Advantage vs Frontline Which Is The Better Flea Treatment?
by - Written: Jul 17 '02 (Updated Jul 17 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Pretty cheap, instant relief, works on ferrets
Cons: It's still a pesticide
The Bottom Line: Advantage does what it's supposed to do. Kills fleas-keeps them away. It would be nice to see a treatment that isn't a pesticide.
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| jro26's Full Review: Bayer Advantage |
Bayer Advantage
I have two cats and one ferret-all of them had a run-in with fleas. I purchased both Bayer Advantage and Frontline to treat the fleas. I will be reviewing and comparing both and will provide a link to the other review at the end of this review after it is written. The reviews are not the same!
The Battle Began...
My first battle with fleas began a few months ago when I felt a few small scabs on my 5 year old Orange Tabby. I figured she was either itching to hard or was playing a little too rough with Athos, our ferret. I ended up spotting fleas on both my cat and ferret. Not very long after I treated them both (the cat with Frontline and the ferret with Advantage) we ended up ‘adopting’ a stray cat. The kitten ended up having fleas from being out in the woods its whole life. I promptly went to my vet and asked what they recommend. They said Frontline for my Adult cat and to use a half of a treatment of Advantage for my ferret. I am not sure why they suggest Advantage for ferrets.
Size
I was pleased with how small the Advantagebottles were. I found it easier to apply the Advantage on my cat than the Frontline because it was easier to squeeze out the application due to the shape. I’ve found are pros and cons to the amount of treatment contained in each bottle. Advantage contains a full ounce less than Frontline. Even though Advantage contains less it doesn’t mean you are paying for more when you buy Frontline. With a small kitten I recommend using a half treatment as it just flowed all the way to the bottom of my kittens neck and allowed him to rub it off with his paw.
Use
My vet told me very quickly how to apply this treatment. I was a little unsure at first because I’ve read horror stories about how animals have gotten sick from licking the tiniest bit of it up. You are supposed to wait at least 24 hours after bathing your pet before applying the treatment for it to work best. I used the Advantage first on my ferret and later on the new kitten. With the ferret I was told to only use a half a bottle for treatment. You just have to take the lid off, flip it over and press it into the tube to break the seal. I made my way through his fur so that I could get right down to the skin and I applied it with one small squeeze. The directions state to squeeze twice to expel the entire treatment. I used the other half on my kitten since I was not sure if he was over 8 weeks old but wanted to provide him with some relief. Since this treats a cat that is up to 9lbs I figured that half a bottle would work on a less than 1lb cat. You might want to hold a washcloth or rag under your cats neck incase any drips down.
I tried to keep my animals separated for about 24 hours so that they couldn’t lick the treatment off of each other. I just placed litter boxes in two rooms for the cat and kept the ferret in his ’condo cage’. There will be an oily residue on your cats fur for a few days but will eventually dry off and disappear. I highly recommend you supervise your animals as much as possible in case they have some sort of reaction to this product.
Results
If you’ve ever been around a ferret you’ll know it’s hard to tell if he’s itching because of fleas or just itching to itch. The only way we could tell if fleas were still bothering was by blowing lightly on his fur to expose his skin and try to spot any fleas or red fleabites. After about 2 weeks we were pretty positive fleas were no longer bothering him. We had the same results with Icky, the stray kitten. Neither of them had a behavior changes or excess salivation, which can happen if they get some of the treatment in their mouth.
If you don’t see any results after two or three weeks and think you need to re-treat your animal you may, but do not use the product more than once a week. I highly recommend waiting a lot longer than one week. You should notice a bit of relief almost immediately (a few hours) after the first treatment and after one month when you apply the second treatment your animals should be flea free as it will kill any fleas that recently hatched.
One major thing that might determine whether you should use Advantage or Frontline is if you have problems with ticks. Advantage does not protect your cats from ticks but Frontline does. My cats are indoor cats and I’ve never had a tick problem so I didn’t factor that into my decision just thought of it as an added bonus for my adult cat.
Bonus!
I thought it was really cool that Advantage gave three stickers to put on your calendar as a reminder. Each sticker has a blank so that you can write the pet’s name. This is extremely helpful if you treat several animals at different times of the month. Frontline did not come with any reminder stickers.
Price
I paid about the same price for both flea treatments. The Advantage was about $2 cheaper yet it contained four treatments. Frontline only contained three but it is about even since the Frontline bottles contain more treatment. If you are going to use half-treatments on your pets I recommend getting Advantage as these came with lids as opposed to just a snap off top.
Final Comparison
Which is better? Well, Advantage does have the better applicator as well as the calendar stickers but it also doesn’t prevent ticks from treating your animals like lunch. Advantage was a couple of dollars cheaper but each application was smaller. Overall, I think I would choose Advantage over Frontline. Advantage makes it easy to use half-treatments on my ferret and still save the other half for the next month or use the other half on my kitten.
Remember: THIS IS A PESTICIDE!
This is a dangerous product and can be fatal to your pet if used incorrectly. First and foremost, always talk to a vet before dispersing any treatments to your animals. Do not use on kittens that are under 8 weeks of age. If you cat is pregnant, nursing or elderly do not use unless your vet recommends it. Make sure you wash your own skin thoroughly after treating your pet!
Active Ingredient: Imidacloprid 9.1%
Inert Ingredients: 90.9%
Recommended:
Yes
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