Are Fleas Medications Safe? The FDA Urges Caution…But Not For Why You Think

Fleas and ticks could cause numerous issues for your pets. Aside from the painful bites and itching, they create illnesses as neatly. And, for the canines who’re allergic, the bites can imply a vet talk over with and numerous remedy. Not to say how terrible a flea infestation is for all of the family.

But the medicine we use to stop them may have even worse unwanted side effects, so is it value it?

Concern over Side Effects

While you might handiest see commercials for the “top names” in flea and tick keep watch over, there are in reality masses of goods each veterinarian prescribed and over-the-counter. Prevention comes within the following paperwork: collars, sprays, spot-ons, capsules, dips, shampoos, and powders.

Every this type of merchandise should be authorized through the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Dog house owners must take into account that all medicine have probably unwanted side effects and that similar to people, some canines are going to be extra vulnerable to those unwanted side effects.

Sherri Norman, Director of Companion Animal Marketing, Henry Schein Animal Health, the sector’s biggest distributor of puppy merchandise, says that correct dosing and the ensuring you might be the usage of the right kind product for the species (i.e. canine vs. cat) is paramount.

“Some flea products, particularly those that also prevent ticks contain permethrin which is hazardous to cats,” Norman explains. “The best products are those purchased from a veterinarian because you get not only the best products, but the right product for the right species and at the right strength and expert advice on administration/application of the product.”

While canine house owners blame the medicines for headaches that rise up from the usage of their “unsafe” merchandise, the FDA web site reads as though the house owners are in large part responsible.

According to the FDA web site, “EPA made up our minds that some adjustments want to be made in how spot-on merchandise are regulated, how firms document knowledge on puppy incidents, and the way applications are categorized for cats, canines, and measurement of animals to make sure the protection of those merchandise. Based on reported incidents, EPA additionally concluded that many however now not all puppy incidents came about for the reason that merchandise have been misused.”

Tips for Using Flea and Tick Products

The following are the ideas the FDA shared to assist puppy house owners correctly use flea and tick remedies.

• Read the label in moderation ahead of use. If you don’t perceive the wording, ask your veterinarian or name the producer. “Even if you’ve used the product many times before,” says Stohlman, “read the label because the directions or warnings may have changed.”
• Follow the instructions precisely. If the product is for canines, don’t apply it to cats or different pets. If the label says use weekly, don’t use it day by day. If the product is for the home or backyard, don’t put it without delay in your puppy.
• Keep a couple of pets separated after making use of a product till it dries to stop one animal from grooming some other and consuming a drug or pesticide.
• Talk for your veterinarian ahead of the usage of a product on susceptible, previous, medicated, unwell, pregnant, or nursing pets, or on pets that experience up to now proven indicators of sensitivity to flea or tick merchandise.
• Monitor your puppy for unwanted side effects after making use of the product, specifically when the usage of the product in your puppy for the primary time.
• If your puppy reviews a nasty response from a spot-on product, instantly shower the puppy with gentle cleaning soap, rinse with massive quantities of water, and phone your veterinarian.
• Call your veterinarian in case your puppy presentations signs of sickness after the usage of a product. Symptoms of poisoning come with deficient urge for food, despair, vomiting, diarrhea, or over the top salivation.
• Do now not follow a product to kittens or doggies except the label particularly lets in this remedy. Use flea combs to select up fleas, flea eggs, and ticks on doggies and kittens which can be too younger for flea and tick merchandise.
• Wash your arms instantly with cleaning soap and water after making use of a product, or use protecting gloves whilst making use of.
• Store merchandise clear of meals and out of kids’s succeed in.

Source: FDA and CDC

Alternative to Flea and Tick Medications

If, after studying this, you aren’t satisfied (as many aren’t) that the incidents involving the usage of those prevents used to be basically consumer error, you’ll be desirous about noting there are a couple of homeopathic, drug-free flea and tick controls.

Herbal Remedies

• Eucalyptus
• Cedar Chips
• Lemon Peel
• Lavender
• Tansy (additionally repels lice, flies, and mites)

Natural Products

The Only Natural Pet® corporate has a number of MADE IN THE USA, chemical-free merchandise out to assist repel fleas and ticks in your home and in your canine naturally:

They even have shampoos, dietary supplements, tags, powders – absolutely anything you’ll be able to recall to mind relating to flea and tick keep watch over, all of that are made with out chemical substances.

About the Author

Based in Tustin, Calif., animal lover Kristina N. Lotz is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA) and works as a complete time instructor. She additionally owns her personal customized puppy merchandise corporate, A Fairytail House, the place she makes personalised collars, leashes, beds, memento pillows and blankets, and the rest your believe can suppose up. In her spare time, she trains and competes in herding, agility, obedience, rally, and conformation along with her Shetland Sheepdogs. She neatly married a Veterinary Technician, who is helping stay the fur children glad and wholesome, and gives a snappy useful resource for articles.