Frontline Flea and Tick Products
The Frontline family of flea and tick products have been on the market for the control of fleas on pets for around 10 years. All of the products are based around the common active ingredient, fipronil which is the item which kills fleas and controls ticks. There are three main Frontline products:
- Frontline Spray
- Frontline Top Spot
- Frontline Plus
Frontline Spray
Frontline Spray was the original formulation in the family. Unfortunately, while effective it was a bit cumbersome as it involved spraying your cat or dog which what was actually a fairly large volume of spray. While it effectively moved the product around the body of the animal and provided good protection against fleas and ticks – there is certainly a noticable smell associated with its use.
It’s main use is for when a severe flea or tick infestation needs to be cleaned up as quickly as possible. It is more likely to be adminstered by a veterinarian than a pet owner. The product needs to be sprayed on with 1 to 2 pumps per pound of bodyweight until the coat is wet – pets with longer or thicker coats will require the maximum amount.
Frontline Top Spot
This was the first of the spot-on applications of Frontline. The product is applied as a single spot on the shoulder area of your pet dog or cat. Like the Frontline Spray, Frontline Top Spot simply contains fipronil. The small volume of liquid is contained in a see through tube with an easy snap off top. Frontline Top Spot should be applied once a month. The main claims for the product are that it will kill 100% of fleas within 24 hours and keep doing this for a month. (Actually the product will kill fleas for ‘up to’ 3 months in dogs and ‘up to’ 6 weeks in cats.In addition the product remains waterproof for a month even on a dog or cat that swims or is bathed.
Frontline Top Spot comes as a single dose size for cats and four sizes for dogs depending on bodyweight.
Both Frontline Top Spot and Frontline Spray kill adult ticks and fleas only.
Frontline Plus
Frontline Plus is certainly aptly named. The main details as for Frontline Top Spot apply to the product. The product is safe in puppies and kittens from 8 weeks of age and will kill fleas and ticks for a month. However, in addition to fipronil, the product also contains (S)-methoprene. S-methoprene is an “insect growth regulator” This gets the stages of fleas not killed by the fipronil. This means that Frontline Plus provides very complete flea control as it also controls flea eggs, flea larva and flea pupa. These three stages are found in your pets environment rather than one your pet. By controlling these other flea life stages Frontline Plus can help you get control of a flea infestation sooner.
How do the Frontline family work?
After either being sprayed or spotted onto your pet, the fipronil spread around the body in the oils of your pets coat. It localises in the sebaceous glands from where it is re-excreted onto the surface of your pet for the month after treatment. Because it localises in the sebaceous glands it gives the product its water resistance characteristics.
Its also important to understand that neither of the actives in Frontline Plus repel either ticks or fleas. So don’t be surprised if you still see the odd one. In the case of ticks and adult fleas, the parasite must get onto your pet to come in contact with the fipronil and be killed. Of course, you’ll never see the flea eggs (unless you have superb vision and spend a lot of time looking closely at your pets bedding), flea larva or flea pupa.
However, after attaching to your pet, ticks will take up enough of the active ingredient to be killed within 24-48 hours.
When killing fleas, fipronil causes fleas to become hyperexcitable – for this reason you may actually see more of them after treatment, because they rise up in your pets hair coat as they die.
Conclusions
So there you have it. There are a number of reasons why the Frontline family of products are advertised as the #1 flea and tick control product. I hope you’ve found this brief review helpful.