OTC flea medications

[JulietteTruong]

Hi all,
My little Juli is predominantly indoors, but when the weather is nice I let her roam our enclosed backyard. During the summer we like to keep our backdoor open, so she’s able to come in and out as she pleases. Our fences are high enough to prevent her from escaping. Anyways, this has resulted in a bit of a flea problem.

at the moment I’m not able to take her to a vet. I’ve been curious about the OTC options, such as Bayer advantage. I realize the ones at the grocery store are crap. From what I can tell, BA seems to get a lot of good reviews, but I’m the kind of person who sees a few bad reviews and get paranoid. Thoughts?

I’ve been staying on top of the house cleaning, as well as her keeping her fur groomed. I also give her a bath occasionally, and use a flea comb often.

 

[daftcat75]

If I had to do it again, I would give her Capstar to kill all adults on her now. And Advantage 2 on the neck (a few different spots rather than one big puddle.) I would do one more round of laundry and vacuuming within the 24 hours that the Capstar is effective. This would stop all reproduction and egg laying today. The topical would prevent today’s eggs and larvae from becoming adults. I would repeat all of this in 14 days. And in the time between, I would do regular vacuuming and flea combing.

It takes a little education...
FleaScience

...and a lot of diligence to end a flea infestation.

Especially if you aren’t addressing all the life stages of the flea by using the wrong or insufficient products. You will need an adulticide (Capstar) to kill adult fleas and an insect growth regulator (IGR) like Advantage 2 to address the eggs and larvae.

 

[fionasmom]

If you absolutely have to go with OTC, avoid all Hartz products.

 

[LTS3]

If you absolutely have to go with OTC, avoid all Hartz products.

And avoid Cheristin and uncommon brands and those found in questionable places like dollar stores.

Do not use cheristin for cats!!!!!!!!!

I work at a veterinary clinic we were told to try cheristin on our office cats. We did and it killed one of them! This medicine is EPA approved not FDA approved!! The Elanco Company first put this product on the shelves under the name Assurity and after numerous animal deaths they took if off...

thecatsite.com

Bad Reaction To Cheristin - Please Help

a week ago we gave all four of our cats a topical flea treatment with cheristin, but only one has had a bad reaction hes been heavily lethargic and has stopped eating, but seems otherwise fine I've been reading the other cheristin horror stories on the site. is there any way he can be helped...

thecatsite.com

 

[JulietteTruong]

And avoid Cheristin and uncommon brands and those found in questionable places like dollar stores.

http://[URL]https://thecatsite.com/threads/do-not-use-cheristin-for-cats.323184/

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http://[URL]https://thecatsite.com/threads/bad-reaction-to-cheristin-please-help.381017/

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Oh I’m not looking at anything in grocery stores and dollar stores. I’m interested in Bayer Advantage, since seeing it at Petsmart.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. I personally think Advantage II is probably one of the safer flea treatments. It doesn't enter the bloodstream, so for me that is a plus since my cat is 16+ yo. (A lot of the ones that enter the bloodstream have warnings about possible short term or long term neurological side effects, albeit a very small risk.)

But, I will be honest, it doesn't seem to be as effective for me as it was a long, long time ago. I have read many unbiased reviews that claim its effectiveness hasn't changed, but I think there are some members on this site - like myself - who might disagree. Some of this appears to be a regional thing - so immunity build up from overuse in a given area may be part of the issue.

However, here is the good news: this product can be used every 7 days if there is a heavy flea infestation (part of the written instructions, and also noted in several of the reviews). I have actually been applying it to Feeby every 10 days for the past few months. There are also members who have reduced the time in between applications from 4 weeks to 3 weeks and have found that to be effective for them.