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Standard Poodles - Flea Control
Flea Control on Your Standard Poodle Fleas are the most common and probably the most annoying parasite of dogs. Fleas bite the host and suck their blood. Kind of reminds you of a vampire! When a flea bites, it injects a small amount of saliva into the skin to prevent the blood from coagulating. Some Poodles are allergic to flea bites and can have severe itching and scratching from a single bite. Flea allergy dermatitis is the most common disease among dogs. There are several flea control products on the market today, and they are either oral or topical systemic treatments. They are used for prevention as well as to treat existing flea problems. One group of flea control products interrupts the development of fleas by killing or stopping the development of flea larvae and eggs. These drugs are called Insect Growth Regulators (IGRs), which include Lufenuron, Methoprene and Pyriproxifen. These products can be found in pills, liquid form, sprays or collars. The most popular flea control products used today kill adult fleas and are applied topically. Fipronil is used in topical flea products like Frontline® Top Spot and imidacloprid is used in Advantage®. The most popular product on the market, Frontline Plus®, kills flea larvae and eggs as well as adult fleas and ticks. Nitenpyram which is in Capstar® begins to kill fleas as soon as 30 minutes. Check with your veterinarian to decide which flea and tick control products are best for your Standard Poodle. Factors such as your climate, environment, your poodle's activities, and potential for exposure will all determine which product is the best choice. Using these products consistently throughout the year should just about eliminate your need for regular insecticidal use. The information below should provide you with additional information about the most popular flea control products on the market today. Program from Novartis®
Program is available as a once a month pill or oral liquid medication to be given with food. Adult fleas that ingest Program's key ingredient, lufenuron, produce sterile eggs. Program does not kill adult fleas so pets remain susceptible to fleas hatching and maturing pupa already present in the environment. Therefore, some time may pass before the all fleas are killed in an environment. In order to stop the life cycle, every animal in the environment must receive lufenuron. Pets should also be sprayed with an adulticide during the first week or two of starting Program. Advantage from Bayer®
Advantage is applied topically on both dogs and cats and seems to be very well-tolerated by sensitive cats. Advantage kills fleas within 24 hours and 100% protection can be maintained for cats for 21 days and 90% protection can be maintained for dogs for 28 days. Advantage is susceptible to washing off so dogs that are active outdoors and dogs that swim or must be bathed frequently should be re-treated frequently. Up to weekly re-treatment is allowed. The imidacloprid in Advantage does not effect ticks, but K-9Advantix, with permethrin does. K9 Advantix is only labeled for once a month K9 Advantix is ONLY FOR USE WITH DOGS and MUST NOT BE ADMINISTERED TO CATS. Frontline Spray, Frontline Plus And Frontline Top Spot from Merial®
Frontline Spray, Frontline Plus, and Frontline Top Spot comprise the market leading Frontline flea control product line. The fipronil in Frontline products is a broad spectrum insecticide available as a spray or topical. Fipronil works by binding chemically to the pet's hair and is absorbed through the follicle by the sebaceous glands. As a spray, fipronil kills fleas at 95% for over 80 days after application on dogs and for 1 month with biweekly bathing. Frontline is labeled for puppies and kittens as young as 8 weeks (10 weeks for Top Spot) and it is not washed off by bathing. Frontline is also affective against ticks. Some cats may show minor adverse reactions with high volume use of the alcohol based spray product which should be applied no more than once a month. Frontline Plus also contains the IGR, S-methoprene which inhibits the growth of immature fleas. K-9 Advantix from Bayer®
New Advantix Red kills 98-100% of fleas on dogs within 12 hours and continues protection at least 4 weeks. It also repels and kills most ticks and mosquitoes. This is probably the best protection for your dog! Each packet contains 6 applications providing 6 months of protection. Capstar from Novartis®
Capstar is an oral tablet for dogs and cats that may be administered as young as 4 weeks of age. It offers extremely rapid and complete killing of adult fleas and is safe enough that the tablets may be used whenever fleas are seen on your pet as often as once per day. Capstar may be used in combination with an IGR to kill fleas immediately to compliment the long-term control of an IGR such as Program.
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