Bayer’s Advantage® II flea treatment for cats contains unlisted inert ingredients that may cause permanent neurological damage to your cat or dog (vetinfo).
Advantage® II for cats contains an active ingredient which acts on the nervous system of the flea. It is called: midacloprid, an insecticide. It is interesting to me that it attacks the flea’s nervous system.
This chimes with at least two comments that I have noticed on this product. One is on this website and the other on Amazon. Here are the comments:
The first couple of days after applying this product to my cats it seemed to be working great. Especially for my cat who seems to be very sensitive to fleas. However today I watched one of them fall off a fairly tall piece of furniture twice (something he is on every day and has never fallen off of before) and strangely like he went limp or something. Then a little while later I watched as my other cat who was just standing on the floor fell with her back legs slamming together and her front paws trying to get a grip. Then I read on a few different websites that it has been found that in RARE occasions this product can have neurological effects….(Amazon).
My 4 year old cat cocoa is an indoor cat but she gets out sometimes i recently changed her liter to all natural liter and gave her a dose of small cat advantage 2 which was dose number two of three but instead of every month i give her every couple months never noticed her being allergic to it but after letting her inside one day the day after i noticed she was hiding out on top of a bin i lifted her up and she waslimp for the next couple of days she wouldnt eat or get up when she did it took a lot of energy i noticed a line of fur missing no wound and nowher belly near her nipples is reddish brown i have an appt in a couple days but it is killing me not knowning please help…(this website).
Each cat caretaker needs to check this out themselves but it appears that the insecticide can also attack the nervous system of the cat. The vetinfo.com website states in reference to its use on dogs:
It can enter his circulatory system and cause brain damage and nerve damage.
That statement supports the comments of the two users quoted on this page. Although, the website states it is one of the safest treatments for fleas on dogs.
Now, as far as I am concerned if a potential, albeit rare, side effect is this serious, it is unusable. It is about risk but it is also about the upside and downside of using drugs like these and insecticides are dangerous chemicals.
The vetinfo website adds an important extra bit of information about this drug. They say some of the inert ingredients in the product are not tested for safety because they don’t have to be under the law. Also, even if these inert ingredients are toxic they don’t have to list them. I’ll quote the site verbatim for the punch line:
Such undisclosed ingredients might be unsafe for use on your pet and the neurological damage caused by them may be permanent.
Has anyone more knowledge about this flea treatment? When I see “neurological damage” and “permanent” in one sentence as a possible side effect it puts me off buying it. Does it do the same thing to you?
Sorry, sorry, I really, really don’t, don’t stutter that often. When you see twin words, i’s because I reword something for clarity, and forget to completely delete the original. The original, that is. Is…
Dee – Like you, I too am spooked by the so-called ‘Inert Ingredients’ in a variety of products, including ‘organic’ slug bait. A manufacturer’s loophole the size of the Holland Tunnel, if ever there was one.
Am glad, though, you’ve had no problems using Advantage over the years. What creeps me out about these chemicals is that the labels always warn you to ‘thoroughly wash your hands after use.’ But it’s A-Okay to squirt it on the delicate skin at the back of your cat’s neck? To top it off, there’s that eerie, chemical smell it has….
I can only say that Little Ethel and Insp. McWee were quiet & dull for a couple of days after an application. It it goes without saying the poison is a systemic pesticide that’s absorbed by the bloodstream. Yes – it gets rid of the fleas – not sure about ‘all’ – for three-four weeks. But why did I put it on my housecats at all? Because Bunny, an outdoor guy I adopted a few years back and brought indoors to sleep at night was covered with fleas.
But even without any exposure to the outdoors, except for a sun porch (which is apparently all it takes), housecats can contract ear mites. OMG…don’t tell me there’s any easy cure for that. I could weep if I even dwelt on that subject. I asked the vet how in heavens name my two housecats, etc. etc. the final months of their lives…. and he said — ‘No known explantion.’ How do spiders get into your house during the summer months?
As for the Advantage, though, I’m still feeding a feral cat from next door, a half-starved, neglected waif of a cat with fleas (of course). I don’t go anywhere near vets these days, but phoned my old years-long vet last week and was told they have DISCONTINUED the use of Advantage because of its toxicity. I called another local vet, and he was still selling the stuff in in $50.00 packets. But the first vet said the only other place he knew of where it could still be purchased was at the local feed store, and ONLY if the staff applied it themselves. Which speaks volumes about its potential potential side-effects.
As for herbal ‘homeopathic’ remedies to get rid of fleas — sorry, I have no more faith in them then in Ouija boards. Some years ago I had PVC, and was ‘treated’ by a homeopathic physician. I nearly died after months of her non-remedies, which I rank – perhaps unfairly so – with astrology charts and copper bracelets to cure arthritis.
You say fleas are a major problem in Florida. Sure know as heck they’re nasty down here on the tidal flats, and in a neighborhood infested with throwaway cats. Poor things…
Good to read your comments, and hope you’re doing well.
When you think about it the situation with fleas and cats is a rather poor one. It is extremely difficult to prevent them in some places and the treatments can be quite dangerous and I would not be surprised if there are many thousands of cats killed every year both in the USA and the UK because of misapplication of flea treatments.
There is a desperate need for some sort of flea prevention treatment or device which is completely harmless to the domestic cat.
But it was for prevention of further fleas in this case, we’d caught the one Walt had on him but needed to protect him from catching any more and Jo from catching any too.
Our cats always had fleas where I used to live, where the soil is very sandy. I don’t know if it has something to do with the soil as to why there were more fleas there. Great big ones too! We used flea dips and flea collars. One cat had a horrible reaction to the flea collar. It just about drove him insane, poor baby. It took us a bit to figure out what was wrong with him. Getting rid of the flea collar returned him to his normal self.
I agree, Ruth– flea treatments are used far too often. But the vet makes more money selling flea treatments than flea combs. I just don’t see the need to treat a problem that does not exist. Monty does not have fleas. If he gets fleas we can deal with it, but my first choice won’t be something from the vet. There are home remedies that are safer and better. I’d say something from the vet should be a last resort for a very serious flea infestation.