Flea and Tick Protection for Your Pets, Dogs & Cats

Fleas and ticks are pests that like to feed on pets, making them the primary concern of most pet owners. They have many troublesome similarities, the main one being that they can transmit harmful diseases and cause serious health issues for your pets if you leave them unchecked. Fleas can easily cause an indoor infestation if they latch on to your pet and get into your house, in which case you have to treat both your pet and your home. Ticks don’t cause such outbursts inside your home, but they may transmit dangerous diseases if left on for too long. 

The best way to prevent these situations is to use products that can protect your pets and prevent the fleas and ticks from getting on altogether. Fleas tend to jump on your pet from another infected animal, while ticks prefer to lie in wait in tall grass, brushes, and other vegetation. 

If you either already have a problem with fleas and ticks or fear your pet might bring them home after going outside, then it’s a good idea to invest in a product that can kill these pests and prevent infestations. For that reason, in this article, we list some products you can use to protect your pet from these annoying critters.

Capstar

This product specializes in killing fleas. It’s a fast-acting oral treatment that gets rid of them before they start an infestation. Capstar begins working after a short period of 30 minutes, and one tablet can eradicate over 90% of the fleas present in your dog and your cat within four and six hours, respectively. You can readily use it daily whenever you need it, and you can use it along with many other tick treatments, as it doesn’t deal with them on its own.

Advantus

Advantus is a flavored chew solution that works fast against fleas. It kills adult fleas within the hour and reaches 96% effectiveness against them after four hours. The product is similar to Capstar, meaning you can dose your dog daily to treat your dog whenever it’s needed. You can use it along with any other vaccine, parasite preventative, or antibiotics. However, you can’t use this product on cats, and it doesn’t protect against ticks. 

Frontline

Frontline is a topical protector that has specific products for pets and cats with the same function. This product uses two active ingredients that store themselves in your pet’s oil glands. Fipronil kills ticks and adult fleas, and S-methoprene gets rid of flea eggs and larvae, disrupting their life cycle and preventing any house infestation from happening. 

This product starts killing fleas just after four hours and gets rid of them entirely after 12 hours. It works non-stop for over a month, and you can easily reapply it after that time passes. 

Bravecto

Bravecto, like others in this list, has different products for cats and dogs. For dogs, it has both chew and topical solutions, while cats only have a topical solution. The chew product starts working after two hours, killing any fleas currently attached to your pet, while ticks begin to die within 12 hours. 

Topical solutions take a little more time to kill every tick and flea on your pet entirely. All medications offer full protection for over two months and partial protection for three. This is because it loses effectiveness against one tick species, depending on the product, from the initial four.

NexGard

NexGard is a tasty chew product with a beef flavor that offers protection against fleas, ticks, and mites for dogs, not cats. The active ingredient, afoxolaner, affects the pest’s nervous systems, killing them by causing hyper-excitation. It works for a full month and kills fleas after six to eight hours from administering the product, preventing them from laying eggs and spreading. NexGard provides effective tick control after 24 hours of the product’s application.

Trifexis

Trifexis is another beef-flavored tablet that provides potent parasite protection for your dog. The product mixes two active ingredients to protect against many types of critters: fleas, heartworm disease, whipworm, roundworm, and whipworm. It’s a product you administer once a month and acts considerably fast, killing every flea that’s latched on your dog after just 30 minutes. Unfortunately, there isn’t a Trifexis product available for cats.

Simpatica Trio

Simpatica Trio is a product that protects and prevents almost every pest-related ailment for your dog. It comes as a monthly chewable tablet and is effective against heartworm disease, roundworms, hookworms, ticks, and fleas. The product combines three active ingredients: sarolaner, moxidectin, and pyrantel pamoate, making it effective against these diseases and pests. 

It begins killing fleas within four hours and reaches complete efficacy eight hours after the treatment begins. It’s also nearly entirely effective against tick infestations, adult roundworms, and hookworms. On the downside, the product is only approved for dog consumption. 

Seresto

Seresto offers a great alternative to topical and oral flea and tick treatments in the form of a collar. It has a product available for both cats and dogs, but its functionality is the same. The collar continually protects against fleas and ticks by spreading its active ingredients over the skin of your pet. 

As it’s a collar, applying it has no science. The product starts killing every flea on your pet within 24 hours after application and ticks after 48 hours. After that time, Seresto repels critters that try to latch on to your pet, and it kills the ones it misses after six hours, without the need of a bite. The collar has an astonishing duration of over eight months, and it’s odorless and water-resistant.

The Bottom Line

There are many excellent flea and tick treatments available for your pets, all of which have varying degrees of efficacy and methods of application. You should choose the product that best serves you and your pet’s needs. Of course, it’s essential to remember that occasionally it’s best to deal with the problem at the source of it. 

If your dog frequently plays in the yard, using appropriate lawn treatment products to deal with any pest that may be around the area. Otherwise, most of these products can eventually deal with any indoor pest issue if you use them long enough.

 If you’re looking for the right team to handle the issue for you, Synergy² is here to help. We provide trusted services throughout the area, so contact us for the best pest control services around.