Dogs with flea infestations can take the oral drug imidacloprid (brand name: advantus).
How is imidacloprid given?
The oral administration of systemic imidacloprid takes the shape of a chewable tablet. To ensure the proper dose, your dog should be weighed before taking this medication. In about 1 to 2 hours, this medication will start to work, and improvements in clinical indicators should follow.
What if I forget to give my dog the medication, or my shipment is late?
As soon as you recall, administer the missed dose; follow that with the advised interval between doses. Never administer additional dosages or two doses at once to your dog. Only provide one pill each day.
Are there any potential side effects?
If taken as prescribed, side effects are rare, however they can include vomiting, soft stools, decreased appetite, or trouble walking. Loud breathing, collapsing, or pale gums are serious symptoms that could point to an allergic reaction.
The effects of this quick-acting medicine should wear off after 24 hours, though they may last longer in animals with liver or renal illness.
Are there any risk factors for this medication?
Imidacloprid should not be taken orally by dogs that are pregnant, nursing, or younger than 10 weeks old or less than 4 pounds. Cats should not be given this medication. Use with caution in elderly and disabled pets.
Are there any drug interactions I should be aware of?
Drug interactions have not yet been recorded. Tell your vet about any medications your pet is receiving, including vitamins, supplements, and herbal treatments.
Is there any monitoring that needs to be done with this medication?
While your dog is on this medication, no special monitoring is necessary. To ensure that the drug is having the desired effect, your veterinarian may check on your pet.
What should I do in case of emergency?
Call your veterinarian’s office right away if you think your pet may have taken too much medication or is having an unfavourable reaction to it. Follow their instructions for contacting an emergency facility if they are not readily available.
Imidacloprid safety for canines
As an insecticide, imidacloprid has the potential to be poisonous to dogs. This is particularly true if your dog already has a serious illness or is ailing. Small dogs may also be susceptible to imidacloprid poisoning. The risk of toxic poisoning increases in dogs with abnormally low body temperatures. Imidacloprid poisoning can also occur in dogs with sensitive skin.
Imidacloprid is a chloronicotinyl nitroguanidine insecticide that was initially utilised in termite and pest control on crops, despite being authorised by the EPA for use on dogs.
Imidacloprid for fleas: Does it work?
The topical drug imidacloprid, also known by the brand names Advantage and Defense Care, is used to treat fleas. To treat other parasites such ticks, mosquitoes, chewing lice, heartworms, hookworms, roundworms, whipworms, scabies, cheyletiellosis, demodex, or ear mites, it is also used in conjunction with other drugs. (Brand names: Advocate, K9 Advantix, Advantage II, Advantage Multi, Seresto).
The FDA has cleared its usage in cats, dogs, and ferrets at the recommended levels. However, it is regarded as “off label” or “extra label” when used to treat specific parasite illnesses. In veterinary medicine, many medications are frequently used for off-label uses. In these situations, carefully adhere to your veterinarian’s instructions and warnings as they may change dramatically from those on the label.
Imidacloprid is used topically, or directly on the skin, together with the combo products. Avoid bathing with shampoo since this may remove the substance from the skin and need reapplication before the conclusion of the treatment period; in these circumstances, reapplication should not exceed once per week. Avoid getting the medication in your eyes, and if you do, rinse them out with water or an eye rinse.
While using gloves while applying this medication is not necessary, it is advised because skin contact should be avoided. After handling this drug, wash your hands with soap and water. Due to the product’s severe toxicity to fish, dispose of this medication properly and only in the garbage.
What if I forget to give my pet the medication, or my shipment is late?
As soon as you recall, administer the missed dose; follow that with the advised interval between doses. Never administer additional dosages or two doses at once to your pet.
If used as recommended, side effects are rare. The bitterness of the drug may cause excessive drooling if your pet licks it. Drooling, shaking, vomiting, and decreased appetite may happen if your cat licks the Advantage Multi combo product. Dogs may occasionally experience itching, drowsiness, decreased appetite, or hyperactivity when taking the combo drug Advantage Multi. At the location of application, skin irritation can occasionally happen.
In pets with kidney or liver illness, this long-acting drug may last up to 46 weeks or even longer.
Puppies younger than 7 weeks old, weighing less than 3 pounds, or kittens younger than 8 weeks old should not be given certain combination products, including this drug. Cats should not be given certain combo products containing this drug (e.g., K9 Advantix). In elderly, geriatric, pregnant, or breastfeeding animals, imidacloprid should be administered with caution.
While your pet is receiving this medication, no special monitoring is necessary. To ensure that the drug is having the desired effect, your veterinarian may check on your pet.
Avoid temperature extremes and store items at normal temperature. Imidacloprid can be found in a wide variety of items; as such, always follow the label’s instructions for storage.
Adverse Effects of Imidacloprid
Imidacloprid topical treatment is typically thought to be well tolerated. However, unfavourable effects could lead to skin irritability where the application was made, and in rare instances, itching, tiredness, a decrease in appetite, and hyperactivity. 5
Contraindications for Imidacloprid
Imidacloprid should not be used on kittens under the age of eight weeks, dogs under three pounds, or puppies younger than seven weeks old. Before use in animals that are weak, old, pregnant, nursing, or receiving medicine, pertinent clinical considerations should be made. 9
Warnings for Imidacloprid
Permethrins can be hazardous to cats, therefore customers should be aware of this. Permethrin-containing combination products shouldn’t be used on cats, and care should be made when using them on dogs in houses with cats to make sure the cats aren’t exposed through brushing or rubbing.
Does canine imidacloprid induce seizures?
Imidacloprid, a nicotine chemical found in Bayer’s “Seresto” anti-flea and tick collars for dogs and cats, has been linked to seizures, thyroid gland damage, mutations, abortions, and birth defects. The European Commission banned this class of widely used agricultural chemicals from use in Europe in 2013 for a period of two years. Flumethrin, a pyrethrin chemical, has also been linked to nausea, vomiting, seizures, and other negative Concerns about children and adults caressing animals as these toxins permeate over their skin and about animals grooming one another are also raised.
Bayer has recently unleashed an array of brand-new, related anti-bug products, going bug-wild. The “Bayer Pest Solution Center” has three sections for its products: Prevent, Treat, and Control. Three Bayer product lines—K9 Advantix II, Seresto, and Advantage II—are included in the prevention portion, while new Bayer products are highlighted in the treatment and control sections. In order to help pet specialty merchants better serve their consumers, Bayer also provides their staff with training materials and toolkits. A variety of AdvantageTM Household Spot & Crevice Spray, AdvantageTM Carpet & Upholstery Spot Spray, and AdvantageTM Household Fogger to kill specific pests in the home, as well as AdvantageTM Yard & Premise Spray to kill pests in the yard and around the house, are among the new products with similar ingredients. These include Advantage Treatment Spray for dogs, Advantage Treatment Spray for cats, Advantage Treatment Shampoo for dogs, and Advantage Treatment Shampoo for cats.
Take it all in, people, and join Bayer’s environmental bug buggery, or “bug off,” as we like to say in the North of England. The medicine corporation is relying on a mix of public misinformation, trust, and dread of fleas and other nasty insects; safer remedies are described on my website, www.drfoxvet.net.
Advantix provides repellent (anti-feeding) activity against ticks, sand flies, and mosquitoes, preventing the repelled parasites from taking a blood meal and reducing the risk of disease transmission. However, there is no guarantee that animals won’t develop allergic reactions to flea and other insect bites or won’t contract an insect-borne disease (e.g. Lyme borreliosis, babesiosis, anaplasmosis, ehrlichiosis, rickettsiosis, leishmaniosis). However, sand flies, mosquitoes, or ticks may bite or cling to you individually. This means that, in unfavourable circumstances, a transfer of infectious diseases by these parasites cannot be entirely ruled out. When applied topically to dogs, the solution quickly spreads across the animal’s body surface. For four weeks after treatment, the treated animal’s skin and hair can still be found to contain both active ingredients. The systemic absorption of both active compounds after application on intact skin is modest, momentary, and unimportant for the clinical efficacy, according to acute cutaneous investigations in the rat and target animal, overdose, and serum kinetic studies. Why are there no lengthy studies?
The warning “Use with caution in dogs with pre-existing epilepsy” must appear on the label of all sizes of Merck’s Bravecto chewable pills, according to the British government agency that regulates medications for veterinary use in the U.K. (The Veterinary Record, Sept. 2017, p.340).
This is not yet mentioned in the manufacturer’s warning, which states: “The most often reported adverse events are vomiting or diarrhoea. Lethargy, a decrease in appetite, increased thirst, and flatulence are some additional adverse effects that may be experienced (sic). If you have any of the aforementioned negative effects, speak with your veterinarian. Only dogs may use Bravecto. The most frequent side effects noted in research trials were vomiting, decreased appetite, diarrhoea, lethargy, polydipsia, and flatulence, according to another entry. It has not been demonstrated that Bravecto works for 12 weeks in puppies younger than 6 months old. After 8 weeks of treatment, Bravecto loses its effectiveness against lone star ticks.
The active component of BRAVECTO, fluralaner, and other isoxazolines are non-competitive GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) receptor antagonists that bind to chloride channels in nerve and muscle cells, blocking the transmission of neuronal signals, according to Parasitepedia.net. Paralyzed and eventually dead, affected parasites. In addition to mammals and other vertebrates, insects also have this system. However, fluralaner has a substantially higher binding affinity for invertebrate GABA receptors than it does for vertebrate GABA receptors. Because of this, mammals are substantially less likely to be poisoned by it than insects and other pests.
“Less toxic differs significantly from non-toxic. The long-term toxicity, particularly the long-term neurological and carcinogenic impacts, has not been studied. It’s time to put an end to this stupidity and aid in reintroducing insects to our communities. We also need to stop poisoning our pets with pesticides, particularly neonicotinoids like Seresto, and most of the food we consume. Bravecto and Seresto are likely still active in dogs’ faeces and urine, turning them become insect killers with possibly harmful environmental effects.
The sale of these kinds of products at retail establishments within their respective jurisdictions should be outlawed by government legislators and local authorities. We won’t notice or care if this live world is silenced if we decide to be deaf to logic and common sense. Many people have already noticed a lack of butterflies in their gardens and yards, as well as the numerous insects that used to be present wherever there were night lights. Would they realise, however, that without the diversity of helpful insects and insectivores, they will be increasingly susceptible to an increasing number of insect-borne diseases? This is due in part to the fact that the most “noxious insects”—species whose expansion we believe was assisted by our ecological interferences—develop resistance to the chemical weapons we deploy to fight them. Other helpful and innocuous species suffer collateral damage as a result of this. When there are no bees and other plant pollinators, and no plant-pest killing parasitic wasps that indirectly support us, our economy, and those diminishing other species who can barely endure the planetary infestation and mindless onslaught of our species, will there be famines and great economic losses for farmers (already being experienced by almond and citrus crop growers)?
I never thought I’d end up living in a world where multinational corporations would use nature’s resources not only for their own financial gain, regardless of the costs to society and the environment or the unfavourable effects on the environment, but also to produce crops that produce their own insecticides and have herbicide resistance, all of which they sell alongside their patented, genetically modified seeds. But for what purpose? The ultimate downfall of this bioindustrial epoch in human evolution will be the profit motive and the antagonistic and bio-fascist attitudes of corporations and parts of society toward other living things and the natural world, which will result in the extinction of this way of life and state of mind, if not of Homo sapiens itself.
The author is a veterinarian and bioethicist who graduated from the University of London in England with PhD degrees in both medicine and ethology/animal behaviour. He collaborates with UniversalUclick to write the syndicated newspaper column “Animal Doctor.” Dr. Fox Veterinary website
