Your Dog’s Pest Control Broken-Down
Pest control can generally be broken down into two categories: topical and systemic. As the name implies, topical treatments are put on the surface of your dog (either as a spot-on or a collar) where they distribute the active ingredients for pest control. The medicine is then passed to the flea or tick when they make contact or feed on the surface. Systemic treatments can be given orally or topically, but the active ingredients are absorbed into your dog’s bloodstream, so they are passed to the flea or tick when they feed via the blood.
What’s the goal of pest prevention?
With any of the ingredients, the goal is to eradicate the fleas or ticks. Whether this is by killing the adults, killing the larvae, or keeping the parasites from developing or growing – they will get rid of the pests one way or another ;-P
Related: Fleas and Ticks – Get Prepared Now!
Dog Fancy Magazine recently published a list of popular active ingredients and the pest control medicines they appear in, and this is a table taken from that. So, it is not meant to be a comprehensive list of available products or application methods. To find what the one that is best for you, do your research, follow the manufacturer’s guidelines, and see which ones you like best. Also, the “What it Does” column has abbreviated information from the original article to conserve space.
Pest Control Ingredient Chart
| Active Ingredient | Found In: | Fleas | Ticks | Chew- tab | Topical | Collar | Frequency | What it does |
| Afoxolaner | NexGard (Merial) | * | * | * | 1 time every 30 days | Kills adult fleas by overstimulating their nervous system; Prescription only | ||
| Amitraz | Certifect (Merial) | * | * | * | Spot-on: every 30 days; Collar: 3 months | Paralyzes parasite mouthparts, so they can’t bite which makes them detach and die | ||
| Cyphenothrin | Parastar Plus (Novartis Animal Health) | * | * | * | 1 time every 30 days | Repels and kills fleas and ticks; causes hyperactivity in low doses but paralyzes and kills in higher doses. | ||
| Deltamethrin | Scalibor (Merk Animal Health) | * | * | * | Every 6 months | Repels ticks, kills fleas and ticks by interfering with their ability to attach and feed. | ||
| Dinotefuran | Vectra/Vectra 3D (Ceva Animal Health) | * | * | 1 time every 30 days | Adult fleas are killed b/c it attacks their nervous system. | |||
| Fipronil | Certifect, Frontline/Frontline Plus (Merial), Parastar Plus | * | * | * | 1 time every 30 days | Overstimulates adult flea nervous systems, causing hyper-excitation and death. | ||
| Flumenthrin | Seresto (Bayer HealthCare) | * | * | * | Every 8 months | Repels and kills adult ticks, nyphs, and pupae; interferes with the ability to attach and feed | ||
| Imidacloprid | Advantage II, Advantage Multi, K9 Advantix II, Seresto (all Bayer Healthcare) | * | * | * | Spot-on: every 30 days; Collar: 8 months | Affects the central nervous system by blocking neural messages, therefore adults and larvae become paralyzed and die | ||
| Indoxacarb | Activyl (Merk Animal Health) | * | * | 1 time every 30 days | Once ingested, it block movements to sodium ions to certain nerve cells – paralyzing adults and stop eggs and larvae from developing | |||
| Lufenuron | Sentinel Flavor Tabs (Novartis Animal Health) | * | * | 1 time every 30 days | Inhibits the biosynthesis of chitin, which makes up insect larvae’s exoskeleton; This disrupts the flea life cycle and eggs won’t hatch; Prescription only | |||
| Nitenpyram | Capstar (Novartis Animal Health) | * | * | Rx by Vet | Blocks ability for neural messages to transmit through central nervous system, resulting in almost immediate death; prescription only | |||
| Permethrin | Activyl Tick Plus (Merk Animal Health), K9 Advantix II, Vectra 3D | * | * | * | 1 time every 30 days | Affects the nervous system by inducing a hyper-excited state, leading ultimately to death of adult parasites | ||
| Pyriprozyfen | Advantage II, K9 Advantix II, Vectra, Vectra 3D | * | * | 1 time every 30 days | Prevents fleas from developing into adulthood and makes them unable to reproduce; deadly to insect eggs | |||
| (S)-Methoprene | Certifect, Frontline Plus | * | * | 1 time every 30 days | Stops egg and larval development, resulting in death of larvae | |||
| Selamectin | Revolution (Zeotis) | * | * | * | 1 time every 30 days | Disrupts adult flea nervous system, stops reproduction (eggs don’t hatch); Certain breeds are sensitive to this chemical – check with vet | ||
| Spinosad | Comfortis and Trifexis (Elanco Animal Health) | * | 1 time every 30 days | Attacks adult nervous system, causing rapid death; prescription only |
Disclaimer: Make sure you also know which meds are toxic to other pets (like cats) if you have other animals besides dogs. While the original article does make note which ones these are, since this blog is dedicated to dogs I did not include that here because of space conservation.
Related: Heartworms: What You Need to Know About Them to Keep Your Dog Healthy
Table created from information in Dog Fancy Magazine
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