bite THIS, fleas
Aug. 8th, 2005 15:30![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
piranhathe fleas are bad this year. we break down and consider medication. ye olde revolution requires us to get all of our 5 cats to the vet. since this traumatises the cats, it's not a proposition we undertake lightly. so, what can we get without prescription? the spot treatments one can buy in pet and feed stores are crap (they work as prevention for indoor cats with little exposure to fleas; they're useless where fleas are pretty much endemic). vets sell advantage, which works pretty well; i've used it before -- but it costs a whopping C$60 at our vet for 6 little tubes at 0.4ml each, which will last us a month.
clearly online research is called for.
as it turns out, the active ingredient in advantage is imidacloprid. and the very same ingredient at the very same concentration is in all advantage products, for cats or dogs. the only thing that changes is the dosage -- small cats and dogs get 0.4ml tubes, extra-large dogs get 4ml tubes, large cats, medium size and large dogs are in between.
it's way, way, way cheaper to buy the pack for large dogs. our vet sells the 6-pack for cats (2.4ml) for C$60. i just ordered a 4-pack for dogs (10ml) online for C$36. i can syphon off 0.4ml per treatment with a syringe, and it'll last us for 4 months. that's a savings of C$204; instead of C$10 per treatment per cat, we're paying a mere C$1.44 -- sheesh. i could get the price down even more if i bought packs for dogs in bulk, but i don't know what the shelf life is, and this will do for this year.
from the "don't try this at home" department: do not attempt to generally use dog flea treatment for cats without carefully checking ingredients first. the OTC spot treatments for dogs from hartz et al contain permethrin, which is toxic to cats! don't even use that stuff on your dogs if you also have cats.
clearly online research is called for.
as it turns out, the active ingredient in advantage is imidacloprid. and the very same ingredient at the very same concentration is in all advantage products, for cats or dogs. the only thing that changes is the dosage -- small cats and dogs get 0.4ml tubes, extra-large dogs get 4ml tubes, large cats, medium size and large dogs are in between.
it's way, way, way cheaper to buy the pack for large dogs. our vet sells the 6-pack for cats (2.4ml) for C$60. i just ordered a 4-pack for dogs (10ml) online for C$36. i can syphon off 0.4ml per treatment with a syringe, and it'll last us for 4 months. that's a savings of C$204; instead of C$10 per treatment per cat, we're paying a mere C$1.44 -- sheesh. i could get the price down even more if i bought packs for dogs in bulk, but i don't know what the shelf life is, and this will do for this year.
from the "don't try this at home" department: do not attempt to generally use dog flea treatment for cats without carefully checking ingredients first. the OTC spot treatments for dogs from hartz et al contain permethrin, which is toxic to cats! don't even use that stuff on your dogs if you also have cats.
no subject
on 2005-08-09 00:07 (UTC)It's also important to note that you should never use Advantix, only Advantage, in a household with cats -- it's highly toxic to them, and people seem to get the two confused.
shelf life
on 2005-08-09 02:39 (UTC)Re: shelf life
on 2005-08-09 07:51 (UTC)