What is a Flea Pill
Fleas multiply as swiftly as any online social network. If fleas had a Multiply site, they’d be on anyone’s friends list uninvited.
Your furry friends are flea magnets. That’s a fact, from coast to coast. And there’s no one-time solution to dog or cat fleas. Before you find yourself scratching all over, like your pet, you have to stay on red alert until you deal a fatal blow to flea infestation.
If you’ve been dealing with the problem unsuccessfully, it may be tempting to think that flea-control firms – in cahoots with vets! – are cashing in on fleas so they don’t really want to fix the problem once and for all.
Seriously, flea infestation is as naturally inevitable as a hurricane or an earthquake. You can’t prevent it from happening but there are ways to make its impact insignificant. With the variety of flea-control products in stores, which are also recommended by veterinarians, it’s quite doable.
Some pet owners are satisfied with topical solutions (flea dip, flea powder, flea spray), while others would go for the more convenient flea pills.
Flea pills are given orally to pets who are burdened with these tiny hitchhikers from hell that feed on their blood. They are taken on a regular basis to prevent fleas from reproducing. Each pill usually remains effective for a few weeks up to 30 days – quite a relief to distressed pets and pet owners.
The pill’s flea-killing ingredient is absorbed in your pet’s bloodstream. Let’s call it a ‘full armor from within,’ which always catches those voracious bloodsuckers off-guard. Once they had their fill, the chemical – toxic only to fleas – acts up, paralyzing them until they die.
That’s the beauty of this breakthrough in flea control. It’s not messy, it doesn’t require too much time and effort, and it leaves to chemical residues in your home. Flea pills also stop larvae from emerging from flea eggs, thus breaking the fleas’ reproductive cycle.
The mode of medication is also easier for the owner compared to the application of other flea products. Since flea pills are taken orally, they can easily by added to pet food. In fact, most flea pill firms recommend this. Some of them even produce flea pills in the form of food additives. One thing more, it is less costly than the other products.
However, you have to carefully choose which flea pill to give your cat or dog. Some flea pills have shorter durations of efficacy. Some may be good at poisoning your pet’s worst enemies and foiling their life cycle, but are not designed to kill adult fleas, especially if the fleas have already reached reproductive maturity prior to the treatment.
Oral medication may also be difficult for your pets. Some cats and dogs don’t like the idea of taking pills. So these pills are only applicable if the pets are not wise enough to detect that something new is mixed in their food – or if the pill is flavored like beef (for dogs) or tuna (for cats). Some flea pills may also ruin your pet’s appetite.
In that case, the flea pills are just supplemental. These are not really the ultimate weapons in your battle against these itchy parasites. These are only good at momentarily blocking the fleas’ activities and productivity. It is thus best to just incorporate the use of flea pills into your pet’s anti-flea regimen, which includes topical solutions. In other words, a multi-pronged approach to flea removal is still the best plan.
Sometimes, it would be too tedious and too costly on our part to get rid of these fleas. That is probably the reason why some depend on flea pills alone, only to find the problem insignificantly reduced. But think of the threats these fleas bring (flea-bite dermatitis, dehydration, tapeworm) and think of the joy your pets give you. It’s all worth the effort.