Is there a magic flea control pill out there somewhere?

Most of the flea control products that we commonly use have been around for some time, and they do a pretty good job. Elanco Animal Health has been a little late to the flea control party with their new product, comfortis, but this product looks to be a pretty big step up in flea control technology.

You might be thinking “What is the big deal? How is comfortis any different to any other flea control products?” Truth be told, there are other products out there that can do the same thing as comfortis. for example, capstar kills fleas as quickly as comfortis, and advantage lasts a similar amount of time. However, there isn’t really any one product that beats comfortis overall.

Comfortis is a tablet,  meaning that it can’t get washed off. This is also great for those of us who own dogs who get one sniff of a spot on treatment and run away to hide, which makes their monthly flea control a terrible ordeal.

Comfortis is effective. It has a fast kill rate, killing fleas in as little as 4 hours after administration. It continues to do this for an entire month. Studies done by Elanco while registering comfortis have shown that close to 100% of fleas were killed in only 2 months of use, without doing anything else. Talk about simple!

However, nothing is ever perfect. There are a few downsides to comfortis. For example, it has a fairly high rate of vomiting as a side effect of giving the pill (around 10% the first time they are given the pill). This can certainly be unpleasant for your pet and also for whoever has to clean it up! The good news is that the incidence of vomiting reduces with subsequent doses, so even if your pet vomits the first time, it may not do it when you give next month’s pill. Still, there is probably a certain percentage of dogs with delicate stomachs who will be unable to use this medication.

Using comfortis in pregnant dogs and young puppies is also out. Studies have shown some undesirable side effects in pregnant dogs and young puppies, and for this reason it is not recommended. So, if you have a pregnant or young dog with fleas, you will have to look elsewhere.

Use of comfortis in Epileptic dogs is discouraged as well. Testing of comfortis in a group of epileptic dogs ended up with 2 dogs having a seizure during the trial. While there is no direct evidence that comfortis was responsible, it is better to be safe rather than sorry, so it is not recommended.

Comfortis is safe to use with heartworm medications, vaccinations, and most other medications.

So, is Comfortis the new magic flea pill? As you might have guessed, there unfortunately is no such thing as a magic pill. However, Comfortis has some definite benefits, and is definitely worth a try if you are having flea troubles.

To a flea free pet!

Dr. Simon

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bohman/

Buy comfortis here

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