervous systems causing death. The problem was that these products were also capable of attacking a pet’s nervous system as well and could results in life threatening illness for dogs and could not be used on cats.
In the early 1990’s a product called DEFEND EXspot was considered the “state of the art” insect control product. It was a permethrin based product that offered the convenience of a topically applied spot-on. However, it could not be used on cats, was not water-proof, and did not prevent the rapid development of resistant flea populations. Advantage, produced and marketed by Bayer, was made available to the veterinary profession in 1996. It was a topical product that could be used on cats and it rapidly replaced the permethrin products. Frontline by Merial and Revolution by Pfizer made their appearances within the following few years. All three of these products offer the advantage, since they are newer, of being less likely to be ineffective because of resistance. Also, these products have been developed to target the insect’s nervous system and not that of the pet. Thus, they present a safer alternative for cats and dogs.
Prior to 1995, the majority of flea control products were sold in retail stores. The advent of the newer generation products resulted in a swing to veterinary distribution accounting for a much larger proportion of fleas control sales. Understandably, the retail market is eager to regain their control of the insect control sales. They have gone about this in the following manners:
PERMETHRIN BASED SPOT-ON FOR DOGS
PROTICALL, BIO-SPOT, CONTROL
These products contain high concentration of the older insecticide, permethrin. They cannot be used on cats and have the disadvantage of insects possibly being resistant to them. Since insects have such a short life cycle, it is not uncommon for rapid resistance to occur. They can work well if this resistance is not present.
ALSO NOTE: The concentration of permethrin necessary to create the spot-on effect are highly toxic to cats. It is not uncommon for someone to mistakenly use the canine version of one of these products; this is disastrous for the cat. If you choose to use these products, be extra careful that use the appropriate one on your cat.
INSECT GROWTH REGULATORS FOR CATS
BIO-SPOT, CONTROL
These products use either methoprene or fenoxycarb to sterilize fleas. Although these products are extremely safe to use on cats, it’s important to realize that they do not, and are not intended to kill adult fleas. The fleas cannot reproduce but they must either die of old age or be killed by some other means.
Black Market Products
Each of the products avalable through veterinarians has pros and cons. These issues must be understood or the products may be used inappropriately or the user may have unrealistic expectations for them. The manufacturers of these products feel strongly that their products be sold through veterinary offices only, where trained professional personnel can advise you on the proper usage for each one. This means that sale of their products in pet supply stores, catalogs, and through websites is not condoned and invalidates any special offers or even basic guarantees of effectiveness. Since they cannot purchase these products themselves, these non-approved companies offer legitimate veterinarians lots of money to order these products for them to resell or they smuggle them in from other countries. Either way--- since they are being sold in direct contradiction to the manufacturer’s conditions, if you buy these products you do so without the normal support, quality control, or guarantees that the manufacturers normally provide. Please do not support this activity: you may not end up with the product you intended to buy!