There’s more than one way to get rid of and prevent a flea infestation in a dog. We’ve written a comprehensive guide to the best flea treatments and listed the various methods of applying them – oral, spot on, shampoos and with accessories such as collars and sprays.
Here we’ll be discussing the use of more than one flea treatment at once, specifically the use of tablets and spot on topical treatment.
Can you use flea tablets and spot on at the same time?
Flea treatment at its core is a pesticide designed to kill fleas and flea eggs, therefore it does have a low level of toxicity – enough to kill the fleas but not enough to harm the dog.
However, applying more than the recommended dose will increase the level of toxicity and it can harm your dog and lead to side effects such as diarrhea, vomiting, drooling, weakness and respiratory problems.
Therefore, it is most certainly not advisable to give more than one treatment at once.
Which one is best to apply?
Any flea treatment is effective but the most effective for your dog is a personal choice. For dogs who get wet often and get washed often we’d recommend the tablets as water can wash it out of the oil.
For most people, spot on is the easiest to apply and will last around a month.
Why would you need to use two at once?
The likelihood that you are asking this question is because your dog has a bad case of fleas or that you’re an overly cautious owner who wants to be sure the problem will be fixed. Either of these options are reasonable thought processes to go through but a little unnecessary.
A serious flea infestation
Applying flea treatment is only one step of stopping a flea infestation and just giving them more treatment will be ineffective. A single course of treatment will kill the fleas on their bodies and prevent others from trying to latch on. However, giving your dog more treatment is not going to get rid of fleas from the home and in their sleeping area.
Therefore, don’t waste money or time giving your dog both tablets and spot on treatment.
Overly cautious owners
If you want to give them two treatments at once “to be sure” then don’t. Modern flea treatments are proven to do the job and the best way to be sure the infestation and prevention is done properly is to de-flea the home and especially their sleeping area.
Once treatment has been applied to a dog the fleas will be killed very quickly and any new fleas trying to climb on and bite will get a nasty surprise. However, any fleas left in the home can still irritate other pets in the house and even the human inhabitants.
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I was wondering if you could use a tabelt and a spot on treatment on a cat on the same day, but after reading this I won’t. i will wait now a month till i give my cat the tablet or is it possible to give the tablet any earlier than that and it be Ok ?